With the snow melt and rains recently, the Michigamme River was doing a bit of flooding, including Danielle Putnam’s back yard. She said it got to around 6 to 8 feet from their house which was nerve-wracking to say the least, but they were lucky as a neighbor had their crawl space, whole yard and coops flooded. The bonus though, was seeing this beautiful male Wood Duck floating around in Danielle’s back yard. The iridescent colors on these ducks is truly amazing, so many colors and markings make them quite distinct from other ducks. They are native to North America and unlike most ducks, they nest in tree cavities or man-made nesting boxes near water. Their habitat is generally marshes, wooded swamps and streams. So the flooding in Danielle’s backyard was perfect for this duck.

Doing it with Dish fills us in on the Michigamme River flooding threat in today’s video. The lead-in says: “Heavy rains and rising waters had the Michigamme River pushing its limits, putting the M-69 bridge between Crystal Falls and Sagola in a tense situation. With already deteriorating conditions, officials were closely monitoring the structure and even preparing to shut down this stretch of highway if the river continued to rise. In this video, we take a look at the high water levels, the condition of the bridge, and the real concern that it could be overtopped or damaged. Fortunately, the forecasted thunderstorms didn’t bring as much rain as expected, and it looks like the bridge has avoided the worst—for now.”

Hi
Danielle, how cool that you got an up close look at
that wood duck. I saw one briefly once and they are
spectacular.

Flood or no flood, that M69 bridge looks iffy. I
wouldn't want to go onto it.

That bird is just stunning.

Cool vid...That man just seems fun!

What great pictures of these beautiful birds. They
are so pretty. Danielle you are so lucky to be able
to get so up close and personal with them.

Thanks!!

Every winter if we get a lot of snow, the following spring the river
goes over the banks and floods our back yard. The neat thing is
being able to see birds you normally wouldn’t see.

I sat out there just a couple days after it flooded and played wood
duck sounds on a Bluetooth speaker and sat on a camping chair
taking photos!!! I had to be motionless or the wood ducks would
fly away. They’re super skiddish!