Lacreek NWR

Young ferruginous hawk on his mountain

It should have been another errand- and chore-filled day up here. There is more than enough to do on both the professional and personal fronts. Weekend time is precious. We have three weeks left to complete the first phase of the move to the new building and to get ready for the big ribbon-cutting ceremony and dedication.

In theory, I should be making the most of every minute with Getting Things Done Now.

In practice, we got up early this morning, left the phones at home, and drove down to Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge for a day of meandering down the smallest backroads imaginable and looking at the wildlife, buildings and achingly beautiful vistas.

Eastern kingbird sneering at the photographer

We needed the scenery, the abundance of bird calls and the near-total absence of electronic and traffic noises. Lacreek NWR is at the northernmost range of the Sandhills, just south of the White River Badlands, a pocket wetlands habitat in the High Plains. It was a Civilian Conservation Corps project, as many refuges were, established in 1935. It is in every sense an oasis.

Original sign, as posted at the Lacreek NWR site.

We had never been there before, and we found that it soothed frazzled nerves better than anything else we might have done. The phones and the errands and the chores waited for us, for once.


Here is a selection of eye candy from the day. Enjoy.

Church on Pine Ridge Reservation.

Abandoned cabin.

Technicolor beehives.

Lacreek NWR marsh.

Great blue heron.

Common nighthawk.

Scenic, SD.

Sign with many, many interpretive possibilities, most not suitable for a family blog.

Sign at our friend Kenny's ranch. Yes, that is a pteranodon and that is also a mosasaur on top.

Sign, Martin, SD

Yellow-headed blackbird

Q: Why did the sharp-tailed grouse hens and chicks cross the road? A: Better you should ask, why did it take them 15 minutes to do so? First you get everyone lined up....

...then you get everyone crossing in random order, back and forth....

...then you finally get them in place.

Splendid summer vistas are all too rare these days. Enjoy.

Scenes from Sioux Falls I: birds

Shorebirds, Sioux Falls area

We spent last weekend driving to Sioux Falls and back, a distance of 350 miles if you stay on the interstate, which we did not. Because we were going to the spring meeting of the South Dakota Ornithological Union, we (predictably) stayed on the blue highways as much as possible. The weather was wildly unsettled--there were tornadoes in other parts of the state, more of a rarity here than in West Texas--and there was at least as much good birding on the drive as there was at the meeting.

There is, as you will see, a great deal of nesting activity going on, in spite of the fierce high winds and cold rain over much of the weekend.

Golden eagle on nest. We did not want to get any closer. There were two downy white eaglets under her--we could see their heads, and one of them stretched its wings while we were watching.

Lone grebe at roadside pond.

Terns in flight

American robin on nest

Yellow-headed blackbirds in reeds

Hudsonian godwit

Hudsonian godwit

Ruby-throated hummingbird in silhouette

Tree swallow on nest box, not going anywhere until the weather improves

Killdeer

Green heron, refusing to be a yellow-crowned night heron

White pelicans on Misouri River

Rose-breasted grosbeak

Marsh scene: yellow-headed blackbird, Canada goose on muskrat hut

Yellow-throated vireo on nest

Notes from Minnesota: great blue heron rookery

Great blue heron in rookery tree, Minnesota

The Minnesota branch of the clan has sent in some amazing shots of a heron rookery in the Mississippi River near their place. Great blue herons are the majestic slow-flying birds seen across the country at any available body of water--streams, lakes, ponds, fish hatcheries, and the like. They stand four feet tall or so, with six-foot wingspans. It's startling at first to see them nest so high up. The altitude and the island site together make an excellent predator defense, along with the close grouping of nests.

Rookery island in Mississippi River

Rookery trees on island

Rookery trees

Great blue heron flying in with nesting material

Heron penthouse