We get it. You slave away at work at a desk or inside a building with only the thought of your eventual vacation escape to sustain you through the days. Sometimes a little news of a treasured getaway spot can be a welcome respite from the doldrums. That’s where we come in. A few tidbits and snippets from the shores of Crystal Lake. Photos and specials from your favorite vintage resort, and your cozy cottage rental. News and notes from our Wednesday and Friday dinners, including our locally based culinary delights and our latest wine and craft beer finds. Maybe it’s an update on weather happenings, or just a funny story we want to share with you. We want to be your connection to up north, to Crystal Lake, and to your mini-escape from the office.
For instance, do you recognize these birds floating on Crystal Lake?
We had to look twice! Yes, it is the American White Pelican, and no, we aren’t in Florida! Our own Crystal Lake was the stopping point for these typically southern birds, on their flight north to Canada for the summer. Recognizable by their size and long bills, adults often have a distinctive bump or projection on the end of their bill. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Range Map, these guys are generally flying more west of us on their way north. Sighting them on our own Crystal Lake is a rare treat for residents. The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore lists them as only very occasionally seen in this area, and usually on Lake Michigan. SleepingBearBirdingTrail.org has a neat feature on their page: a box tracking sightings of various birds around Michigan. On or around this same date (May 20th), the pelican was seen in the UP at various sites and around the Shiawassee River area.
Here at Chimney Corners resort, we often have nesting bald eagles soaring overhead, or the endangered piping plover hopping along the shores of Lake Michigan, but now we can add their coastal cousins to our sighting lists. Speaking of bald eagles, check out this link to a live camera on a bald eagle’s nest where two eaglets were recently hatched near the Platte River State Fish Hatchery in Honor:
You can find out more about birds and birdwatching around the Frankfort, Crystal Lake, and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore by visiting http://sleepingbearbirdingtrail.org.
It turns out even the pelicans know how awesome Crystal Lake is! And check out that moon rise in the evening sky. The pelicans may have moved on to their summer homes, but we’re waiting for you to move to the phone and give us a call to visit us at Chimney Corners Resort. You never know what you might see.