December 2015 Photo of the month contest

[havalotta]

You're welcome. That was a fun one to create!
It all fell right into place quite nicely. Some take me waaaay too long in the choosing, manipulating and choice of colors department but not yours.

[EllenW]

Originally Posted by havalotta

No way you can.
Only the heads ~Mr tomato head ~ or another can adjust it.

Sorry about that!

[turttle]

Originally Posted by havalotta

We used to get a seasonal wash up or in of alewives. Stink to high heaven for a week or so.
See:What causes alewives to die off in great numbers at certain times of the year?

We have not had the die off now for many many years. Something's changed. The intrusion of the invasive muzzles, gobies or what have you creating perhaps lack of forage may have wiped them all out. I'd like to think they are still out there yet but haven't had a form of stress to cause the yearly die off.

In theory, the intoduction of coho salmon to Lake Michigan is what eliminated the alewives. My husband has very negative memories of the smell of the lake from dying alewives when he was a kid in St Joseph.

For that matter, the alewives were not native to Lake Michigan, either. They swam up from the Atlantic via canals and went crazy happy in the new breeding ground.

[turttle]

And thank you for liking my photo. I agree, flowers and bees in December are cheering! And this year, I still have them in mid-January, though I bet the cold snap they are having right now has killed them off.