Just a few miles north of Pierre, S.D. is the Oahe Dam of the Missouri River which forms a HUGE reservoir with the same name. Although the recreation area are not the grasslands for which I drove over to South Dakota to visit, the Missouri River is a migration highway and where there is water, food … and in this case a few trees birds will stop and enjoy the summer (i.e. mate and raise young). Immediately below the dam and starting with the spillway is the South Dakota Oahe Downstream Recreation Area (pdf map). The birding changes with each season, but it is fantastic in mid summer. I was able to see some great species which would never fly over to northeastern Minnesota’s Boreal Forest.

Although there are trees in the recreation area, many birds are bug eaters. The birds use almost any ambush spot as the habitat changes from “green with trees” to “grasslands”. I have annotated up the map linked from above, but some of my favorite spots were:

• The butterfly garden next to the Welcome Center
• The Cottonwood Walking Trail
• The road just outside and 50 yards uphill from the Welcome Center. I drove slowly while birding along this road as far as the Project Office. There aren’t that many signs, posts or trees. The birds use them all!
• The loop road from the Welcome Center down to the river and then next to the Missouri and ultimately back up to the Welcome Center (driving past the group lodge)

First my annotated map … click / press upon to expand

And the birds … first the ambush spots … in order of presentation:

• American Kestrel
• Black-Headed Grosbeak
• Eastern Kingbird
• Orchard Oriole
• Red-Headed Woodpecker
• Western Kingbird
• Western Meadowlark

And a few more pics of the same birds …

Finally … from a totally different location … I found a Barn Owl burrow. Even though I visited long before sunrise I only received a brief peek from one owlet (horrible light … way overexposed)