Author: Doug Backlund

Government Hill and Lightning

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date July 14, 2022
2 Comments on Government Hill and Lightning

A couple of days ago, the wind finally went down, it seemed like a good time to drive up to Government Hill. It is a good place to look for hill-topping butterflies. It is a couple of miles north of where I’m camped. I have searched the internet trying to find out how it got named Government Hill but there seems to be no information. It may be because of a USGS survey marker on top. Elevation is 3624 ft. There were plenty of common butterflies and lots of flowers, but nothing very noteworthy.

Last night a thunderstorm came up around 2 AM. I wasn’t expecting any severe weather so I was just waiting for it to pass so I could go back to sleep. Suddenly, wham! Lightning hit and thunder roared. The shock wave rocked the Scamp. I thought maybe one of the big trees on the edge of the cliff got hit. I hoped it wasn’t the truck. This morning I found where the strike was, about 50 ft. south of the Scamp. Too close for comfort.

The lightning strike. It blew out large chunks of wood from the pine. Why it hit this tree and not others that are taller I have no idea. Lightning does what it does, just glad it didn’t hit me!

I cannot even find a photo of Government Hill on the internet. No information other than elevation, 3624 ft. It is nice hike, especially on a nice day. This is a panorama of three images taken at 100mm from where I parked. As always, right click on the image and open in a new window for a larger view.

Every time I’ve gone up on Government Hill in the summer I find Coral Hairstreaks hill-topping. This year was no exception.

This is the first time I’ve seen a Gorgone Checkerspot up there. Only one. Other species I saw but didn’t photograph: Two-tailed Swallowtail, Variegated Fritillary, Checkered White, and some other fritillary I couldn’t identify.

A pair of Nuttall’s Blister Beetles on lupine flowers. Lupine is their preferred food plant.

Insects Photography

Butterflies and Moths

Last night was fairly warm and humid so I put out the black light. The moon is getting bright and that lowers the effectiveness of a black light for attracting insects, but I did alright. Finally, a break in the humidity too, today is warm but not so humid. It feels good.

A Red Admiral nectaring on Purple Coneflower. The coneflowers are flowering in abundance right now.

A poor photo of a Striped Hairstreak. This is only the second one I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t get a clear shot and then it took off and disappeared. The other one I saw was in the Black Hills in July 2016. I got a better photo of that one, which can be seen at this LINK.

At the black light, a Small-eyed Sphinx. I have seen these in the Black Hills but this is the first time I’ve seen it in Harding County.

An attractive moth, *Haploa lecontei*, Leconte’s Haploa. First South Dakota record in the BugGuide database.

*Hypercompe permaculata*, the Many-spotted Tiger Moth. Also a first South Dakota record in the BugGuide database.

*Marathyssa inficita*, Dark Marathyssa. A very unusual looking moth. I guess the perching pose is defensive camouflage, but I cannot find any reference to it. A first South Dakota record in the BugGuide database. Larval foods include sumacs and poison ivy, both of which are abundant here. The moth is perched on the cord to the black light.

Birding Insects Photography

Still at Slim Buttes

I haven’t moved. The weather has been stormy and wet, one storm dropped a lot of hail, but it was small hail. It rains almost every day, but I am not seeing any mosquitoes. No ticks either, I’m not sure why, this area is usually very bad for ticks. Not that I miss them, I can go hiking anywhere off the trails and roads and not get loaded with ticks. One result of that is that I finally confirmed nesting of Townsend’s Solitaire in the pine forests of Harding County. We have known that this thrush species is present and probably nesting, but it has never been confirmed. During the last South Dakota Breeding Bird Atlas (concluded in 2012) Townsend’s Solitaire was still unconfirmed as a breeding bird in Harding County.

I was walking through an area of thick pine near Red Cross Spring when I saw one, then two Townsend’s Solitaires. They acted like they didn’t want me there. I sat down and watched for about 30 minutes, finally I saw one of them fly to the ground and not back up.

I walked over to where I saw the bird fly down and still did not see it. Finally, I noticed a dead pine branch with brown needles hanging over a log, I approached that, and the bird flew out. There was the nest! This is the first time I’ve found a ground nest, in the Black Hills I always find this species nests on cutbanks and rock ledges.

Another view of the Slim Buttes about a mile south of my campsite.

I have heard about Elk becoming established here in the Slim Buttes. I have seen tracks too, but this is the first Elk I’ve seen. There were five of them, all very wary and quickly disappearing.

Weidemeyer’s Admiral on a pine branch. The left wing was really beat up, so I chose this shot.

Birding Photography Travel

Slim Buttes 2

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date June 29, 2022

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.

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.

Birding Insects Photography

Slim Buttes

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.

Birding Blacklighting

Birds and Moths

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.

*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.

Photography Travel

Back to the Black Hills

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.

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).

Astrophotography Birding

Back in South Dakota

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date May 16, 2022

I’ve actually been back almost two weeks now. I’ve been keeping busy chasing migrant birds. For a few days there were good numbers of migrants, I suppose it could be characterized as a fallout. The numbers of warblers were pretty amazing, but the diversity of species wasn’t that great. I’m hoping for an even better “fallout” later this week, when a cold front moves through.

Here’s one I don’t get to see very often, a Black-throated Green Warbler.

Several orioles are coming to oranges in my parent’s backyard. I spent one afternoon photographing them.

Red-headed Woodpeckers just showed up a few days ago. I got lucky with this one.

Just a Chipping Sparrow, but I really like this photo with its smooth background.

Last night I went outside to see the lunar eclipse. I couldn’t resist, I had to set up the 500 f4 and take some images. According to Spaceweather.com, this lunar eclipse is darker and redder than most due to the eruption of the Tonga volcano back in January.

Common Yellowthroat up close with the 500 f4.

Birding Herps Photography

Migrating North

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date May 3, 2022

I left the Socorro area yesterday. Had a great day of birding at Bosque del Apache NWR but didn’t see anything very rare or exciting. No lifers. Some nice photos though. I headed east to Valley of Fires Recreation Area and stopped for a short walk, where I did get a lifer, an Eastern Collared Lizard. I’ve been looking for one of these for a long time. I’ve been told a good place to see them is Granite Gap, but I’ve never seen one there. I left Valley of Fire and drove north to get back on I-25 near Las Vegas. I was about 30 miles out when my phone started sounding the Civil Defense alarm and announcing evacuations of west Las Vegas and other areas due to the fires. I made it through with no problems, but the smoke was pretty bad. Last night I stayed in a free campsite on the Comanche National Grasslands (Timpas Picnic Area) near La Junta, Colorado. Now I’m near McCook, NE and should be in Pierre tomorrow, though it looks like I will be driving in rain.

It is hard to pass up a shot of a White-faced Ibis when it is offered.

My lifer herp, an Eastern Collared Lizard. This one is a female. Taken at Valley of Fires Recreation Area, New Mexico.

A Spiny Softshell Turtle basking. Bosque del Apache NWR.

This was the scene as I approached I-25 from Highway 84. Las Vegas is a few miles to the right. Taken with a 35mm lens. I would estimate the flames to be 5 miles away.

This is what it looked like with a 400mm lens. As always, right click and open in new tab or window for a larger image.

Astrophotography Insects Photography

On the Road Again

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 30, 2022

I left Granite Gap this morning. I have been spending the nights photographing some galaxies and hiking and birding during the day. The weather has been far too windy most of the time and it makes astrophotography hard. I put all that gear away and now I am focusing on birds. I’m at Bosque del Apache NWR near Socorro, New Mexico. After spending the last 7 months in the Sonoran Desert, it is sure nice to see lots of water again! The refuge is full of birds, lots of shorebirds, ibis, herons, ducks, warblers and others. I didn’t do much birding today but tomorrow will be a full day.