Welcome to SCHOCK MCCOY PRODUCTIONS by J.H. McCoy. This website is named in honor of my mother,
Gloria (Schock) McCoy, and dedicated to her memory. Since it was founded in 2015, her JOURNAL and ALBUM have always been prominent features, but now some of her recipes have been added to the website (RECIPES).
The format of the HOMEPAGE changes during the year. It often contains articles from my hometown newspaper.
The NEWS section features recent photographs and comments on the local scene as well as more of my articles.
PHOTO-ESSAYS is a record of my trips to iconic locations in the U.S. A short history of the Schock family, written over 50 years ago (1970) by my great-uncle, Edward D. Schock, is presented in HISTORY. I edited it in 2020.
I hope that you will always find something interesting on this website and that you will tell others about it.
Thank you for stopping by. Please sign the Guest Book, and come back soon!
J.H. (John Herbert) McCoy
9636 Roberts Rd., Harbor Beach, MI 48441 // [email protected] // (989) 551-9487 (cell)
ESTABLISHED:
JANUARY 30, 2015
SCHOCK MCCOY
PRODUCTIONS
***CLICK ON THE NAME FOR A SHORT VIDEO***
(Nobel Speech)
"TEMPUS FUGIT"
(Click on small "pics" to enlarge)
Canada geese fly by.
TODAY
YESTERDAY
SAND BEACH TOWNSHIP
&
MICHIGAN'S THUMB
J.H. MCCOY
++10th Anniversary 1/30/25++
NEW
NEW
NEW
"THE SCHOCK FAMILY TREE" by Edward D. Schock (1970) edited by J.H.McCoy
Read it in HISTORY
REST IN
PEACE
JOHN MUIR (NATIONAL PARK SERVICE VIDEO) "A GLORIOUS JOURNEY" - 22 MINUTES
Born 102 years ago, Jan 30, 1923
FROM THE MINDEN CITY HERALD BY J.H. MCCOY
TIMBERDOODLE ON THE LAWN - 6/9/23
SNOWY OWL AT THE HARBOR BEACH MARINA
APRIL 3-4, 2023
ARTICLE IN "THE MINDEN CITY HERALD" - 4/13/23
THE SNOWY OWL'S "SPRING FLING" ENDED ON APRIL 5!
NOBODY HAS SEEN IT SINCE.
SNOWY OWL IN HARBOR BEACH
THE MINDEN CITY HERALD
APRIL 13, 2023
A Snowy Owl was seen and photographed at the Harbor Beach Marina on Monday and Tuesday of the first week of April. It was sitting among the boulders in front of the rental cabins at the north end of the harbor. The heavily streaked “Snowy” was extremely tame and ignored cars and traffic. It even tolerated pedestrians, walking by on the sidewalk.
I took pictures on both days from a parked vehicle. I left the car only once. On Tuesday morning, I pulled up to the line of boulders without seeing the owl. I was going to check the rocks for signs of a kill. The photographer who took pictures on the first day said that the owl was feeding on something.
I got out of the car, walked around the back of it, and then suddenly froze when I saw the yellow eyes. The Snowy Owl was sitting quietly among the boulders about 50 feet away, watching my every move. I retraced my steps, climbed back into the car, and once again snapped some pictures. (The owl photo was one I took that morning.)
Later, I began to wonder if the owl was sick or injured. After all, I had never seen it fly, and it was in the same general location for two days in a row. But it looked healthy and moved normally.
Then on Wednesday, it was gone - nobody has seen it since. Evidently, the springtime Snowy Owl decided that it was finally time to end it strange sojourn
in Harbor Beach and return to its home on the Arctic tundra.
*********
More pictures of the Snowy Owl can be found on the Homepage of my website, Schock McCoy Productions. www.schockmccoyproductions.com
After the owl disappeared, I posted several iPhone pictures of it on “Birding Michigan,” a Facebook site for people interested in Michigan birds. I also
reported it to eBird, the electronic birding website of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. www.ebird.org
Out of sync with the calendar, a Snowy Owl seems at home in the boulders at the Harbor Beach Marina.
"HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES" - HURON CITY
ICONIC HARBOR BEACH LIGHTHOUSE (1885) AND MIGRATING CANADA GEESE
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS 6/13/24
"THAT IS ONE GOOD THING ABOUT THE WORLD - THERE ARE ALWAYS SURE TO BE MORE SPRINGS."
L.M. MONTGOMERY (1874-1942)
1619
MAIN
STREET
OPOSSUMS ON THE MOVE
in THE MINDEN CITY HERALD - JULY 13, 2023
READ THE ARTICLE IN "THE CAMERA SKETCH BOOK"
"O PIONEERS!" by WILLA CATHER (1913)
"The land belongs to the future... that's the way it seems to me. How many of the names on the county clerk's plat will be there in fifty years? ... We come and go, but the land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it --- for a little while." Alexandra Bergson - final chapter
(photo: deserted homestead in Huron County)
FRESH SNOW AND A TEMPORARY "LAWN ORNAMENT,"
ROBERTS RD., SAND BEACH TWP.
posted on Facebook, January 23, 2024
CHANGING FACE OF AGRICULTURE:
BALED WHEAT STRAW IN THE THUMB
LABOR-INTENSIVE SQUARE BALES ARE GONE!
PRESCRIBED BURN 5/2/24
WILD BERGAMOT
LIKED BY BUTTERFLIES AND BUMBLEBEES
GROWING WILD WHERE THE BACKLAWN IS UNCUT
(Photo on "John H. McCoy" Facebook page, August 9, 2023. "Schock McCoy Productions" is also on Facebook with literary and historical content. "Like Us" there.)
FARM COUNTRY RAINBOW
ANDY DUFRESNE - "THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION"
"HOPE IS A GOOD THING, MAYBE THE BEST OF THINGS, AND NO GOOD THING EVER DIES."
BEST "BACKYARD BUTTERFLY" ... SO FAR
EASTERN TIGER SWALLOWTAIL ON WILD BERGAMOT
AUGUST 20, 2023
SANDHILL CRANES
IN HARBOR BEACH 5/23/24
"ONCE IN A BLUE MOON"
LAKE HURON - SAND BEACH TOWNSHIP AUGUST 30, 2023
The next BLUE MOON will occur on May 31, 2026. However, a
BLUE MOON, which is also a "SUPERMOON," will not happen until 2037.
MIGRATING WINTER WREN IN THE BACKYARD
October 15, 2023 - through a window
WINTER WREN - "a very round, dark wren, told from the House Wren by its smaller size, much stubbier tail, stronger eyebrow, and heavily barred belly. Often bobs body and flicks wings. Mouselike and secretive; stays near the ground." [from the "Peterson Field Guide To Birds"]
DITTO - MORE MIGRANTS - HERMIT THRUSH
POSTED ON FACEBOOK: "A small flock of Canada Geese at Harbor Beach, flying off to feed as a December day comes to an end (12/6/23)."
Good response: 43 LIKES; 7 COMMENTS.
ANCIENT ENEMIES IN HURON COUNTY
NOVEMBER 14, 2023
POSTED ON FACEBOOK: DECEMBER 3, 2023
LIKE THE "BIG WOODS" - STANDING CORN IS A PLACE OF SAFETY FOR DEER DURING THE FIREARM DEER SEASON,
WHICH BEGAN ON NOVEMBER 15, 2023.
STANDING CORN IN MID-NOVEMBER (HURON CO.)
GLORIA (SCHOCK) MCCOY
CLICK
ON PIC
SPRING 2013
J.H. MCCOY - THE MINDEN CITY HERALD
+++ NEW MATERIAL
ON MY WEBSITE HAS
BEEN LIMITED DUE TO
HEALTH ISSUES,
SEPT. 1, 2024.
During spring migration in May, a flock of Black-bellied Plovers spent a few days on the shoreline at Wagener County Park south of Harbor Beach. Perhaps they were waiting for more favorable winds or just resting during their long migratory journey to the Arctic tundra. (Black-bellied Plovers are the largest members of the plover family and nest the farthest north.)
The adult male in breeding plumage has a white crown and nape and a black face and belly; the female is slightly duller and averages less black overall.
The number of migrating plovers at the park fluctuated: one day there were about 50 on
a small spit at the water’s edge; the next day, close to 100. (Later, a birder with a scope counted 140 Black-bellied Plovers just north of the park – no doubt, some of the same birds.) The flock also contained a few other shorebirds like Dunlins and Ruddy Turnstones.
In breeding plumage, Black-bellied Plovers are easy to recognize; but after the summer molt, their distinctive black pattern is replaced by a white belly and a mottled, brownish gray color.
During fall and winter, birders must rely on other field marks to identify them - like their stocky plover shape, hunched posture, and short, thick bill. In flight, they show
a white wing-stripe, a whitish rump and tail, and black under the wings at their “wingpits.”
Black-bellied Plovers might visit Wagener County Park again during fall migration, but they will be harder to identify in their dull nonbreeding plumage.
In early May, a breeding pair of adult Sandhill Cranes was seen in a grassy field near
the Grice House Museum in Harbor Beach. They continually probed the grass with their long, dagger-like bills and seemed preoccupied by their search for food. Occasionally, they engaged in some brief courtship displays, spreading their wings and “dancing.”
The cranes did not react to my vehicle, and I took the pictures from the car window.
It was the first time I ever photographed Sandhill Cranes inside the city limits.
In early spring, I have often heard and seen high-flying Sandhill Cranes in the sky over my house in Sand Beach Township. Usually, I hear their loud, trumpet-like calls long before I locate them in the sky overhead.
Sandhill Cranes are more numerous farther west. In fact, their name refers to the Sand Hills of central Nebraska, where over half-a-million cranes rest and refuel in the spring
at various stopover points along the Platte River.
Most Sandhill Cranes use the Central Flyway during spring migration. But, as they expand their range eastward on the Mississippi Flyway, they are seen more often in the Thumb.
************************
During my twelve years with THE MINDEN CITY HERALD, I have written other articles about Sandhill Cranes. They are listed below and can be found in the Archives of the newspaper (www.mindencityherald.com).
1.
Sandhill Cranes…. Early Migrants - July 31, 2014
Sandhill Cranes…. Early Migrants - July 31, 20142.Sandhill Cranes - November 19, 2015
Sandhill Cranes - November 19, 20153.Hunting Sandhill Cranes? – June 20, 2019
Hunting Sandhill Cranes? – June 20, 20194.Sandhill Cranes in Minden Township (photo) - May 28, 2020
Sandhill Cranes in Minden Township (photo) - May 28, 2020
The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) conducted a “prescribed burn” in the Verona State Game Area on Friday, April 26. With the Verona Township Cemetery as
a backdrop, the 15-man “burn team” began lighting back fires along Philp and McAllister Roads, which slowly burned into the wind (SE).
When the back fires had charred and blackened a sufficient perimeter, the DNR ignited the grasslands in front of them. A brisk wind fanned the flames and drove them toward the newly created “fire-stop.” Clouds of smoke billowed into the sky as fast-moving fires raced through the dry grass.
Three sections of grassland (about 300 acres) were burned during the afternoon. At 10:30 P.M., some DNR personnel were still at the scene to make certain that all fires were completely extinguished.
“Prescribed burns” are used by the DNR to improve grassland habitat, but grass fires can be unpredictable and dangerous. Fire safety is always a primary concern.
***************************
Eight years ago, I wrote a full-length article on the same subject, “Fire Comes to the Verona State Game Area.” It can be found in the Archives of The Minden City Herald (5/5/2016). www.mindencityherald.com
10TH
ANNIVERSARY
JAN. 30, 2025
10
WINTER IN THE HARBOR
A Home for a Wood Duck or Screech Owl?
It looks like a wood duck nest box, and it could even be one. However, a prospective wood duck occupant would probably reject it based on the old real estate maxim, “location, location, location.”
Typically, wood ducks live in wooded swamps and nest in tree cavities or nest boxes put up around the water’s edge. Wood ducks are strikingly beautiful birds with some rather unusual adaptations. Besides nesting in trees, they have strong claws, which they use to grip the bark around their nest holes and to perch on tree branches.
However, this “big bird house,” is not meant for wood ducks. In fact, it is not a nesting box for birds of any kind. Located on my front lawn and facing the house, it is supposed to be a winter shelter for screech owls.
These small members of the owl family are only about 10 inches tall with distinctive ear tufts and bright yellow eyes. They have two color phases, gray and reddish-brown. In some respects, they are like a much smaller version of the great horned owl.
Seldom seen but often heard, the screech owl emits an even-pitched trilling sound or “tremolo,” and an eerie wail, which Roger Tory Peterson, birder extraordinaire, describes in his “Field Guide” as, “a mournful whinny…descending in pitch.” They also can make loud barking calls, or as their name implies, let out a screech, especially when defending their nests or young.
Screech owls prefer to live and hunt in areas which contain old trees with hollows, a type of habitat that is fast disappearing. These diminutive owls use tree cavities for nesting sites and as protection from sub-zero winds and winter cold.
The first screech owl I ever saw was in the front yard of a residence in Harbor Beach. Fellow teacher and nature enthusiast, Hugh Clark had built a nest box and put it up in a sprawling old tree near his front sidewalk. That winter, a gray phase screech owl took up residence there and would sit in the entrance hole as darkness fell.
With its eyes partially closed, the still sleepy owl seemed unconcerned about two gawkers on the snowy front lawn. Eventually, it flew off to hunt, returning later to spend another short winter day in its cozy shelter.
Because I was interested, Hugh gave me a nest box, made from scrap wood and painted brown. He was constantly giving things away - thousands of his signature carvings, which he whittled and painted, walking sticks, hinged wooden boxes, and owl houses.
When spring came, I put my owl box up on a black cherry tree in the backyard and promptly forgot about it. Some years later, as it got dark on a cold winter day, I was surprised to see a screech owl sitting peacefully in the entrance hole.
Hugh Clark retired years ago, and the owl house fell down and rotted away. But I never forgot how pleasant it was to look out on a snowy landscape and to see a screech owl patiently waiting for night to come.
Now, I am “back in business,” and if another screech owl appears, this story will be continued!
J.H.McCoy
Note: The wood duck nest box or screech owl house was built by Tim Mausolf at THE BLACK CROW in Minden City. He made this one to last!
OCTOBER 9, 2014
JANUARY 15, 2015
A WINTER SCREECH OWL ..... THE REST OF THE STORY
A gray phase screech owl in a new winter shelter
In October, when I wrote about the new owl house in my front yard, I promised to continue the story if a screech owl showed up during the winter. Well, it didn’t take long for that to happen! In the first week of January, when the temperature dropped to single digits and below-zero wind chills were reported in the Thumb, a gray phase screech owl made an appearance. The entrance hole, which had been empty for months, was suddenly blocked, and something that looked like a face was visible in the circular frame.
The owl peered out for a few minutes in the late afternoon, and then ducked down and disappeared into the interior. Later, he popped up again for another brief inspection. Perhaps he was checking for potential danger, or maybe he was just getting used to an unfamiliar view.
When it began to get dark, the little owl perched in the entrance hole and patiently waited for night to come. His distinctive ear tufts were clearly visible. His eyes, which were two narrow slits, made him look half-awake as the short winter day slowly faded. Eventually, he jumped into the air, and with yellow eyes now wide-open, he flew off into the half-light to hunt mice, voles, or perhaps an unlucky bird that carelessly chose an unsafe nighttime perch.
Screech owls are at home in any habitat with sufficient cover, but they prefer areas with old trees - they need hollows and tree cavities for shelter and nesting. However, they are not fussy about their accommodations - to them, a nest box is as good as a natural cavity.
Screech owls can be found in wooded suburbs and city parks. These “cosmopolitan owls” do not seem to be afraid of human activity. When I shoveled a few inches of light snow from my driveway, the owl sat peacefully in the entrance hole. Occasionally, his head turned in my direction, but he did not duck back into the box or fly off. A great horned owl would never tolerate that kind of human closeness.
Normally active at night, screech owls are more often heard than seen. Their mournful, descending “whinny” and even-pitched trill are unmistakable. If they hunt nearby, a well-placed owl house can attract them. In other words, “if you build it, they will come.”
J.H.McCoy
Notes: If Tim Mausolf builds it for you at THE BLACK CROW in Minden City, they will also come!
Kudos to Hugh Clark, who gave me my first screech owl house, and apologies to Kevin Costner and “Field of Dreams.”
EAGLE-TIME IN THE THUMB - 2025
