Hooray, the puppies are here! I don’t have a ton of details, but they arrived yesterday and there are nine of them. They are all Thunder color, (the lighter color he is in the summer). I understand, mom and pups doing well. Congratulations to Smokey and Cutter and Cindy and Gary of Shiloh Ridge Retrievers (SRR). I hope to have some pictures to share soon. 🙂
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You may have noticed a new badge in my sidebar.
Many thanks to Just Ramblin’ who left me the following message:
I also wanted to let you know that I have been enjoying your blog for quite some time now, have loved getting to know your crew, and really enjoy seeing your photo captures of the moments you choose to share. You deserve the Creative Capture Blogging Award. Please enjoy the fact that someone out here in the blogosphere really does see and enjoys your photo captures of the moments you choose to share. Stop by to get your badge if you would like to show others your award status. Keep blogging, keep photographing, and keep sharing. Congratulations! : )
Award Info: https://justramblinpier.wordpress.com
Thank you so much. I am thrilled. I also have to thank the other people who contribute pictures to the blog, (my husband, Cindy and Gary, Doreen and Gary, Joe, and others). I get a lot of help with people allowing me to share their pictures on this site. 🙂 If you haven’t been over to Just Ramblin‘ you must visit. You will find beautiful photos coupled with thoughtful posts.
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A few days ago Hsin-Yi of Honey, the Great Dane was asking about the tall plants around where Storm was hunting. Hsin-Yi and Honey live in Australia. Yep, on the other side of the world. If you have not visited Honey’s blog you are missing out. They have some grand adventures, Hsin-Yi has some great training tips, and you should see Honey dance!
Ok back to those brown plants.
Believe it or not, that is corn. I don’t know if there is a lot of waterfowl hunting in Australia, but here it is huge. There are four flyways in the United States which are the paths the ducks take to migrate from their breeding grounds up north in Canada to where they spend the winter months down south.
The Atlantic and Mississippi flyways run along the edges of the eastern Great Lakes and that is where the 2 brown dawgs do most of their hunting, (the arrows show the approximate areas). The state of Michigan has various managed waterfowl hunting areas around the state and two such areas are Fish Point and Harsens Island. These areas are managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and part of what they do is to plant corn as habitat for the migrating waterfowl. In the fall during hunting season, they may flood the corn making it even better for the ducks, so that is why the dog on a stand in the water among dried stalks of corn.
Here is a picture of Storm at Harsens from last season:
And one from this season at Fish Point:
These areas are paid for through the fees hunters pay for their licenses and permits to hunt the area. In addition, there are some very dedicated volunteers that work to maintain the areas during the off-season. Here is a link to the Fish Point Wildlife Association for more information about the area and what they do. Here are links to PDF Maps of the managed areas at Harsens Island and Fish Point.
Corn may be planted in the managed areas, but along the lake shore it is generally natural marshland and is full of cattails and tules.
A picture of tules:
We are so fortunate to have our beautiful Great Lakes to enjoy here in Michigan. Thanks to Hsin-Yi for asking a great question. 🙂
It is so beautiful there! And congrats to the momma and her new puppies! Hope we can see a picture son!
Congratulations! Aah I’m waiting to see all nine cuties! Hugs for the wonderful mom and her puppies! xxx Teje & Nero
Congratulations on the puppies!!! I can’t wait to see pictures. 🙂
And congratulations on the photo award!! I too love the photos of the two brown dawgs.
The first time I saw those pictures I never noticed it was corn, then when you pointed it out I thought, why is the corn in a lake? LOL Glad you explained that, so the next question is, what do they do with the corn?
You didn’t think you could get off that easily did you? 😉
Some fields were harvested. Some is for hunting and they cut strips for decoys. They have pumps to flood the fields.
If you go to this link
http://www.muck-boy.com/MI%20Waterfowl%20Areas/Fish%20Point%20Area%20Report%20Page.htm
they update the conditions at Fish Point. Towards the bottom they mention that the fields are being cut and the pumps are on.
Congratulations on the puppies!!! I’m so excited for you and I can’t wait for the pictures to be posted. This will be an extra happy Thanksgiving for you all! 🙂
Congratulations on the puppies!!! We can’t wait for pictures.
Goose
Great photos! Congrats on the pups!
Hurray! Puppies! Can wait to read and see all about them! Congratulations!
i LOVED learning from this post! the flooded corn rocks socks, entirely. both pics of storm are gorgeous! and as for the flyways map, i’ve personally never seen one before, so i am quite impressed. my husband said he’d seen one before, so obviously he’s way cooler than me. but i dig that its here nonetheless. congrats on the photo award. seriously, you’ve got mad-sweet pix here everytime and i love getting to see your beautiful brown dogs. ::hugs:: happy thanksgiving! and uber excited to hear the puppies have arrived!
Want pictures! Want pictures!…. who am I kidding? Want a PUPPY!
Congrats on the puppies and the award!!!
Puppies are in the air:))))))))))
Congrats on the pups!! And that tid bit about the ducks is amazing. I always wondered why they always flew more east (being near Chicago) rather than more south for the winter. But it seems there is a nice Atlantic flow over there! I’m surrounded by corn, but just extremely dry fields and probably to much wind for my liking. 😛
Can’t wait for the pictures of the pups and I love your hunting pictures! 😀
Wooohooo! Great award — congrats! 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Woofs & hugs, <3
~Bailey (Yep, I'm a girl!)
Yay, the puppies are here!! I hope we get to see some pictures. And speaking of pictures, congratulations on the award. You do always have a lot of great pictures on your blog and I know how much time it can take to capture and process (resize, watermark, etc) the best photos.
That is interesting about the corn. I didn’t know it would grow in standing water.
Awesome info on the flyways. I always learn interesting information from your posts. I did not realize they were actually called flyways and that there were only four in the U.S. And thanks for the kind words too. : )
Love the pics, especially the first one of Storm on the stand.