Day 10 October 8, 2014 Red Rock Reservoir, birds and hydro power

   When was the last time you were headed someplace , driving, and missed a turn and ended up 15-20 miles or more out of your way? You were in unfamiliar territory, probably. "Ya gotta know the territory, ya gotta know the territory"  (From the musical- Music Man) . Well, it happened to me today when driving south on Iowa 5 when we came across the US 65 "loop" around the city of Des Moines. Seems it occured right where the loop turns northerly from easterly and we stayed on the nice 4 lane  highway thnking it was still Iowa 5 which is also a four lane highway.   (A help in recovering was the sun , as it was shining and made direction location easier.) Not so, but when we crossed a road that we had taken yesterday when we went east, Ruth said, "I think we are on the wrong road".  We were! So we turned around and drove the 12 miles back to where we should have been to continue the trip to Red Rock Reservoir. We haven't had that happen  that much,  and no wise cracks about a GPS!!! They miss sometmes , too. "Recalculating"!

   We had good maps given to us yesterday by a conservation man in a truck who has a pad full of them on the truck seat. That allowed us to do research the night before (We usually do this to eliminate any driving problems.) (HA). So I had picked out 7 likely spots that were recommended by a booklet that has many Des Moines area wildlife Parks, Reserves, Recreation areas,  and other useful spots identified.  Many of the roads were county roads and quite well marked, so generally it was a simple task to get to the next one.

THi sis a brief descrition of the dam and it's sixze and value.

 Overall the birding was good, and we did surpass the number of birds from yesterday and added a few new species. (33)  Of particular note , at least for Ruth, was seeing hundreds of Pelicans on the Reservoir as they feed near the dam all day long. Because the dam was under construction of a Hydro plant (more on that later) we had to find another way into the "downstream" side of the dam as the main one was closed. The next road led us to a park on the downstream side that had a parking lot some distance from the dam but in sight.

                                                                                         Mass of White Pelicans at Red Rock Dam

This is Red Rock Reservoir, where most of our exploring was done on the"right" end of the Lake. (The SE end, or the 'red'portion.) The dam is at the far right end.

 This is the upstream side of the dam. The hydro project is in the middle of it. It is 6, 260 feet in length and 110 feet high. It is earth filled . The Lake holds 15,000 acre feet  of water and covers 35,000 acres of useable land. (Recreation, etc) 

This is the down stream side of the dam. It will produce 55 mw of electricity in 2018 at full capacity. It cost $360 million to build and bonds were floated by the WMMPA (Minnesota)  at 4.05% interest and sold fast. They will come due in 21 years and final date is 2046.

The dam was built in 1960 and has already saved hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. The adding of the hydro plant will further enhance the area with electricity for the surrounding communities. 

   We continued birding in many of the camping areas that adjoined the Lake and especially along the shore.  (Saw four or five Great Blue Herons) There were hundreds of Franklin, Ring Billed, Bonapartes and Herring Gulls.  Some of the lesser seen birds that we observed today were: Cedar Waxwing, Bobolink, Junco,  Bluebird, Bells Vireo, and Coots. We headed back after stopping on       the west side of the Reservoir to get a few more pictures of the pelicans.  I was able to talk with two Korean vets while Ruth took pictures. The one man (in the 40th Division Infantry of the Army) was a "MP" at Panmunjun standing right beside the North Koren soldiers during the first negotiations. Both soldiers were speechess. (Of course).

We made it back without a hitch on the roads, and for supper settled for those foot long hot dogs that we liked so well from time to time. The weather  was spectacular. I don't know how long it will stay this way, but it is glorious. 55-69 F and sunny all day! Saw 12 turkeys by our trailer to start the day off , but couldn' get good focus through the window. 

Tomorrow we will head for Madison County (movie anyone?) and see the wooden brdges there and John Wayne's birthplace . This will be a change! Stay tuned.