Photographing the Perseid Meteor Shower from Michigan’s Keweenaw Dark Sky Park

The Perseid Meteor shower peaked Saturday night as the Earth passes through the dust left by the Swift-Tuttle comet. I think I saw more shooting stars, sitting out for the few hours that I did, than the total I have seen for the past decade.

The five shooting stars in this image are from a composite of three 15-second exposures (though the three meteorites on the right hand side were all from the same individual picture).

Also in this picture is an example of “airglow” a phenomenon similar to the Aurora but less intense. Airglow is caused by the steady stream of radiation from the sun and while it is not typically visible to the unaided eye, it shows up in long exposure photos.

Special thanks to the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, the Keweenaw Dark Sky Park, and Chris Guibert for hosting and organizing a Perseid Meteor Shower Party. There were about 20 Dark Sky enthusiasts and other photographers taking in the meteorite show and hanging out under the stars. It was a lot of fun.

A hasty escape

This Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) did not like the idea of me having my coffee on teh deck of our cabin along Lake Au Train.

There is nothing quite like the feeling of having a fresh cup of coffee, in the early morning sun rising straight out in front of our deck. Many days the ducks, geese, and herons simply make their way into the cove (which is only about 50 feet from the edge of our deck), while we are sitting out greeting the new morning. However, today, this goose had arrived earlier than we did and it didn’t like our sudden intrusion of its space. Shortly thereafter, though the regular entourage of birds gathered in front of our place.

Please don’t feed ducks and geese. It unnecessarily habituates them to humans and such actions can actually be dangerous for the birds (especially when people feed them bread). Bread is nutritionally lacking for ducks and geese and, since it quickly fills their stomachs, they avoid eating healthier, naturally-occurring foods they normally rely upon.

Early Morning River Crossing

Each year, when Kay and I are back home for the summer, we always make sure to take at least one day where we get up early and haul our Wilderness Systems tandem kayak down to the Au Train River access in order to float down the river before “the amateurs” wake up and get out on the water. The Au Train River is a popular canoeing and kayaking destination and because it is a shallow, slow moving body of water, it attracts a large number of people who are somewhat inexperienced paddlers and are often very loud making it very hard to see wildlife. Every time we we are able to be the first people paddling down the river for the day, we are able to truly experience the tranquility of the river and we have always been able to have some amazing encounters with wildlife.

This year we had a beaver rise up immediately next to the kayak and swim along with us. I didn’t want to make any sudden movements and startle it, so I wasn’t able to put down my paddle to grab my camera - so, there was no chance to get a picture . However, it swam next to us, within touching distance for well over fifty yards.

This doe white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and its two fawns entered the river about about 75 yards in front of us and proceeded to make their way across. We stopped paddling and simply let the flow of water drift us toward them, while I was able to get this picture of their beautiful summer coats contrasted agains the lush greens of the mid-summer vegetation.