The first time we visited Sully's Hill earlier this week we did not see any buffalo, (they wander ya know!) so Ruth wanted to give it one more try. We went back after supper and drove around the auto tour route and did not see them,,,UNTIL on the last 100 yards , coming down a hill to the exit, there they were on the side of the hill, meandering to the "waterhole" that was at the bottm of the hill. We stopped and observed them for 20 minutes, the moms with the young (There were 6 calves born this year), the Bull leder and about 23 other ones. The Game Preserve at Sully's is about 1,647 acres and was oridginally deemed a National Park (1904) but was turned over to the Park Service as a Game Preserve in 1921. It remains that today.
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The Bull Buffalo was watching all proceedings! |
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After finshing drinking (right) they started back up the
road but lingered there for 10 minutes. |
It is fitting that these animals are in the same range where the Sioux tribes lived. Today they are still on the land of the Spirit Lake band of Sioux.
It is a moving experience to behold, when you think how close we came to not having any of them left today.
We started the day at Stump Lake which is another "Basin Lake" that only loses water by evaporation. Because of that when the high waters come many trees die from the water. Hence the many "stumps" that remain along the edges of , and in the middle of the Lake. All roads now have been rebuilt and are 5-6 feet about the lake levels. We "poked in" along many roads that led to the Lake and again went to the end to find birds everywhere there was water. It was a good day with 43 bird species and one new one to add to the total of 204 birds .
Interstingly the name Devils Lake is better explained this way. The Sioux called the lake mni wak’áŋ chante, which separately translate as mni (water), wak’áŋ (spirit), and chante (bad). Early European-American settlers thought this meant "Bad Spirit Lake", or "Devils Lake." The "bad" referred to the high salinity of the lake, making it unfit to drink, and "spirit" meant the mirages often seen across the water. The Christian concept of the devil was not present in the Sioux religion. The salinity is shown in some previous picturs where the soil is white.
Tomorrow we move to Bemidji MN, and we believe the songbirds will not be far behind. TIme will tell. Today was very dry agan after a rain last night. The humidity was 15% today and they are under a fire alert agaon. We did see many birds today and here are a few to end todays blog.
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Two Tundra Swans that surprised us. |
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A Yellow Headed blackbird |
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Hey, that is not a bird, but a cooperative Prairie Dog |
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A very large Cormorants roost on a large pond. |
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