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

• Video #1 for email subscribers
• Video #2 for email subscribers

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!

Oh my … I may take the other highway / birding road in life, but apparently I forget to include a key image in that story (now updated in the original post). For my loyal subscribers, here’s Gettysburg, South Dakota … via the “other highway“).

Do you bird, or take the other highway in life? Sometimes it’s better to not be in a rush and take the “other road/option”. Once again I find myself at South Dakota’s National Grasslands, but how did I get here? Like most folks these days I loaded my origin and destination into Google Maps, and my route was fixed. But wait!!!  There are always options. While Google tends to push the shortest route in terms of time on the road, this option almost always puts you on our national interstate highway system. Boring!

I created a route which specifically avoided I-90. It is very easy to do within Google Maps. The user need only add an intermediate stop which forces Google to avoid the interstate highways. I do this all the time to try out routes that I want to investigate. I never really stop at the “Google intermediate locations”

Having written all of this … my birding route in South Dakota started near Watertown where I had overnighted. This allowed me to begin my morning drive as the sun popped over the horizon, and the sun was directly behind me as I drove west. ALL the photographs accompanying this post were taken along my route … a secondary South Dakota highway most of the way. The birds were not at eBird hotspots or known birding spots … just located directly along my path.

My route also took my through “the other Gettysburg”. I love small towns!

Swainson’s Hawk

White Pelican Sunrise Reflections

American Avocets in a Farm Field

Yellow-Headed Blackbirds (roadside wetlands … final pic is a juvenile)