Belted Kingfisher
MacKay Island NWR
Dec. 2014
This female Belted Kingfisher (notice the lower rufous breast-band) found me at MacKay Island NWR back in December. While observing a large raft of American Coots I saw out of the corner of my eye a smaller flying bird. She landed in a small tree just a few feet from the car.
I love the composition and the glint of light in the eye. Unfortunately the lighting was lacking, and the photo suffers from excess noise due to a high ISO (1600).
I know that I have posted this photo before, but it is one of my favorites from such a memorable afternoon. It epitomizes the road conditions of at least 30% of my trip: dirt/sandy roads winding along the landscape.
West-central Nebraska, north of Oshkosh on Rd. 75 heading towards Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge. I could not have asked for better weather to accompany the scenery. Beautiful white fluffy clouds and bright blue skies as far as the eye can see. A very different contrast from the massive thunderstorm I drove through not one hour before.
I would not recommend this route in a non-4wd during or following rain. Patches of gravel along the sandy areas are all that provide traction. Some places of gravel can be few and far between.
Franklin Gull
Bear River MBR, UT
Jul. 2015
The first time I encountered a Franklin’s Gull, my first thought was: Laughing Gull. Coming from the east coast, these two species are strikingly similar. Both species are a grey and white gull, with black heads, white eye-rings and red beaks. Juveniles have dark beaks.
Despite their lack of range overlap (some noted exceptions: FRGU migrants on the coasts and LAGU at the Salton Sea of California), some of the differences outlined by my several guides include:
Northern Flicker
Custer State Park, SD
Jun. 2015
During my summer road trip I had the opportunity in the field to view both yellow-shafted and red-shafted Northern Flickers. Yellow-shafted flickers predominately live on the east coast, so my first sighting of a Flicker that looked “unique” was a highlight.
The particular bird above has the red nape and yellowish tinge of underlining on the wing. The lack of a cheek stripe indicates the bird is female.
Even after recognizing the different colored cheek stripe and lack of a red nape, it wasn’t until Yellowstone NP that I witnessed the brilliant red lining of the tail and wings that give the two varieties their names.
Northern Flicker
Yellowstone NP
July 2015
More photos of Flickers & Woodpeckers
Cattle Egret
Cheyenne Bottoms WA, KS
July 2015
During my summer road trip I passed through Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area near Great Bend, KS. Designed for waterfowl, the habitat here was mostly large pools of freshwater and marsh. While there, I came across a large flock of Cattle Egrets. Most of them still in breeding plumage.
More photos of Cattle Egrets
There is so much to say about this wonderful national park. So much so, I want to wait and do it justice at a later date, so this post will be in the captions.
Elk pretty much go wherever they want.
A great place to look for Harlequin Ducks is LeHardy Rapids just south of the Hayden Valley.
Old Faithful, which I saw twice in one day.
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Lower Falls from Artist’s Point
Grotto Geyser, scared me half to death as I was watching it and all of a sudden began its show.
Just before sunrise with a full moon.
The circular polarize made this one quite surreal. I normally don’t include people in my photos, but this one just fit.
Edge of Grand Prismatic Spring. I was disappointed that the trail that goes up the mountain behind to overlook the spring was closed. Probably for safety.
Getting up super early has its advantages, one: no crowds and no parking hassles, second: great lighting.
Morning on Yellowstone Lake. I still haven’t figured out if I need to straighten this or just leave it.
Finally still! Violet-green Swallow.
Devils Tower
No, I didn’t forget about yesterday! I spent Sunday at Devils Tower NM in Wyoming. I hiked the Red Beds Trail around the tower. This time I planned accordingly and did the trail clockwise. Not that it mattered too much as the trail is more like a necklace, what ever side you go down you must come up the other.
Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, SD Although flash photography is allowed, I don’t like to use flash. This was taken at 24mm, f/7.1, 1/20 sec., ISO 800. Exposure corrected to +0.65. I pushed the clarity and contrast a little, but otherwise a great hand-held shot.
Today I packed up camp early and headed south to Hot Springs, SD to visit the Mammoth Site. A small, paleontology museum that reminded me of the Beringia Museum in Whitehorse, YT. The introduction video was informative about the specific site and its formation. The view of the dig within the building was very well done with a mixture of natural and artificial lighting. The guide used a mixture of proper terminology as well as common terms, something the science geek in me likes (as apposed to using all common terms or dumbed down explanations and generalizations). The fact that all of the bones on the site are real except for one replica is amazing!
From Hot Springs, SD, I traveled to Oglala and on to the White River Visitor’s Center of the southern tract of Badlands National Park. While the drive was scenic, it did not compare to the main unit of the park. I had a nice drive up the scenic loop to Pinnacles Lookout and back to the campground before settling in.
Badlands National Park
Highlights of the day were three Common Nighthawks in flight and a small family of Burrowing Owls. The owlets were very cute and the young still had their downy feathers. The adults would bring in small morsels and they would all rush out from the burrow to greet and dive bomb on their “presents” the victor would quickly scurry off with its prize to gobble down. I sat and watched them for close to 20 minutes. I think I will return tomorrow when the lighting is better.
Burrowing Owlets rushing in to get the catch.
Burrowing Owl
I am really bummed that at the moment the skies are too cloudy to try out night photography, the Milky Way will have to wait for another day. 🙁
Mountain Bluebird
Custer State Park, SD
Argh, I was awaken several times last night to torrential downpour and the drip-drip of water in my newly sealed tent. 🙁 I guess I will brainstorm about how to fix this today as I’m out and about. Yesterday was a great day. I started out early on the wildlife drive. At 0545 in the morning, I only saw 3 other cars for the entire two hours I spent on the road. The highlight of the 18 mile drive this morning was a Mountain Bluebird. The little male swooped from the fence into the grass and came back up with a huge caterpillar. He repeatedly beat the caterpillar on top of the fencepost to kill it and then flew off to a bird house further down the fence line. The whole spectacle lasted a few minutes, but the pictures turned out amazing. add pictures
Northern Flicker
Custer State Park, SD
Prairie Dog
Custer State Park, SD
After finishing the wildlife drive we headed to Hell’s Canyon (trail 32) in Jewel Cave National Monument. The 5.6 mile loop trail is considered moderate, and I’d second that rating. When we arrived a large group was gathering for a wildflower hike with a naturalist society. I spoke with a few of them and they were very curious about Ari. We set out on a clockwise route just before 10am. The hike of the canyon floor was partially shaded and required one creek crossing and some off-trail navigation around a downed tree. I briefly lost the trail when it U-turned at the end of the canyon floor but realized my mistake quickly and got back on track with only a short detour. The scaling of the canyon wall was the most strenuous portion of the trail, but once on top there was little to no shade, making this portion a lot more taxing. The views of the canyon were amazing and I was lucky to have another great day of good weather and a gentle breeze.
I found a small cave to relax in as I was getting very tired and running low on water, so Ari and I put down our gear for a little rest. As I was contemplating life I was rudely interrupted by a rather large liquid thud just two feet from where I was sitting. Looking up, there were small swallow nests and they were pooping! Haha. Ari and I headed on and to my surprise I ran into the group from the parking lot! Dismayed that I’d been hiking for over 2 hours and worried that I might not have enough water to last me another 2, I asked the tour leader how much I had left; he replied about a mile, mile and a half. Thank goodness!!
We finished VERY tired and I was out of water. I think the other group had it right, a counter-clockwise route would have had all of the elevation gain at the beginning and downhill for the last 3-4 miles rather than my clockwise route. I should have worked harder to find a topographic map. Oh well, lesson learned.
Hell Canyon
Hell Canyon trail seen from the cliff face, where I started from!
Hell Canyon Trail, 5.6 mile loop
Pros: Beautiful scenery, good bird life although not abundant
Cons: Uneven trail with rocky terrain and walking along the cliff side is not for those faint of heart or afraid of heights.
Recommendations: Wear pants as many of the knee-high plants have thorns. Also, as of my writing there is a downed tree across the path along the canyon floor. It will require some climbing or walking 20-30 ft off trail to go around the tree.
I ended the day with Bison burger at Blue Bell Lodge and a quick run of the wildlife loop for some scenery shots before heading to the lighting ceremony at Mt. Rushmore National Monument. The ceremony itself was a little underwhelming and the lighting on the mountain is not very bright, but its an experience, I am glad I went. Since my parking pass is good to the end of the year, I’ll visit again tomorrow or later in the week.
Custer State Park, SD
Sylvan Lake
Custer State Park, SD
Another day without needing an alarm clock, I arose just after sunrise. Ari and I went for a walk around Sylvan Lake. The one-mile trail is fairly easy for one-half of the route and then climbing quite steeply for a look over the lake and back down. Once we reached the top and enjoying the nice view over the lake and examining where I had taken the picture to the right from I was scared half-to-death by the loud, shrill noise. At first I had no idea where it came from, nor what it was. Perhaps it was a weird whistle? But there was no one else up here!
After hearing the noise again I honed in on a rather large marmot. Its bark was its warning and directly below it, level to my eye were two others laying out on a rock. I snapped a few pictures before Ari finally saw them and they noticed him, fleeing to safety.
Sylvan Lake
Custer State Park, SD
While I did not see any birds of consequence I found an abundance of mammal life at this location along with the marmots: chipmunks and squirrels. Woe be to me if Ari ever got loose here!
Around 10 am we headed for Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. While the scenery was nice, there was no place to pick up a brochure/map and pull offs were not marked. Only one of the trails I had read about were labelled well enough for me to find. I was a nice location, but not an all-day trip as I had planned, so I picked up lunch in Spearfish and headed back to Custer State Park to pitch my tent and take a nap. I’ll be based in the same location for the next few days, so that will make traveling a little easier.
We ended the day with the Wildlife Drive.
Meadowlark
Custer State Park, SD
Pronghorn
Custer State Park, SD
I awoke earlier than my alarm clock. Perhaps it was my overall excitement or that I don’t sleep as heavily when I tent camp? I cleaned up my campsite and walked Ari around the state park before sunset and headed off to Squaw Creek NWR.
My first impressions of this refuge was its overall size. I grossly underestimated the time it would take me to complete the ten mile wildlife loop! Despite the poor lighting of early morning and later overcast conditions, I enjoyed good sightings of American White Pelicans, Dickcissels, and even a Great Horned Owl. Unfortunately, very few decent pictures came from the excursion, but this is a place that I hope to revisit one day and would highly recommend. The state park that I stayed at was only 15 minutes away.
Heading into Nebraska I ran into a storm cloud so beautiful and expansive that I don’t believe any amount of wide-angle lens could have done it justice. From the outside it was breath-taking; inside it was nasty with heavy wind and downpours for nearly 120 miles! Coming out of it into the west I was met with bright blue skies and fluffy white clouds for the remainder of the day. The weather alone would have made the rest of my drive enjoyable, but I did not count on the spectacular scenery and birding of my next location…
Road to Crescent Lake NWR
Crescent Lake NWR
Crescent Lake NWR is so out-of-the-way you may think you are lost getting there. Both roads getting to/from this location are difficult and in hindsight a 4-wheel drive would have been advisable. I would not attempt this journey if there has been recent rain or several days of rain as the road north from Oshkosh, NE is a soft dirt road with occasional gravel for traction (Rd. 82 & Rd. 181). The road from the north from Lakeside is paved in places, but might as well had not been due to the potholes and poor quality. Both roads were narrow allowing for the passage of only one vehicle in approximately 90% of their duration. The northern road looks to be at risk for washing out, as water from the marshes sometimes stood on the road or came up to the broken pavement. When a vehicle approached it was not impossible to pull off to allow them to pass on either road, just take care. All of the areas are open rangeland and any breaks in the fence the road takes there are cattle guards, rows of spinning pipe laid into the road that cows do not like to cross. I found it best to cross over these at a decent speed. The road from Antioch that makes up the northwest portion of the wildlife drive was closed, so I can’t attest to its condition. All that being said, This route was spectacular in both scenery and birding opportunities, a trip that I KNOW I will attempt again in this lifetime and encourage those who have a chance to go.
Possibly a Common Nighthawk?
Right off, turning onto Rd. 181 I happened to see a few Horned Larks, a Lark Sparrow and what I think is a Common Nighthawk. Sleeping on a fence post, the Nighthawk seemed oblivious to my presence and from my car I was only about 8-10 feet away. A few miles down I spotted several Meadowlarks, a species that I have been struggling to find at home. Thanks to the overlap in their range (hint a note of sarcasm), I’ll have to examine my photographs more carefully to identify whether I saw Eastern, Western or both.
The refuge itself did not present as rich of a wildlife population as the roads to and from it, but I did see more Meadowlarks and sparrows along the road. Several large lakes had a few ducks and geese. Continuing north from the refuge towards Antioch the habitat turned more marsh-like with large expansive ponds and standing water pools. Great sightings of a few new species for me occurred here.
Long-billed Curlew
Upland Sandpiper
Wilson’s Phalarope
I witnessed the Wilson’s Phalaropes circling in the water foraging for food. I saw probably two dozen of these birds in several ponds. For some reason I had thought they would be larger. I came across two Long-billed Curlew walking in the grass. Upon seeing me, one barked up a strange trumpeting call. A mile down the road on several fence posts sat what was clearly a shorebird, but very strange in body: Upland Sandpipers!
Other new species for me: Yellow-headed Blackbird, Redhead, Ruddy Duck in breeding plumage (bright blue bill) and an Eared Grebe.
“Just Passing Through”
Ruddy Ducks & Eared Grebe