I’ve been here since Monday now and haven’t seen anyone except my brother Ted, who stopped by yesterday. He maintains State Radio communications towers in western South Dakota and there is a tower about a mile north of where I’m camped. We had a short visit before he had to get back to work. I’ve been spending my mornings on the cliff behind camp, photographing the Prairie Falcons and White-throated Swifts that are here every summer. The great photo of a White-throated Swifts still eludes me, but I keep trying.
My campsite, on a dead-end spur road off the North Divide Road, Slim Buttes. I get pretty good shade most of the day and can still keep the solar panel in the sun. If anyone wonders why the hood of the truck is slightly up, I put some mouse traps in the engine every night, I don’t want rodents chewing on the wires. A hundred and twenty feet west of my camp, this is the view looking west. Prairie Falcon giving me the evil eye. Well, this isn’t too bad, but I’m still waiting for that one really great shot. The swifts are very fast and always changing course. My best hope is to get one in the frame while still quite far out, focus and track until it comes closer. Sounds easier than it is! A Prairie Falcon is almost no challenge compared to these little speedsters.
I decided to leave the Black Hills. The National Guard left the meadow at my favorite camp site, so I moved there on Friday. While coming down the hill from my alternate site, the hitch jack caught on a rock and was bent. It still works but at an angle. Not an ideal situation. I can buy a new one and it should not be hard to replace (I already had to replace it once when it got bent in a gas station exit in Glasgow, MT years ago), but the bracket it mounts on may be bent too. I won’t know until I take it off. For now, it is functional. Anyway, I got set up at my site, hadn’t been there more than an hour when a Hahn mechanical tree processor came rumbling up the road, obliterating trees next to the road. I talked to the guy running it, he said there would be a bulldozer coming through next and then they would be hauling logs out on that road. Well, I knew this might be coming but I hoped it wouldn’t. I can’t put up with that kind of noise and I wasn’t about the take Scamp back up the hill that had just damaged it. So, this morning I packed up again and headed north, to the Slim Buttes. I’m here now, on the North Divide Road, camped on a dead-end spur road. Very quiet. The area has had a lot of rain and I worried that the mosquitoes might be bad but so far, I haven’t seen any.
One morning I was hiking in Hell Canyon when I came across a herd of Bighorn Sheep. This one was close, in the shade with a sunlit background. I watched for a while then it proceeded across the trail and up the canyon side. Here’s the rest of them, waiting to see what the other one was going to do. They all followed. One morning at Baldwin Spring, this Ovenbird hopped up onto a branch just a few feet away. I’ve had them do this before but as soon as I moved the camera toward them, they always took off. This one let me get one shot. This is nearly full frame. First time I’ve imaged an Indra Swallowtail on a flower. This one is nectaring on Wall Flower. The angle works out well in this situation as the butterfly was really beat up on the hind wings. A Two-tailed Swallowtail in the mud at Baldwin Spring.
I’m enjoying the relatively cool temperatures at my campsite. Back in Pierre, temps have been over 100 F. but it hasn’t been over 90 F. here. It cools off at night. I’ve been spending time at Jumpoff Spring and Baldwin Spring. There isn’t a lot of bird activity but enough to get some good photos. Just a few minutes ago I went outside and heard some loud squawking, looked around and saw a Gray Jay, first one since I got here. It is very quiet up here; I cannot hear the National Guard except when a helicopter flies in almost every day. There is lots of Mountain Lion sign, I hope I can get more video of one. Last night, the wind went down and it remained warm and fairly humid. I set up the black light and had a spectacular number of moths show up. There were hundreds of cutworm moths of various species and some other good moths that have been rarely recorded.
A Broad-tailed Hummingbird that appeared at my feeder one afternoon. I haven’t seen it since. An Ovenbird at Baldwin Spring. Macaria adonis, and that’s about all that is known about this moth. BugGuide and Butterflies and Moths of North America had no South Dakota records of this moth until last night, when I photographed several at my black light. Phaeoura mexicanaria,another moth that is poorly understood. BugGuide had one previous record for South Dakota, Terry Peak area in 2013. Caripeta aequaliaria. One previous South Dakota record from Terry Peak in 2013.
I left Pierre yesterday after a stormy night. Pierre area got 3-4 inches of rain. I had heard lots of reports of storm damage all the way out to the Black Hills. On the way, I counted 6 semis that were blown over and one fifth-wheel RV. I saw many damaged billboards and signs, several damaged buildings and grain bins. The worst wind damage seemed to be around Okaton.
I stopped in Hermosa and filled up with gas: cost $72.00. The hills are very green. I was really looking forward to getting to my spot and as I came up to it, I saw a large AT&T temporary cell phone tower. Hmmm. I drove up over the hill and there in my meadow was large National Guard camp, a bivouac site. Well, I turned around and went to my alternate site, up the steep hill, and found it quiet. So that’s where I am.
Last night there were more thunderstorms here but nothing severe. It is very cool today. By the end of the week it is forecast to be 105 F. in central South Dakota so I am glad to be here.
One of the first flowers I saw was this Pincushion Cactus, species Coryphantha vivipara. I haven’t seen one in flower for many years. A moth nectaring on Death Camas. While I was still in Pierre, my sister Sally and I were walking on Farm Island when she called me over to look at a beetle. I have never seen this beetle before, but it appears to be Cotalpa lanigera, the Goldsmith Beetle, famed as Edgar Allen Poe’s Gold-Bug. There seems to be some controversy about that. At any rate, according to BugGuide.net, it is the first record of this species for South Dakota (there are probably SD records or specimens elsewhere, I’m checking on that).
