Natural World
Lake Superior Caribou
A brief history of the Ontario shore caribou and their status as of 2022 Read more
Apr 7, 2022
SPARKY STENSAAS
Our Cunning Corvids Ravens & Crows Give ‘Bird Brain’ a Good Name
Most would not call these birds lovely. For that, we have warblers. Few would consider their caws and quorks melodious, either. The calls of the Common Raven and American Crow just seem raucous. Read more
Nov 12, 2018
Courtesy A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum
Minerals of the Lake Superior Region
Iron and copper are far from the only commercial minerals around this vast lake. Gold, platinum, silver, nickel, and gemstones such as amethyst, agates and even diamonds have been found here. Read more
David L. Kohne
Photos: Lightning by the Lake
Lightning is a powerful subject, as these photographers showed in their entries from past Lake Superior photo contests. Read more
MDOT
Peregrine Falcons Return to U.P. Bridges
Peregrine falcons have returned to the Portage Lake Lift Bridge between Houghton and Hancock again this year, and area students built nest boxes for them. Falcons have also successfully nested on the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge this year. Read more
Jul 7, 2017
Larry Stone
How Did That Get Here? A Naturalist’s View of Isle Royale
By air, by water or by ice, it’s fascinating to imagine how such a diversity of seemingly fragile organisms came to colonize the largest island on the world’s largest freshwater Lake. Read more
Apr 3, 2017
Sparky Stensaas
Finding Fabulous Fungi
Dead Man’s Fingers, Tree Ear, Velvet Foot, Toothed Jelly, Bear’s Head Tooth, The Blusher, Brain Fungus, Fuzzy Foot. Revel in the staggering shapes and colors of our North Woods fungi – and their evocative names. Read more
Apr 3, 2017
Paul Sundberg
Oh, Deer: The Buck-Naked Truth about Our Local Cervids
It seems white-tails have always been in our North Woods, but they are immigrants. Until the mid-1800s, moose and caribou outnumbered deer in the mature forest surrounding the Big Lake. How did that flip? Read more
Feb 1, 2017
Mike Mikulich
Lake Superior Journal: Everything Will Be Owl Right
The owl didn’t move much as I photographed it in the tall grass. Did it have something in its talons that made it stay put? I shifted angles. The owl spooked and flapped awkwardly, settling only a few feet away. Something was definitely wrong. Read more
Dec 1, 2016
Molly Hoeg
Lake Superior Journal: When Bad Things Happen to Good Trees
Waking in the early morning hours to blinding lightning, constant thunder and howling winds did little to prepare us for the devastation that we would find when dawn came – including the loss of a favorite pine tree. Read more
Oct 1, 2016
John McCormick
Our National Parks
We celebrate our Lake Superior national parks, from Apostle Islands to Pictured Rocks, with these brief introductions. We encourage you to “Find Your Park(s)” all around the Big Lake. Read more
Apr 1, 2016
Brent West
Last of the Gray Ghosts: Uncovering the Secret Lives of Our Woodland Caribou
In the boreal forest north of Thunder Bay, two researchers begin their search for a mysterious North Woods denizen, a pale being sometimes called the gray ghost that passes silently through the black spruce and jack pines. Read more
Oct 1, 2015
Diane Larson
Lake Superior Journal: A Moose in the Rearview Mirror
We had traveled a little more than a quarter mile from the intersection when I happened to look in my rearview mirror. A large dark animal stood in the middle of the road a good distance behind us. I let out a squeal and hit the brakes. Read more
Sep 1, 2015
"Native Skywatchers" Revives Indigenous Star Knowledge
As you marveled at the beauty of the night sky, have you ever wondered why you – of Scandinavian, Ojibwe or Irish descent, perhaps – are seeing Greek guys up there? A Duluth art exhibit examines the constellations of the region's indigenous people. Read more
Aug 13, 2014
Ted Gostomski
Piping Plovers: How the Rare Shorebirds Became a Big Lake Eco Success
Historically, hundreds of piping plovers made nests beside the Great Lakes, but those numbers plummeted after decades of habitat loss and human disturbance. Nearly wiped out 30 years ago, the small shorebirds have made a Big Lake comeback. Read more
Apr 22, 2014
David Brislance
Spring Brings the Drumbeat of the Ruffed Grouse to the North Woods
A familiar sound echoes over the ridges of Minnesota’s Sawtooth Mountains – muffled, rhythmic thumps of wings beating against soft-feathered bodies. Male ruffed grouse are ready to rumble, showing off their stuff to catch a female’s eye and ear. Read more
Apr 1, 2014
Rolf Peterson
What This Winter's Ice Bridge to Isle Royale Means for the Island and Its Wolves
A solid ice bridge over Lake Superior has formed between Isle Royale and the mainland, an increasingly rare link that could bring new life – quite literally – to an isolated and inbred Isle Royale National Park wolf population facing extirpation. Read more
Feb 17, 2014
Paul L. Hayden
High Falls on the Pigeon River
The High Falls on the Pigeon River, on the border between the United States and Canada in northern Minnesota, experienced almost double its normal flow after heavy rains during the week of May 20, 2013. Read more
May 28, 2013
John Shibley / LSSU
LSSU Biology Students Present Senior Research Results
Recent senior thesis projects by Lake Superior State University biology students. Read more
Dec 7, 2012
John Shibley
Come Over, Come Over, Piping Plover
Biologists from Lake Superior State and Algoma University have been guiding a team of students conducting surveys and monitoring and protecting piping plover nests. The project aims to help the endangered bird’s survival. Read more
Nov 16, 2012
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