Les Cheneaux Area: Prentiss Bay

Directions3 miles east of the Woollam Preserve on M-134. There is a roadside pull off area where the tree line gives way to views of a sedge meadow and emergent marsh over Prentiss Bay. 
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Birding Opportunities
​The pull off here is another great place to view a pristine Great Lakes wetland.  The emergent marsh to the south of the road is sometimes home to Black Terns in low water level years.  American Bitterns, and breeding waterfowl can always be found here in Spring through Fall. The sedge meadow to the north of the road is home to Common Yellowthroat, Swamp Sparrow, Sedge Wren, and there are some documented reports of Yellow Rail being found here. Farther out in Prentiss Bay there is a small breeding colony of breeding Common Terns and there is typically Caspain Tern, Bald Eagle, Merlin and Osprey found in this area. The bay also houses large numbers of Ring-Necked Ducks, Redheads, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead and other duck species in the spring and fall.
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Bald Eagles

Other Exciting Features
​Prentiss Bay was once the home of an early milltown where many of the Upper Peninsula’s large trees were processed and shipped further south. It was in the late 1800s that a sawmill was built here and a town that eventually grew to over 500 individuals sprang up around it. White Pine was sent here to be processed and millions of board feet were loaded onto boats in the deep outer bay and shipped off to towns like Chicago. In the early 1900s all of the white pine was logged out of the area and the town dwindled away.  Remnants of this mill town can still be found on the property that is currently owned by InterVarsity’s Cedar Campus, which runs a large retreat and resort center.  While the camp is not open to the public, you may visit www.cedarcampus.org for contact info and can obtain permission to see the camp, rent a cabin, or hike their trails.