Even if that (Title) does not seem to be a very congruous combination, they did go together today. As we were standing in the banks of the MIssouri River the wind was so fierce it took the tops of the whitecaps on the River (Lake Lewis and Clark) and formed then into a spray that filled the air like a fog. It was a beautiful sight. Lewis and Clark Lake is about 15 miles long and about 2 miles wide at its widest. Most of our time was spent along the banks looking for birds but finding few. Only two we had not seen in a many weeks, and those were the Red Breasted Merganser and the Sharp Shinned Hawk. That put our total species seen at 182 on this trip.
Here is a look at the Gavin Dam, the Lewis and Clark Lake and the Lake Yankton, down stream from
the dam.
We drove most of the recreational parks but turned up few new birds, There were 36 species counted in all.
The wind was fierce and when we stopped at the Visitor Center on the Nebraska side, the wind was blowing at the top of the hill at about 50 mph as we rounded the corner to enter the building. It had torn the US Flag ropes so it was dangling by a thread. The Ranger said "When the wind dies down I will fix it". It was held by a big cable so safety was important.
We finally said "Let's Go Home" . Tomorrow Less wind is promised!
The dam from the downstream side. It provides power and water holding for irrigation. The foam is water splashing over the top partly from the wind pushing the lake level up at that end.
A view of the dam, The river, and the lake in the background is Lake Lewis and Clark.
A view of the Nebraska side of the River, showing
the Niobrara formation . The lighter layer is
oxidized and the dark layer is not.
Ruth went back to get a better Wood Duck p picture. What do you think? Did she?
These are called Least Chipmunks.
A group of Red Head Ducks
The one spillway was being repaired by a crew
No comments:
Post a Comment