After a late start in order to attend to messages and campground reservations we headed east to find two NWR’s. One was Stump Lake, which is attached to Devils Lake so the flooding also affects it. We found out how much that affected it, later.
Lakota is a small town on US 2, 15 miles east of Devils Lake, after which we drove south for 6 miles to find the road that led to Stump Lake NWR. . The sign at the beginning of the road stated “Road ends 3 miles”. We hesitated and realized that ether this was the wrong road or it just dead ended. Note that it did not say it was a “Dead end”. After a mile and a half I stopped at a farmhouse, but no one was home. We continued, checking for birds along the way, and listening in the many marshes for the elusive Marsh Wren and Swamp sparrow. (We did see one MARSH WREN, briefly as it flitted into the marsh from across the road. They always hide in the cattails after flying . Many hawks today as well. RED TAILED HAWK, SWAINSON'S HAWK and many NORTHERN HARRIERS.
The end of the road was just that. A place where Stump Lake is very wide and over the years of flooding has come this far, covering the road we were on for a mile ahead. Looking across the lake you can see the road on the other side. This has happened to dozens of roads in the Devils Lake watershed system.
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| The end of the road at Stump Lake |
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| If you look to the right of the sign you will see the road continued. |
We scanned the Lake and the small bays but finally got out our scope observing them up closer. That allowed us to see the WILLLETS, SHORT BILLED DOWITCHERS and one AMERICAN AVOCET, that were along the shores of one bay. The scope is good for those birds “just out of reach” with the binoculars. It is a 10 X magnification so brings things quite close. Wind is the biggest enemy as it will jiggle and make the viewing difficult and unsteady.
Exiting this road we realized that the NWR (Stump Lake) was on the other side of the lake and would take about a 45 mile drive to get there (gravel most all of the way). So we located a small, closer, wildlife reserve named Lamb Lake NWR which was about 10 miles distant and more easily reached. The problem with some of the smaller NWR’s is that the department does not sign them at all. If you know where it is you will see the very small sign depicting its location and boundary. Note the bird on the signs is one that Ding Darling designed many years ago.
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| The Lamb Lake NWR, small and mostly marsh |
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| The NWR boundary signage. "Ding" Darling's design. |
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| A Bobolink. We saw few of them. |
The highway County Road 35 that we drove, had many small roads leading east where we wanted to go. But which one was it? Again, I stopped near where we thought it was, and asked “Chet” who helped us locate the correct road some 3 roads back. The second one is the Missile silo). Chet's home had a beautiful yard with many flowers including delphinium, daisies, and lilies in full bloom.
We found the road and sure enough it led to the signs for the boundaries of the refuge. it was small , and mostly marshland. We wondered if it was on the “delisting ”list? It was small, but no water that we could see. There were no trees at all. I would believe it is one the Fish and Wildlife want move off the list.
That ended the day and as we headed home we ran across the small town of Michigan. I had been told about it but didn’t think we would run into it. I’ll let the photos tell that story.
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| This is MICHIGAN North Dakota. |
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| "GO BLUE". (Not the right color, eh?) |
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| The local food store is "True Blue". |
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| The RR sign is still original we believe. |
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| "58259" Zip code |
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| Inside ...everything is Michgan!~ |
The day ended with a threat of rain, but just it just thundered. The campground is quiet mid week, and there is lots of room for everyone with space all around each site.
Tomorrow Lake Alice north of Devils Lake.
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