In early June I visited the National Grasslands near Pierre, South Dakota. Once again this wide open expanse of prairie was both a thing of beauty and inspiration. Whereas during my first visit birds were singing out and proclaiming their nesting territory, five weeks hence many young had been born, and I even ran into my first southern / winter migrants. Over the next few days I will publish a series of post as I work my way through what I captured on my camera.
To lead off, here are two videos … from five weeks ago and a few days ago. I took both videos at the exact same location early in the morning while driving to a prairie dog town / burrowing owl colony. I am presenting both videos, which includes the one previously published as it allows you to see how we are progressing to “amber waves of gold” in mid summer! Enjoy
Remember I previously mentioned in this post I ran into my first winter migrants? A large flock of Franklins Gulls were already working their way down to South America! Cornell says this about these birds: “A delicate seabird that nests by the thousands in North American marshes, the Franklin’s Gull spends winters along the coasts of Chile and Peru”. In fact over the next few days whether one is located in the National Grasslands or the Boreal Forest … more and more bird species will start south. Shorebirds are already reaching the Duluth area from the Arctic, and Upland Sandpipers and Black-Billed Cuckoos will leave soon. While it may be July 21st today, are you ready for winter?!
I was actually on my way to another Burrowing Owl colony when this flock descended from the sky and took over my remote location on War Creek Road. (War Creek Road is a great drive if you are willing to go far of field to see birds … my loop was 60 miles all on dirt roads!).
Migrating Franklins Gulls
The Movie! (video link for email subscribers)
Still Images: As a fyi, in the sequence of photographs I am NOT zooming in closer to the gulls. They took off a few times, but then always landed back on the road even closer to me. Remember, patience is a virtue while birding. I did in fact flush them upon first noticing the mass of white in front of me on War Creek Road, but the birds wanted a rest from migration and decided I was harmless!
Stay tuned … a lot more coming from the National Grasslands!
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Quite a bird block!
You inspired us to stop there on our way to family vacation later in June. We only had a day, so we didn’t see all the cool birds you did, but saw quite a few and loved it.
Cool! Apparently a lot of raptors hunt the prairie dog towns in the winter.