Day 23, Thursday June 30, 2022, At Malta ,MT

 Day 23, Thursday June 30, 2022, At Malta ,MT

This was a day to redo the trip to Bowdoin (pron: bo-due-een) NWR and try to get that SW corner in the morning when the light was in the east. That was a good  plan, and we knew there was an exit to the Refuge just a short distance from the HQ entrance. We tried to reach that one and took what we thought was the correct road. It even said "Bowdoin Rd". Full steam ahead and down this gravel road . I checked with  the GPS a few times and it seemed we were headed in the right direction. After about 10 miles we began to doubt that this road led to the Refuge Rd. That ended up being true and we took that road all the way around the Refuge (on the outside of it) for about 25 miles .All the while getting a few birds in the grasslands, fences and farm acreage. It ended up on the north side of the Refuge on  US 2 which we took back (toward Malta)  to the HQ of the Refuge where we started all over again, this time taking the very same route we had the first day.--- Lesson learned.  

Tomorrow we will try again and take the "exit " entrance to get to the SW part of

The land on the outside of the Refuge

Oats, wheat and canola.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the Refuge in the AM with better sun.

 But all was not lost as we did see the Burrowing Owl again and its young both near the nest in the ground . Ruth did get some photos and a few videos. (We are thinking of putting together a video of our videos as they are almost all of the birds we have seen on the trip.)

The Adult Burrowing Owl and young

Adult Burrowing Owl and Young (They are 9.5 inches long)

One of the Refuge roads .They are all like this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch time was  at a bridge overlooking a channel for the flow of the water through the Refuge.  There was water on both sides. (Remember that 50% of the Refuge water area is dry now.) The gates control the water as we have mentioned previously. There were a number of birds there especially the Willets, Swallows,  Cinnamon Teal, and of course the ubiquitous Blue Winged Teal.

Passing the cattle who were staying cool in the mud of an old cornfield and hugging the road, we did arrive at the SW corner of the Refuge where more birds were present by this time (1:30), however the  sun was around to the west and light was not favorable. We did see and capture with the lens, some Marbled Godwits, Black Necked Stilts, Willets (they seemed to be abundant) a Wilson's Phalarope, and a Cinnamon Teal.

Marbled Godwits feeding

We did see a group of Pronghorns (Antelope) on that "wrong way" road.

A Willet feeding along a slough.

 

 

 

 

 We met Amy, a Refuge Biologist , who was doing her daily survey , and she waited for us as she was going the opposite way, so she pulled into a small road entry to wait for us to pass. She was from Texas and wanted to get a place to work where there was a "Change on the seasons". Oh Boy! Did she. She said the first day she arrived in April ...it snowed! That Texas Gal was initiated!

My surprise was to watch the RR crews picking up the RR ties that had been pulled by previous teams. Did you know? That there are 3,550 wooden ties per mile of track. The machines can pull as many as 10 ties per minute!   And that  one tie can weigh anywhere from 100 to 300 pounds depending on the wood type.

RR ties yard along the BNSF tracks

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad ties

Be sure to look for trains! There are dozens a day!

 

We took notes on the exit as that is where we will come in tomorrow and do the reverse drive to get the sun behind us.

I stopped to get a "moolate" (ice cream and coffee) at the DQ, and our supper was Ruth's preparation of 'Taco Salad'. It is always a good meal in the evening.

The day was pleasant ,with the wind down to 10-15 mph, and the sun peeking behind those white, fluffy, cumulus clouds all day. I always told my children when they saw them , that they were "Montana Clouds" , and so they are.

Whorled Milkweed can be a pest around stock (poison)

 

 

 

 

 

This creek is the only water source for the Refuge lakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow we take one  more look at Bowdoin NWR to see if we can spot some previously unseen species of birds. --Catch you tomorrow.

A special thanks to folks in Moldova , who have more followers reading my blog than my USA friends. Congratulations Moldovians!

Day 22, Wednesday June 29, 2022 At Malta MT (Ruth's 78th Birthday!)

 Day 22, Wednesday June 29, 2022 At Malta MT (Ruth's 78th Birthday!)

This will be shorter than most posts.

When the rains came in the morning the weather man said it would rain until noon, but that did not happen. But we decided it was a good morning to catch up on laundry, so that is what we did.  (The rain stopped at 10:00. The day turned out  like a "Montana Day"-- Windy (25-35mph), sunny with a few clouds.

The laundry went well , even though it was small with only 5 washers, we managed and were the only ones there so we were in and out in 1 hour and 45 min. no complications.

"Rural" country outside Malta.

One of the "rural" Roads we covered  in the afternoon.

         In Trafton Park there were many Prairie Dogs .

 

After putting the laundry away we ate lunch and then took a ride in the country looking for more "grassland birds". It was only a 10mile ride but we did pick up a few birds. The days total was just 18, but for the two hours we put forth the effort, it was a good count. Some of the rural roads led to small groups of trees, mostly Russian Olive (which are becoming a pest out here), where there might have been some birds gathering, but with the wind and the afternoon sun, there were few birds. We also too some time to look for birds at the city's Trafton Park but little was alive there except some Prairie Dogs. (They look like ground squirrels)

A rare photo of a Marbled Godwit (note beak color)

The rodeo grounds in Malta and seating stands.

Roadside clover is abundant. Keeps the soil in place.

 

That led to the trailer in the afternoon and some inside "things"  and some of Ruth's greeting  for her birthday arrived by phone and e mail.

In the evening we had promised Ruth  a fine dinner, and we found a town restaurant in the Great Northern Hotel. This hotel was originally built in 1906, and served the clientele off the Great Northern RR when they stopped there. It is also said that the farmers in the winter  when conditions were so bad, would stay there during the winter for  their "vacation" for weeks on end. The hotel was burned in 1971 and rebuilt and has been in operation ever since. The dining room, we thought, needed some guidance as far as the decor was concerned, but they have survived this long so ...? We treated Ruth to "Tillamook Mudslide" ice cream in the trailer. It is the best (Hudsonville is second!)

That was pretty much it today , so we will see if tomorrow AM is good weather, if so, will head again out to Bowdoin NWR and reverse the auto ride to get to the water portion early in the morning. That should increase the bird sightings. We shall see.

Thanks for reading and we will catch you tomorrow.

Day 21, Tuesday June 28, 2022, at Malta MT

 Day 21, Tuesday June 28, 2022, at Malta  MT

Today was the day to see Bowdoin NWR again.We had done this once before but always felt it was worth the time to do again. The Refuge and Lake B0wdoin is a :left0over: from the Missouri River after the glaciers left and isolated it from the River.Beaver Creek is it's main source of water as well as rainfall.

White tailed deer were abundant.

One of the many Western Meadowlarks we saw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The auto tour around the lakes is 18 miles, and after starting at 9;30 Am we finished about 2:30 PM, stopping where ever we wanted or needed to to see the birds, wildlife and topography.

Baby Burrowing Owl near the Adult.

The adult Burrowing Owl that was a first for the Refuge.

The Great Northern RR or BNFSF now, which I rode to Kalispell MT in 1948.

 

A highlight of the day was a new bird. When we stopped at the Refuge Hq., we asked if there were any highlights today. "Yes", Janelle  answered, "We have a first time bird in the Refuge, a Burrowing Owl AND its young fledgling.". That was exciting news as we did not have that bird on our "life list". She explained where it was on the road so we wouldn't miss it. (We did, but back tracked to find it.)

The NWR is in the midst of a huge drought as is much of the west at this time, and the Refuge is suffering because of it.  The main lake is less than half the size of normal. and the main lake is reduced also by more than 50%. That meant that we did a lot of birding on the grassland until we got to the areas on the SW side that had more water. We did see more Western Meadowlarks that we had ever seen before. More than one hundred that we saw, and many more that were there. Lark Buntings were plentiful, as were Lark Sparrows.

 We did get to the marker that Janelle mentioned but did not see the bird or burrow.  I drove backward (one lane road) about 1/4 mile, and we spotted it on the opposite side that Ruth was sitting (back seat) , and settled in for some photo sessions. Not only was the adult there standing on a set of rocks (put thereby the Refuge) but one fledgling was perched a few feet behind the adult. We watched for fully 40 minutes.   It stayed ,only to move a few feet into the grass, and the young moved back to a second mound. It was a glorious time.

The Refuge HQ. from the end of the auto tour

Looking across the Refuge toward the Missouri River high banks.

YOUR TURN! You tell me what this is?

 

The rest of the ride was to see some water birds on the SW part of the Refuge. There were Phalaropes, Willets, Black Necked Stilts, Lesser Dowitchers and others with some ducks "sprinkled in". We did get our "Big Gun"the telescope ,out a few times for a better look.

The 77 F heat and full sun did wear us out some, but we had a  great tour around. We were disappointed that there was less water spots, but the 45 birds we identified, helped raise the spirits.

We returned to town, to celebrate at a DQ with Ruth's usual 'small Heath Bar Flurry' and I had a 'Moolatte'.

A stop at Hanks Hardware store to pick up another bolt for those hangers in the bathroom and we were back at the trailer.--Supper was hamburgs on the grill (Ruth of course). 

That was pretty  much the day.  Tomorrow we plan to go back to the refuge but do the last part first where the water is and hopefully see the birds in the AM.

Thanks for reading. Make a comment if you feel  like it.

Day 20, Monday June 17, 2022, Traveling from Minot ND to Malta, Montana.

 Day 20,  Monday June 17, 2022, Traveling from Minot ND to Malta, Montana.

Another beautiful day in the northern Plains as we move to another state and as far west as we go on this one. The morning was very nice with temps at 61F when we awoke, ((7:00 AM) . Our friend Bob from Chesaning, MI, who camped next door, left just before we did as he was headed to Glacier National Park with his two children (14 and 18) and wife for his two weeks vacation. I believe he works for the Saginaw County Road Commission in  Saginaw.

We were on the road at 9:30 am and with the one hour that we gain (Time zone change)  heading into Mountain time at the Montana border, we will save an hour.

 

Do you wonder why the powerlines look so sturdy out here in the Plains?

In front of Doc Holiday's Restaurant are 25 figures of the"Old West"

Floodman's Thistle

 

Again this route takes us through that wide open, Big Sky country and nothing but wheat fields and specifically spring wheat, durum wheat, barley, flaxseed and safflower. Ruth and I were trying to figure out why the wheat was not all the same color? That explained it as research shows that there are three kinds of main grains listed. The darker green wheat is the spring wheat and the lighter the durum. We did see some fields of Flax, (blue) and Safflower (yellow) also called rape seed. Some photos show the fields as far as the eye can see.

More of the "Old West  at "Doc Holliday's"

One of 5 main crops is the spring wheat .It is a deep green color..

Another crop is flax seed. It has a blue flower

 

One of the towns we went through (there were not many on this 200 mile leg), was Poplar, MT. It is the center of activity for the the Ft. Peck  Reservation and  is home to The Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes^. Though separate, both tribes have similar-sounding languages and are of the Siouxian language family. Fort Peck Reservation is home to those two separate Indian nations, each composed of numerous bands and divisions. The Sioux divisions of Sisseton/Wahpetons, the Yanktonais, and the Teton Hunkpapa are all represented. The Assiniboine bands of Canoe Paddler and Red Bottom are represented. There are about 9,000 members at the present time. (One quarter blood qualifies for membership).  Most of the social activity, residences and outdoor activities are along the Missouri River, which flows along the southern boundary of the reservation.The town of Poplar has many services ad building the tribes built and is the assumed "Headquarters" for the tribes.

 

The high banks of the Missouri River  can be seen all along US 2 and here at Bowdoin NWR in the distance

 

We watched  the high banks of the Missouri from US 2 for the entire 200 miles into Malta. The Yellowstone River flows north out of Yellowstone National Park, and empties into the Missouri flowing east in north central Montana south of US 2  about one hours drive. This area on the Missouri is where Lewis and Clark took the Expedition of 1804-1805 to the west coast  for President Jefferson.

After the border with Montana, there were no oil rigs, oil pads nor trucks. The Bakken oilfield is only in NE North Dakota.

Western Wallflower

The oil industry (Bakken Field) is everywhere near Minot ND

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An open site at Minot, but quiet.

 We are camped on the north edge of Malta  in a very small (25 sites) campground right along side the Milk River which we will see more of as we travel through the NWR's. Behind the campground, is a "campers delight". HA! The main tracks of the BN & SF Railroad. Since we set up our site  about 9 trains have gone through including the "Amtrac". (Passengers only). The Milk River crosses under the trestle so the sound of the cars going over is usually very loud! The trestle is about 300 feet away. This is the main line between Minneapolis and Seattle so everything on the RR goes through here. The trains average 150 cars each, and there is a puller and a pusher Engine to move it along. I'll let you know how the night goes. !!!  The west bound trains are almost always empty and move fast .

We did get set up, but the truck was on an incline and we lost the blocks holding it up as we unhitched the truck. The trailer went down on the hitch foot. No one hurt even though Ruth is back there usually. A neighbor happened to be going out and stopped when he heard and saw the jolt. He helped us and after some jack work (always carry a jack in a trailer) and some redoing of the blocks  under the wheels, we were back on line again. Oh Hum!

That gave Ruth and myself some time to cool off from the 87 F heat in the A/C trailer that was cooling down.

We had bought some prepared Chicken Stroganoff at Albertsons (grocery) this week and had that with rice. We seldom buy prepared food but that sounded good and it was. The evening cooled off quickly and it was comfortable outside where I am writing this missive

.Hello to my Russian friends who are reading this. There are as many of you as there are those from the USA, my home country. I hope all is well over there with you .Make a comment in the comment space and tell me where you  are. That would be good for me to know.

Tomorrow we will go to a National Wildlife Reserve (NWR) nearby, and look for shore birds and perhaps an Eagle if we re lucky.

See you then.-- Jim

Day 19, Sunday June 26,2022 Last day at Buffalo Trails ,Williston ND

 Day 19, Sunday June 26,2022 Last day at Buffalo Trails ,Williston ND

The day was beautiful and after a pleasant night, we headed out of town to the Theodore Roosevelt, National Park. We had been there once before, and as we were only staying two nights here, it was a good day to do it.

Western Wallflower

 

Entry to the Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The route is west on US 2 out of town, then south 50 miles on US 85 to the park. The entrance is seen from the highway "way down there" as the Little Missouri River has cut a huge  Valley and floodplain which makes up most of the accessible part of the Park. There are three units in the park. A South  and North unit as well as the Elkhorn Ranch Unit which has no buildings standing, as it is looooong gone. It is where Teddy Roosevelt  built a ranch and stayed there when he visited. He lost both his wife and his mother on Feb 14  and he started coming here just after that to recover those losses. He lost all of his cattle in the winter of 1887 two years after the buildings were completed by his workers. He went back to NY.

Scarlet Globe Mallow

Prickly Pear Cactus

Black Samson (a Cone Flower)

 

Ruth and I saw few birds ...I mean a few, but added the Cedar Waxwing which we did not have yet. There were 21 birds that day. We were able to identify in flight, the Lark Sparrow with its white patches on the wings against as all black body. We saw no Hawks or large birds although we know there are Golden Eagles in the Park. We saw no birds at all along the Little Missouri River. We stopped at the picnic grounds and the camping area but, again,  very few birds.

 

Concretions formed by water dripping on sand.

Irregular  formations in the soft rock.

Ledges formed by resistant layers to ersosion

 The end of the road at mile 14 is the Oxbow Overlook where the river actually does two complete oxbow loops. almost coming back on itself two times.  In 100 years  or so it probably will straighten itself out.

The Little Missouri River looking east

The Little Missouri at the double Oxbow..

The gray rock is Bentonite rock, that flows when it gets wet. (Waterfall like)

 

The rock formations I will show in the photos as there are many.

There are Buffalo in the Park and we did see them three times. They were reintroduced in 1956 and now have established themselves so that have to be managed each year. There are also Bighorn Sheep, Elk and Pronghorn (Antelope) in the Park.

The road to the Park  (US 85) is loaded with many "oil pads"and  all sorts of accessory pits that hold trucks, tankers, pipe, wire, metal, welders, parts stores and the like for the oil industry there and around  NE North Dakota. The industry is down about 20% since the pandemic began.

After getting home we did get to "Doc Holliday's" restaurant and saw the west as it might have been a few years back. The walls and ceiling were loaded with western memorabilia. Our guest on the wall at our table was my favorite "General"---Chief Joseph. There were two shiny Harley Davidson motorcycles that were displayed on platforms . Sturgis SD is a center for the  BIG Motorcycle rally each year. It is not that far from here. Quite a contrast in cutures.

So it was a great day in the sun and with little wind it was an ideal day. Tomorrow we head for Montana and the town of Malta, where we will spend 5 nights and see a number of NWR there.

See you on the road.