Category: Nature
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Maybe your favorite tree holds a swing or a fort; shades birthday parties and picnics; has perfect climbing branches; or drops piles of leaves and interesting collectibles like acorns, cones, helicopters or shakers. If we look at this favorite tree from a bird or satellite viewpoint we see that it is a member of a […]
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Article by Roy Lukes My very first introduction to a Coyote was when I was a junior in high school, 1946, and the movie cartoons, either Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies, began including what became one of their all-time favorites, “Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.” The first encounter with a live Coyote Charlotte […]
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Fall in Door County is a welcome sight. For locals, it’s a chance to get their bearings back from a crazy summer of balancing work schedules and businesses; for visitors, it’s a season that is often underestimated – until a drive through the peninsula reveals its relaxed pace, its unbelievable colors, and a peace that […]
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Where All the Beauty Is: Aviation in Door County
Door County first built a reputation for itself around its abundant coastline and thriving maritime industry, at a time when many visitors to the peninsula arrived by boat. Now, thousands of people visit Door County each year, most arriving on a set of wheels (cars, campers) and using other sets of wheels (bicycles, motorcycles) to […]
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My initiation to wildlife in Door County, including both plants and animals, began in the summer of 1964. My friend and outstanding mentor, Miss Emma Toft, sadly informed me that the Bald Eagles no longer nested after the late 1950s at Toft Point near Baileys Harbor as they had for many years. Similar to what […]
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The mystique that Door County carries is difficult to define, but it gets inside you and doesn’t let go. It’s part winding, backcountry roads and haunting waters, part fieldstone rock walls and hazy morning light. Once people visit the county, like a boomerang, they return again and again, feeling that magical pull back to revisit […]
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Every summer there comes a chance for visitors and residents to get a tour of some of the finest homes and gardens in Door County. This inside peek allows all to share in beautiful architecture, interior design, scenic views and striking gardens that are hidden around the peninsula. This summer the Door County Memorial Hospital […]
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Popping out of the pages of Paul and Marilyn Mahlberg’s fantastic little book, Wildflowers of Door County, are Marilyn’s lively watercolor renderings of the peninsula’s treasure trove of plants. Enshrined on page 116 is the tasty little gem, Asparagus officinale! However, in Paul’s succinct description of the plant appears a word that raises an eyebrow […]
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Orioles: Frequent local feeders
Article by Roy Lukes So many people we’ve talked with in recent years enjoy excellent numbers of Baltimore Orioles at their feeders each late spring and summer. Apparently, it was in previous years that the orioles had good nesting success in our region, enjoyed favorable wintering conditions with adequate food in the South, and experienced […]
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Saving the Door with the Door County Land Trust
In some ways, the remarkably successful Door County Land Trust (DCLT) is paradoxical. They protect and maintain roughly 4,800 acres of land throughout the peninsula – from Washington Island to Southern Door – yet much of the land they protect is off the main traveled roads and so remains hidden from public eye. And while […]
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Door Bluff Headlands On Track for Expansion
The Door County Parks Department is taking steps to expand Door Bluff Headlands County Park by purchasing over 70 acres of land adjacent to the park’s southern border. “We’ve always had a low-key eye on this property,” said George Pinney, Director of Door County Parks. “We don’t usually pursue things like that, except to put […]
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Article by Roy Lukes Some wild animal tracks in the snow are often the only evidence of these creatures many people get to observe. The common daytime feeders, such as the Wild Turkey, the Red and the Gray Squirrels, along with songbirds, are quite easy to study, even to the point of seeing the particular […]
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Wildlife Migration: When Door County Takes Flight
Article by Roy Lukes Forty-four years of watching wildlife and keeping daily notes has clearly indicated to me that Door County, with its many miles of shoreline serving as visual guides, is an excellent place for observing the migration of birds. Spring brings both those birds which will nest here and also the many species […]
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Fears rise over the recent resurgence of Cladophora Algae in lake waters and on Door County shores
Europe Bay, a long wild beach at the tip of the Door Peninsula, has seen its shorelines transformed by dense and stringy algae that covers much of what used to be sandy dunes.
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Long-Legged & Long-Necked: The Herons of Door County
Article by Roy Lukes It’s quite logical to assume that Door County, having more miles of shoreline than any other county in the continental U.S., would be home to many herons in summer – or at least during spring and fall migration. Rocky and sandy shores surely do abound, but marshes, rivers, vast mudflats and […]
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Article by Roy Lukes Little did I realize while growing up as a boy in Kewaunee, Wisconsin during the 1930s and ‘40s, what incredibly rich biodiversity (biological diversity) existed on the steep, un-eroded lake banks near our home along the shores of Lake Michigan. Native plants and animals also thrived in the marshes and the […]
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Treading Lightly: Can Door County maintain its character while attracting more visitors?
It’s a dilemma every tourism destination must confront at some point and one Door County is grappling with now. You need to attract visitors to drive your economy, to provide the economic lifeblood that allows you to live in a place you love. But those visitors and the growth that accompanies them are eroding much […]
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Coming to a Shoreline Near You: Phragmites Australis a.k.a. “Phrankengrass”
This is a tale of invasion, the story of an alien grass that is steadily taking over the shorelines and wetlands of Northeast Wisconsin. The bad seed in this story is an exotic, or non-native, strain of phragmites australis, otherwise known as common reed grass. Unfortunately for most residents of the Door Peninsula – human, […]
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The Ephraim Preserve at Anderson Pond
The Village of Ephraim is renowned for its beauty – its white buildings gracefully nestled amidst a stunning natural backdrop, facing another Door County treasure, Peninsula State Park. Until recently, however, other than the wetland preserve on the south end of the village, little environmentally significant land in Ephraim was in permanent conservation status and […]
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What Role Do Double-Crested Cormorants Play in the Great Lakes Fisheries?
Those who’ve visited the Door County shoreline in recent years may have noticed an increased number of a distinctive bird – the cormorant. Current studies are slowly revealing the impact these birds have on the Great Lakes ecosystem. A relative of the pelican, Double-crested Cormorants have a four-foot wingspan and an orange throat pouch that […]