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Birding Herps Insects

Pierre, Again

I’m back in Pierre for a few days. It is hot. Finally, a cooling trend is arriving tomorrow. I’ve been out looking for shorebirds at a wetland northeast of Pierre. Shorebird migration is in full swing and there are lots of birds to see. I was excited to see a Black-necked Stilt. The wetland is in Hughes County and that was a new county bird for me. My Hughes County life list is now at 317.

Black-necked Stilt at Baumgartner Slough, Hughes County, SD. It was a long way out so the photo isn’t very good.

There are lots of Black Terns feeding on aquatic insects. I kept trying to get a good shot of this activity and finally I got this juvenile.

A young American Avocet.
Here’s an adult.
Another Black Tern, this one is an adult.
The day before I left the Slim Buttes, I found this juvenile Racer on the road. It let me get very close.
Also at the Slim Buttes, I found two Eastern Tiger Swallowtails at Red Cross Spring. These represent a new county record.
This is a good example of why a photo is needed of both the upper and underside of the wing. The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is easily confused with the Two-tailed Swallowtail and the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail. The marginal band of the forewing is broken up into spots if an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, the other two species have a continuous band of yellow.