I’m currently in the Slim Buttes of Harding County. I spent a few days at a Shadehill Reservoir campground, near Lemmon, South Dakota. The Grand River National Grassland is in this area and is a good place to get Baird’s Sparrow. I left there this morning and its a good thing as that campground just got hit by a severe thunderstorm, with large hail and strong wind. It is nice here. So far no mosquitoes. I’m up to 322 species of birds for the year now. It is getting harder to find new ones, but I seem to get one or two every day since I left Pierre.
Finding a Caspian Tern was surprisingly difficult but I finally got one on Discovery Island while I was still in Pierre. A wet Baird’s Sparrow. I only saw three and heard several, the Merlin app picked up more but I couldn’t hear them. A very secretive bird that usually hides in the grass, on this morning I found this one on the road, I assume it was avoiding the wet grass. My 322nd species for the year, Trumpeter Swans at the JB Pond. They have nested there for several years now. A fledgling Chestnut-collared Longspur in the rain. I suspect these young birds were having a hard time staying warm. Some seemed quite lethargic. There were lots of them on the road and I saw some dead ones. A distant shot of a Short-eared Owl. This is another species that I haven’t seen for a long time. I’m hoping for some better opportunities!A Wolf Spider carrying her young. A Silvery Blue butterfly, one of the few butterflies I’ve been able to photograph recently. The Grand River National Grassland has an abundance of wild flowers, I selected this one to show, Yellow Sundrops, Oenothera serrulata.A female Lazuli Bunting that posed nicely for me.
One reply on “Out West Again”
I’m glad to see you can still keep adding to that list. That Baird’s would have made my day!
One reply on “Out West Again”
I’m glad to see you can still keep adding to that list. That Baird’s would have made my day!