NE Day 40,  Sunday July 17,2022, Last day at Grand Island NE

 

Bull Buffalo at the Crane Trust wild Prairie.

 

"Let's go see some Buffalo!" said Ruth to noone, today. But I got the message as the Buffalo did not cooperate with the posing yesterday for the photos. So that is where we started today

OH<!!! ALMOST FORGOT!!! WE WERE UNDER A TORNADO WARNING LAST NIGHT (9PM) AND SOUGHT SHELTER IN THE OFFICE BUILDING MADE OF CINDER BLOCKS.

All went well, it rained hard and blew hard but no injuries or damage here. There was a Tornado  about 10 miles away. A lady from California (never experienced a tornado) asked what do we do? She said..." I know about fires and heat, but not this. 

So we headed for the Buffalo and found tgat there were now over 50 head from theoriginalherd of 42 that wasut here over a year ago. Themain herd was off n the distance mosly lieing down an resting. The big bull was closer to te fence than yesterdayso Ruth did get some shots of value.  Mine came out quite clear as well. Taking photos throug the windshield does not always work as it either darkens the image or puts a glare on the photo tat you often donot see in the lens.

One of the homes in that rural"subdivision"

Looking across the lawn and lake to the other side of the subdivision

The Platte River near the original trail along side it.

 

I had looked up the area  beyond the Buffalo and it showed a "suburban "development apart from any town or infrastructure. It seems there was a develoment  calles "Atrim Acres" of about 200 homes with a well platted design surrounding private "lakes' for each house or group of the them. We drove through that, but did not see any birds of consequence,  excepet Canadian Geese on the "lakes".  (Small, with 6-8 houses on a "lake"). We did pick up some 32 birds in that drive along Platte River Road.  We did not  realize that we were on the original trail called the "Old Nebraska Trail".  It followed the Platte River from the  1840's to the 1860's. All these trails led to the Rocky Mountains  and beyond.

Blood root or Sweet potato Vine  (single blooms)

The old road along Platte River

Those were gruesome days.

 

That ended the day as we headed for the trailer and wrapping up our time here in central Nebraska.  In the afternoon we downloaded the photos, I drained the sewer in prep for tomorrow when I will do it one more time.And I began to identify Ruth's photos that needed names and places  and dates (Dates are automatic, but it is good to match them up with the place at that time.) Better to do it sooner than after the memory forgets where that place was!

 

Burning slash after clearing

The campground after we came back this PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we came back tothe campground (at 1:30 ) today the campground was about empty. The one nighters were gone added to the weekenders who headed back on Monday .There were virtually no  RV's in the park at one end. That will change this evening as more stop  and continue their journey. What a wonderful country we have in which we can move about so freely.

One of the roads where the birding was good.

 

Tomorrow  we head for Omaha NE on the state line (Iowa) where we will try to visit two NWR's, one of which we had been to before. But I will save the info on that one unti we visit and tell you about it. Think Riverboats and the Missouri River.