Ruth and I added some more birds to our list but had to go back into Montana to do it. There was a NWR north of Culbertson MT that we did not get to so this was as close as possible. This refuge has a tour road that drives along the north side only. One side branch allows you to drive to the White Pelican roosting and nesting "Island" on a two track 2 mile road. It is well isolated so the Pelicans are quite safe there. More on that later.
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| The White Pelicans at Medicine Lake ND |
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| White Pelicans nesting and roosting site at Medicne Lake |
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| More of the White Pekicans who nest here in ND. |
On the way to Medicine Lake, I told Ruth I wanted a change on the lunch and would like to stop at a Subway and get a sandwich.The trouble with that was that none of them were open. So I said I'll stop in Culbertson and see if I could get a sandwich. There was a diner open and I dropped in to see if I could do that.. I Asked them to make me a turkey and cheese sandwich with lettuce and the waitress was more than happy to place that order. I had my sandwich and the mustard I love. And we were on the way north on MT 16.
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| An American Avocet with her young was close. |
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| American Avocet chicks. |
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| The long two track to the White Pelican Nesting site. (ND) |
The Refuge lies within the highly productive Prairie Pothole Region of the Northern Great Plains. This one of Ruth and my favorite areas to bird. As is typical of what is known as "glacial drift prairie," the Refuge has relatively gentle rolling plains and numerous shallow wetlands. The Refuge encompasses 31,660 acres in Sheridan and Roosevelt counties, and includes about 13,010 acres of open water and marsh, 14,890 acres of native prairie, and 3,760 acres of previously cultivated lands now maintained mostly in perennial grass plantings. Most of the surrounding private land is intensively farmed for small grain. This NWR is surrounded by the three types of grassland,namely short grass, mixed grass and tall grass.
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| A portion o fthe 35,000 acres at Medicine LAke NWR |
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| One of the few roads at Medicine Lake NWR |
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| This Marbled Godwit dove at the truck when we were near her nest and young |
Being a holiday (Independence Day, July 4th) there was no open visitor center or workers, That was fine as we moved around the NWR easily.
We rove the north side until we ran into the Avocets with their three young on the road, That took a bit of time to watch them and get some photos of the little ones taking directions from their Mom. She was patient and when we had to move on she would scold us and give the little ones signals to move and hide. That was a special birding moment.
The same was true later of the Marbled Godwit and her young. She was more aggressive and would dive the truck and scold us. The young one merely ran ahead of the truck for about 1/3 of a mile until it veered off onto the grass. A video of that will show its consistent running
This was a good time to work on identifying the "field" birds as the grassland was all around us all the time. The Sparrows, the Larks, Longspurs, and Meadowlarks especially. This was a heavenly place to see them close and hear them all . Some of the species we saw today were: AVOCET, RUDDY DUCK, LARK BUNTING, GADWALL, SHARP TAILED GROUSE, WHITE PELICAN, FORSTER'S GULL, CHESTNUT COLLARED LONGSPUR, BAIRD'S SPARROW, MARBLED GODWIT, WESTERN GREBE, EASTRN MEADOWLARK, and a few others.
After returning to the trailer , Ruth had steaks ready to grill. It was a special day so Rib Eye's it was. Steaks are not my choice of meat , but I will eat one once in a while. Ruth does a great job.
Tomorrow we head for Minot ND where there are three very fine NWR's. We hope to make them part of the trip. Still great weather at 74F today and sunny.
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