Sounds of Lake Superior: Crisp Point Beach and Lighthouse

09/22/22 • 24 min

3 Listeners

I would like to thank everyone that has donated or otherwise supported Nature is my Jam by liking, following, sharing and/or subscribing to the podcast. Your support goes directly to creating future episodes and allows this podcast to be ad-free and 100% listener supported. Your kindness means the world to me and I hope you might feel inspired to explore the natural areas where you live.

Welcome to the 16th episode of the Nature is my Jam Podcast. As this episode gets published, we are closing in on 1000 downloads! As a podcasting metric, I’m not entirely sure what that means, but as a personal metric, it means the world to me. When I came up with this crazy idea to have a non-speaking podcast, I can’t say that I thought it would be more than a personal sound journal. Imagine my surprise when my friends, family and complete strangers welcomed this tiny podcast into their lives to immerse themselves in a few minutes of nature every week!!

Diving into creating this podcast became a passion project and something I desperately needed to occupy my time after losing my job in a career spanning 25 years in cybersecurity. This space and time to nurture my creative side is exactly the focus I needed after leaving the corporate world. My wife, Rhonda, never hesitated and encouraged me to take this time to heal and define my next chapter. I owe her a debt of gratitude and love for allowing me this space. Thank you, Rhonda! ❤️

Okay, you didn’t come here for a life update. Let’s get to the good stuff! Hello from the Crisp Point Lighthouse on Lake Superior. We are in the upper peninsula of Michigan to spend a week exploring and recording. This recording features the waves of Lake Superior as they collide with an old pier left over from the heyday of this amazing lighthouse. As I walked down the beach, I kept hearing a “tink think” sound rise from the waves. I looked around and discovered the pier/piling had a bolt sticking through with a large washer getting moved around by the water. Once I heard it, I became slightly obsessed with it and setup my recorder.

This sound reminds me of a singing bowl used during meditation. That crisp, clear bell and the calming sounds of the waves. Yes, the water is interacting with a manmade object, but this is nature negotiating and interacting with the pier that was placed in its path decades ago. Listen to this with headphones and let the cling of the washer bring you back to center as you breathe. Or, just listen to a cool sound on Lake Superior. : )

As always, I welcome your thoughts and hope you enjoy this episode. Thanks again for your continued support!

Recording Summary:

Date and Time: 9/13/2022 | 1:15 PM
Location: Luce County, Michigan, USA
Landscape/Feature: Crisp Point Lighthouse | Lake Superior
Conditions: Mid-day, Sunny, Light Breeze, Clear Skies, Mild Temps
Recording Device: Zoom F6 Field Recorder
Microphone(s): Audio Technica BP 4025
Digital Audio Workstation: Adobe Audition

Support the show

Thanks for listening! ❤️ Your support means the world to me. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter for daily updates.

Send us a text

As always, I welcome your thoughts and hope you enjoy this episode. Thanks again for your continued support!

Recording Summary:

Date and Time: 9/13/2022 | 1:15 PM
Location: Luce County, Michigan, USA
Landscape/Feature: Crisp Point Lighthouse | Lake Superior
Conditions: Mid-day, Sunny, Light Breeze, Clear Skies, Mild Temps
Recording Device: Zoom F6 Field Recorder
Microphone(s): Audio Technica BP 4025
Digital Audio Workstation: Adobe Audition

Support the show

Thanks for listening! ❤️ Your support means the world to me. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter for daily updates.

Previous Episode

Sounds of Leelanau Peninsula: Open Meadow with Owls and Coyotes!

Send us a text

I would like to thank everyone that has donated or otherwise supported Nature is my Jam by liking, following, sharing and/or subscribing to the podcast. Your support goes directly to creating future episodes and allows this podcast to be ad-free and 100% listener supported. Your kindness means the world to me and I hope you might feel inspired to explore the natural areas where you live.

Welcome to the 15th episode of the Nature is my Jam Podcast. When this episode gets published, I will be in the upper peninsula of Michigan to observe and record the fall bird migration. The Crisp Point Lighthouse on Lake Superior is also on my list of places to visit. This will be a solo camping trip and, as usual, I am going to bring too much gear and not have enough time to visit all the sites I have on my list. Of course, that is the beauty of life in northern Michigan. There will always be an adventure to be had, no matter the day or season.

We are still at the Lighthouse West Natural Area in Leelanau County but have moved from the beach to an open meadow. Please note that I covered the area in last week’s episode so won’t repeat that information here. This meadow used to be part of a farm and still have a few apple trees mingling with the fresh growth that is quickly reclaiming the old farmland. This was another overnight recording, with Barred Owls making their presence known and a pack of coyotes making a ruckus several times throughout the night. We can also hear deer running through the brush and even sniffing the recording equipment.

You may wish to use headphones for this episode to get the full experience of being there. A few sounds are subtle and some distance away from the recording gear. Microphone placement can sometimes be a roll of the dice, and that is clear in this recording. I think if I had moved the microphone to the other side of the meadow that we would have those owls all up in our business. However, the owls are very present and I think the deer were happy that the Coyotes were in a different field.

This part of Leelanau County is fairly remote, but still has a lot of activity during the day, so night recordings work best. I sometimes wonder if I should have started a podcast devoted to air travel because I have hours of planes making their presence known at all times of the day.

As always, I welcome your thoughts and hope you enjoy this episode. Thanks again for your continued support!

Recording Summary:

Date and Time: 9/6/2022 | 4:45 AM
Location: Leelanau County, Michigan, USA
Landscape/Feature: Lighthouse West Natural Area | Lake Michigan
Conditions: Night, Light Breeze, Clear Skies, Mild Temps
Recording Device: Zoom F6 Field Recorder
Microphone(s): Audio Technica BP 4025
Digital Audio Workstation: Adobe Audition

Support the show

Thanks for listening! ❤️ Your support means the world to me. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter for daily updates.

Next Episode

Sounds of Leelanau County: Yellowthroats, Hawks, Woodpeckers, Chickadees and Warblers!!

Send us a text

My recordings from the upper peninsula are not useable because some type of critter thought it would be fun to chew the microphone cable. I didn’t notice until I got back to Traverse City, but I had to order a replacement cable. Of the 30 hours of recorded files, I could only salvage what you heard in the episode last week. As you know, I went to the eastern UP hoping to record wolves. The good? I found the wolves and tracked them for two days before setting up my recorders. The bad? They are very elusive and difficult to capture on “tape”. I have a few seconds of what might be a howl, but it is distant and could also be a Common Loon.

Welcome to the 17th episode of the Nature is my Jam podcast! Because of some technical difficulties while I was in the upper peninsula, I had to dig into some older files for this week’s episode. Not to fear, though. We are in Leelanau County again and we are going to be spoiled with a menagerie of bird calls recorded in an open meadow. How many birds make up a menagerie?? I don’t know that answer but we have 10 birds for the price of admission. And not just any birds. We are talking Common Yellowthroats, Magnolia Warblers, Black-capped Chickadees, Pileated Woodpeckers, Red-shouldered Hawks, Blue Jays (song and calls!), Crows, and more.

Northport is a tiny village near the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula that has beautiful rolling hills, forests, farmland and perhaps my favorite, expansive open meadows that soak up the sun and play host to a who’s who of Northern Michigan wildlife. This recording, as I mentioned above, is very much bird forward to the listening palate.

As always, I welcome your thoughts and hope you enjoy this episode. Thanks again for your continued support!

Recording Summary: