Don’t look now, but lots of other birds other than just Burrowing Owls hang out near Prairie Dog towns like this Ferruginous Hawk. Apparently in the winter the number of raptors (not just shear numbers, but also in terms of unique species) that hunt the prairie dog towns is HUGE. This hawk was hunting miles and miles off US-83 on War Creek Road. If I can get a decent weather window this winter, I may have to return for “raptor fest”!

Ferruginous Hawk

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)

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!