A Nature Lover's Paradise

Note: The Straits area that is referred to in this  blog is located in upper Michigan near the Mackinac Bridge on both sides of the peninsula, the upper peninsula of Michigan and the area near the bridge on the lower peninsula.

The Straits area is a nature lover’s paradise. Prehistoric fossil corals, bivalves and even trilobites from the Devonian period (about 400 million years ago) strewn among the beach pebbles, show us marine creatures of the remote past. Today, the great variety of habitats near the Straits – dunes, swales, marshes cedar swamps, jack pine plains, wet and dry meadows, bogs and ferns, deciduous forests – are home to an astounding diversity of plants and animals.

                Mammals that might be seen at any time include bats, deer, flying squirrel, bear, porcupine, coyote, opossum, bobcat, ground squirrel, raccon, beaver, muskrat, rabbits and many species of mice and voles with luck.

                Birders are blessed here too. The Straits is a staging point for migratory raptors in the spring; they can be seen circling far above Mackinaw City in April and May. Other notables include the extremely endangered piping plover, which lives along the shoreline and can be observed with binoculars but should never be approached; and the great pileated wood pecker, with its red crest and 30-inch wingspan that you can hear hammering even from a long distance. Dozens of other bird species migrate to mate and spend the summer in the biologically rich environs of the Straits.

                Some of the greatest delights found on the north shore of the Lower Peninsula are wild flowers. May brings trilliums, trout lilies, spring beauty, starflowers, hepatica, marsh marigold. Dutchman’s breeches and many others. In june, the lovely and rare orchids appear. And the summer wildflowers are no less spectacular, with a cast o fliterally hundreds in every imaginable color: brilliant red Indian paintbrush; sky blue forget-me-not; goldenrods; purple fireweed; pink, blue and white asters; brilliant yellow puccoons; and silver-leaved Pitcher’s thistle.

                The Straits puts on a glorious autumn show, too, with red, orange and yellow maples, deep red oaks, sparkling yellow aspen and beech, brilliant sumacs and even the fluffy-looking golden golden needles of larch (or tamarack), Michigan’s only deciduous conifer.

                Upper Michigan is filled with its natural wonders. Bear walk the woods. There have been a moose now and again that has made their appearance, mostly in the upper parts of the Upper Peninsula.  The water of Lake Huron and the other Great Lakes glimmers during the daylight hours. Many species of fish exist in the clear blue waters. Upper Michigan offers a plethora of wonderful things to view and experience.

                Source: 2015 Edition Mackinaw Today (The Straits Area Visitors Guide)
Author: Dough Hagley