Montmorency County, Michigan: fall color 2011

It’s drop dead beautiful here. The science of fall colors doesn’t seem to be much of a science. But wet weather followed by cold weather followed by very wet weather followed by very warm weather must have been the ticket.

This is just a taste of Montmorency County at its showiest. The maples are especially red this year. The birch are especially golden. And the steady green of the pines anchors the scene.

Fall 2009 on Long Lake

fall2

Long Lake is surrounded by a mix of pine, birch/aspen, cedar and assorted hard woods, including  maple and oak.  This means our fall is a combination of yellows, oranges, and reds, all anchored by the steady green of the pines.  The fall colors were spectacular this year.

Today, November 7th, the deciduous trees are mostly bare.  It was 62 degrees and sunny.  More like September than November.  It’s already snowed here, but today we paddled our kayaks over to Ghost Bay and checked out Belly Button Island.  The sea gulls were having a convention at a few spots on the lake.  We rousted some Bufflehead ducks.  The water was very cold.  The sun was very warm.  After a long paddle I curled up under a warm wool knitted blanket for a nap.  Decadent.  Wonderful.

Oh.  This guy is a male Bufflehead.  His name is a corrupted form of “buffalo” head, so named because these duck have shaggy dark brown thick fur, long beards and once roamed the prairies in large herds.  No, so named because the duck’s big white spot on his head resembles the big white spot on the head of a buffalo.   Let’s see, why are these guys named after a buffalo?  I suppose  because both creatures have rather large heads for their body size.  Maybe?  Or else the naming guys were just joking.Buffleheadth