Day 39, Saturday July 16, 2022, At Grand Island NE
Today we wanted to see the Buffalo that has been running "free"on the 2,000 acres of the Crane Trust west of Grand Island. They have a large area to roam (Buffalo Roam!) so we may not see them. At any rate we will cover some more rural roads seeking what ever is there.
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| Saw two deer today and Ruth snapped this one |
We were under way at 9:00AM and as the area is only 8 miles from here,we were there quckly. Beyond the Crane Trust Center, is a road the runs around a lake that is adjacent to thePlatte river where the Cranes feed during Migration months, but not at this time.
The Crane Trust owns title to Mormon Island which a 2,000 acre pasture to the
east of the Trust . It is the largest remaining mid and tallgrass prairie in
the state of Nebraska. These buffalo that are coming are gonna think
they died and gone to heaven,” Tom Dougherty, board member for the Crane
Trust, said. There were 42 Buffalo tyat we.re delivered here
Plains bison aren’t endangered, but there are far fewer of them today than in the 19th century. One of the biggest efforts to restore bison has been through a partnership between the Inter-Tribal Bison Cooperative and the National Wildlife Federation. They’ve worked together since the 1980s to move overflow wild plains bison from Yellowstone to tribal reservations.
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| A rear end shot of a Bob O Link |
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| Finally the Dickcissel |
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| The most numerous bird in the USA-Red Winged Blackbird |
The gate to the road was closed and locked and it is evidently private property now. So we continued until we reached Shoemaker Island Road, and stayed on that until noon. Along this route we did see a number of birds including one we had not seen on this trip previously. that was the Dickcissel. A seed eating bird that is yellow with some black at the neck. It can be seen along the side of the road on fence posts or in the fields.
We saw 23 birds that morning. At one point there were hundreds of Rough Winged Swallows sitting a fence. We saw no Hawks for the second day.
A few days ago ,when we were driving to a spot and Ruth spotted a barn she wanted to get a photo . It was problematic as she "Thought" it was a few roads over from where we were, so we made the trip around a few roads to get there, and finally did see it. She got her photo and we traveled a few new roads to get there.. There is much hay cutting and baling of straw from the winter wheat hat has been cut recently. The huge bales are still in the fields fro the most part.
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| Ruth's elusve barn (not her best)! |
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| Two white horses came with the barn! |
We
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| Count the Turkey Vultures. If you got eight,,,Count again. |
We decided to make it a short morning and took on the triple tasks of 1. Doing the laundry (last time on the trip!), 2. Washing the truck (First time on the trip...Whew!) and 3. Getting some needed groceries. We did all that in that order.
In town (53,000 folks) ("town"is 11miles from the campground.) we found a very good and clean laundromat which took large loads at $6.00 apiece. The dryers were .25 Cents for 9 minutes, but the washers, Ruth said, wring the clothes quite well so the dryers do not need to work so long. It was one of the least expensive washings on the trip with the dryer only needing $1.00.
While Ruth was finishing the laundry, I took the truck to a car wash and got that done.It was a very new one and did a reasonable job on the truck. It would take hand work to get all the bugs off the front of the truck,and will have to wait for that "perfect job" until we get home.
That left the groceries which was just a mile and a half from the laundromat. It was a short list ,so we were out of there in 30 minutes.(I did notice that there were still many items that had few choices ,at least fewer than usual.
For the first time we tried the packaged dinner that we bought at a delicatessen a few weeks back in Douglas WY. Ruth had a turkey dinner and I had a "hot" chicken and rice with noodles. Excellent for store bought.
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| Cleaning the ditches to allow good water movement in irrigation. |
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| The pump that moves the water to the pipes in the fields. |
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| The very long sprinkling system |
The waters of the Platte River serve the people of Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska in many ways. Federal and non-federal water projects in the Platte River Basin, including 15 major dams, provide municipal and industrial water supplies for about 5 million people, irrigate 3.5 million acres of farmland, and generate tens of millions of dollars of renewable hydroelectric power. These projects also provide flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife habitat.
The Platte River is a major river in the State of Nebraska. It is about 310 mi (500 km) long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over 1,050 miles (1,690 km).
There is a rain threatened for tonight and I will believe it when I see it! The air is so dry that the rain comes down but does not reach the ground. We both noticed that the further east we have gone that the more Gulf moisture we have felt. Right now there is definitely a higher humidity. Whereas the humidity n Ogallala, NE was always around 15-20% while it is at 45% here.
Not too many photos today but you will get to see some of the birds we do not see in Michigan our home state.
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