I am on the west side of Michigan, U.S.A. about have way up the Lake Michigan coast line. Last winter was a long one... we did not see any flowers or even a bud on a tree until May 15th last year, so I suspect the winter kill was larger than normal. The winters as of late have been harsher, and I have not seen any pheasents around my house in about 7 years (there use to be a lot of them).

However, this year is a pretty mild winter so far, and there is very little ice. This really effects my ability to see any consentrations of ducks. Usually all the lakes would be frozen in November (or earlier). With iced over lakes, the areas were there is some open water would be limited, and would concentrate all the ducks, swans, and geese into a small area. There could be thousands ducks of many different breeds all cramed into a very small area, and it was great for duck shooting (with a camera). In fact, I would go down to the channel when the temps got below zero so I could get real close to them - because they were not likely to take flight (and there are no people either). You could even sit there and a chunk of ice with bunch of ducks and swans on it would float by within about 5-15 feet of you and they do not care (in the fall you can not get close to a duck becasue there are to many people shooting them with something other than a camera, so they are bit spooked).

Pat