Let us begin by welcoming you to the first ever edition of Marsh Musings. This will be a bi-weekly culmination of the adventures of two gentlemen who discovered their passions for the outdoors, photography, and good fellowship, along with the dog that accompanies them.

Let us begin by introducing ourselves. My name is Eric Giesing and I am an educator and biologist at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center (KWEC) in Great Bend, KS. My wife Whitney and I, along with our cat Sox, moved from Champaign, Ill. to the Great Bend area late last July to take a position at the KWEC. We had all intentions on moving to a large, metropolis area, but quickly changed our plans after visiting Great Bend and falling in love with Cheyenne Bottoms. Prior to moving here, I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Integrative Biology and minor in Chemistry, along with my Master of Science degree in Wildlife Ecology and Animal Behavior, with a focus on Endocrinology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

My partner in crime, Dr. Dan Witt, is an Urologist at the Clara Barton Hospital in Hoisington, KS and currently resides with his wife Sandra, Queen Smooch the black Labrador, and two cats Google and Hammer. Dr. Witt graduated from the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Mo., interned in Tulsa, OK, practiced for two years in Fort Worth, Texas and Cherry Hill, N.J., and practiced in Kansas City, Mo. from 1973 through 1990. In 1990, Dr. Witt moved to Hoisington to be closer to Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge to gain more hunting and fishing time.

Now that you have learned a little about us, you may be asking yourself, "How did a urologist, a biologist, and a black Labrador start palling around together?" The answer is a love for the outdoors, a hankering for adventure, the fun of having great friends, the joy of making each other a little bit better, and the desire to capture images of wildlife amidst their daily routines. Every two weeks, Dr. Witt and I will write a new column about our adventures in Cheyenne Bottoms and share our stories and pictures, along with some interesting facts and natural histories of the critters we encounter along the way. We hope to share our love of photography and Cheyenne Bottoms with all of you and inspire you to take a vested interest in the Bottoms the way we have. We look forward to this new endeavor and hope you will enjoy following along with our column.