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Photo: Wpwatchdog, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Bird watching. Whitefish Point is a premier birding destination during spring and fall migration. The Whitefish Point Unit of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge provides important migratory bird migration habitat for raptors, waterbirds, and songbirds. Whitefish Point is a designated Important Bird Area. The Whitefish Point Bird Observatory is a research and education facility operated in affiliation with Michigan Audubon, a State Chapter of the National Audubon Society. Whitefish Point is the best place in North America to observe the saw-whet owl. Most of Whitefish Point is a wildlife sanctuary, renowned for the variety of birds that pass through. The Michigan Audubon Society maintains a small information room informing birders particular species to observe as they hike along the trails network. A wooden walkway has been constructed to allow the visitor a chance to venture into the sanctuary area and observe wildlife. Whitefish Point is a target for migrating birds, including eagles, Northern goshawks, geese, falcons, hawks and owls. Endangered piping plovers returned to nest at Whitefish Point in 2009.
The Whitefish Point Bird Observatory (WPBO) is located in Chippewa County, Michigan, US, adjacent to the Whitefish Point Unit of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge. It operates as a non-profit, affiliate education and research facility of the Michigan Audubon Society. The Society and the WPBO together have recorded over 300 species of birds at Whitefish Point. As one of a network of bird observatories in the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network, the WPBO documents the bird population of the Great Lakes region through bird banding, data collection, and research studies.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
The oldest active lighthouse on Lake Superior when it was automated in 1971. The first light tower, built with stone in 1848 and powered by whale oil, was replaced with the present steel tower during the Lincoln administration in 1861. Home to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, which exhibits salvaged artifacts from shipwrecks in the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve, and the bell from the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, a US ship which sank in 1975 in the area (but just across the international boundary into Canada, which is water). Admission to the museum includes access and tours of the former coast guard buildings and an exhibit of a lifesaving boat and equipment.
The cobblestone beaches at Whitefish Point are open to the public where Lake Superior agates are found, especially after storms in late summer and the fall.
Scuba diving. Wrecks including the Comet, John B. Cowle, Drake, Samuel Mather, Miztec, Myron, Niagara, John M. Osborn, Sagamore, Superior City and Vienna are protected by the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve for future generations of sports divers. Many of the 23 known shipwrecks lying in depths from 30 feet (9.1 m) to 270 feet (82 m) are moored to protect the wrecks and enhance the safety of divers. The preserve has good visibility and offers deep water diving on a variety of shipwrecks. The preserve is one of the last places in the Great Lakes to observe shipwrecks without zebra mussel encrustation. Dry suits are recommended due to cold temperatures and unprotected coves or bays. Most of the dive sites are deep and divers must be certain of their ability and their equipment before they attempt to dive in this preserve. The wrecks in Whitefish Bay are accessed at the Whitefish Point State Harbor.
Decommissioned lighthouse (active 1904-1947) with small shop, museum and visitor centre on a wild, remote area of the Lake Superior shore known as the "shipwreck coast". Seasonal: the lighthouse grounds are always open but the roads are not snowploughed in winter. On Facebook.
Upper and Lower Falls
The Tahquamenon Falls are two different waterfalls on the Tahquamenon River. Both falls are near Lake Superior in the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The water is notably brown in color from the tannins leached from the cedar swamps which the river drains. The upper falls are more than 200 feet (60 m) across and with a drop of approximately 48 feet (14 m) During the late spring runoff, the river drains as much as 50,000 US gallons (190,000 L) of water per second, making the upper falls the third most voluminous vertical waterfall east of the Mississippi River, after Niagara Falls and Cohoes Falls, both in New York State.
The falls are within Tahquamenon Falls State Park, between Newberry, Michigan, and Paradise, Michigan. They are a popular tourist destination in the Upper Peninsula during all seasons. Snowmobile trails lead almost to the falls, and walkways are kept clear for most of the winter.