Instead of taking Route 2 west to Stanley and then going north on Route 8, I turned off Route 2 at the town of Palermo and took a 14-mile-long dirt road north to Route 50. Several miles north of Palermo, I came over a slight rise in the road and noticed a quail-like bird fly from the shoulder of the road up onto a small hillside. I quickly stopped the car and walked up the hillside to where I saw the bird land in the tall grass. Suddenly, the bird bolted into flight for a good distance and then dropped back into the grass. Luckily, I was able to follow it with binoculars long enough to see the distinguishing rusty face patch and tail of a Gray Partridge before it disappeared out of sight.
I continued up to Route 50 and headed west on Route 8. Several miles up Route 8, I stopped at the refuge headquarters for Lostwood. After picking up some maps and brochures, I headed out on the 7-mile auto tour road. About three miles in, I noticed a group of birds atop a rolling hill. Scoping the spot, I realized that I was watching about 15 Sharp-tailed Grouse still displaying on their "booming grounds".
Even though the lek was pretty far away, I could easily hear them calling. This was mostly due to the fact that there was no evidence of any human-made sounds anywhere---no cars, no planes, no voices, nothing! In fact, I was the only person on the entire refuge. It was the unique isolation of Lostwood that made it one of my favorite, best-remembered places on the trip.
Farther down the road, I stopped at the Sharp-tailed Grouse blind. There, I saw more grouse, but it was here that I was told I had my best shot at seeing Sprague's Pipit. All around the blind, I kept hearing the pipits' calls but couldn't locate them. Finally, after walking through the area for about an hour, a Sprague's Pipit flew out in front of me and started climbing in altitude. I followed it with binoculars to what had to be several hundred feet above the ground. After about four or five minutes in the air, the bird dropped like a rock back down to earth and disappeared into the short grass. Baird's Sparrows were also singing in the same area. This was also the spot where I saw the only other person while I was at Lostwood. He was a botanist who drove up in a pickup pulling a horse trailer. We talked about how peaceful the place was as he got his horse out of the trailer and saddled it up. Then, he rode off over the hill into the seemingly endless miles of prairie. It was easy to imagine a wagon train coming over the hill at any moment.
Near the end of the road, I scoped the edges of Upper Lostwood Lake. The brochure stated that this was one of the few places in the area where the endangered Piping Plover still nested. Sure enough, I found two of the plovers working the edge of the lake. I then backtracked to the headquarters, making numerous stops along the way. Birds seen there included Pied-billed Grebe, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Ruddy Duck, Sora, Northern Harrier, Willow Flycatcher, Eastern and Western Kingbird, Tree and Barn Swallow, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Vesper, Savannah, Grasshopper, and Clay-colored Sparrow, Bobolink, Western Meadowlark, Brewer's, Red-winged, and Yellow-headed Blackbird, and American Goldfinch. A very small, wooded area held Least Flycatcher, Brown Thrasher, and Warbling Vireo.
I left Lostwood and started the 4-hour drive to Kidder County by way of Minot and Bismarck.
Along Route 50, west of the town of Coulee, I spotted a Ferruginous Hawk.
Temperatures were approaching 90 degrees and I was looking for a shaded place to pull over and rest for a while, but the only trees around were those found in people's yards. Finally, after nearly an hour of searching, I found several trees next to a small marsh that were grouped together enough to shade the car. The small marsh held Black Tern, Tree Swallow, Brown Thrasher, and Yellow Warbler. Next, I stopped at the town of Max to mail some post cards and call home. I drove on to Bismarck where I got something to eat. Then, I founded a shaded church parking lot where I managed to get some more sleep.
After my second one-hour nap, I pushed eastward towards Kidder County.
I left I-94 at the Tappen exit and headed for a large marsh described in Kevin Zimmer's old North Dakota birdfinding guide. There, I heard a Yellow Rail 'ticking', Sora and Virginia Rail calling, and saw Blue-winged Teal, Swainson's and Ferruginous Hawk, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Common Snipe, Black Tern, Horned Lark, Marsh Wren, Common Yellowthroat, Savannah Sparrow, and Yellow-headed Blackbird.
I then headed several miles east to a good-sized salt alkaline lake located northwest of Crystal Springs. There, I spotted Horned and Eared Grebe, American White Pelican, Wilson's Phalarope, and Ring-billed and California Gull, in addition to the previously-mentioned species. At dusk, I headed back to I-94 and drove east to the Ranch House Motel in Jamestown.
No comments:
Post a Comment