Pothole Ponds. Yes. North Dakota has many of them and we stopped to see if there was some bird production on them. There was, and in most cases the moms were with the young ones which made it difficult to identify . The female ducks have such great camouflage that they are very similar to one another. We did come up with a few en-route to Minot from Williston ND.
From the slightly flatter terrain of the land near Williston, the land to the east toward the Souris river, begins to roll much more, Then there is a very level plain west of Stanley sort of half way. Then the hills start again toward Minot. In all of this there still is a great amount of oil wells and oil activity. The center of this activity is the BAKKEN Oil Field near Williston, but it stretches for 100 miles at least.
The area east of Williston is considered the "Coteau" region. That is there is no drainage of the pothole lakes left by the glaciers (11,000 years ago), but there are only three rivers or streams that empty that region. There is Shell Creek, White River and Little Knife River. Two of these flow to the Hudson Bay drainage and one to the Gulf Of Mexico. The plateau above the Missouri River makes up this 'Coteau' which has a gentle slope and no hills in the central part of it. This is the Pothole region that Ruth and I find birds on almost every mile.
 |
| A typical Pot hole lake of the Coteau region of ND. Note the level terrain. |
 |
| A pothole lake with horses grazing and a few ducks. |
Tomorrow we will take a journey to see one of these rivers that flows north, and that would be the Upper Souris River. More on that later.
Th afternoon (we arrived after 1:20 PM) involved getting a lunch, and seeking out the hardware store in Minot, for some LED bulbs for the trailer (gradual changeover) We did find them at the NAPA store of all places. (Well it surprised me)! Then a brief stop at the Marketplace Foods grocery . A very fine store with lots of variety an a great deli. ( An all purpose coffee storte adjoins it.)
 |
| A poor, quickly taken shot, of a seed distributor near Stanley. |
 |
| One of the local phone companies that service these towns in rural ND. |
 |
| One of the ubiquitous tankers that are seen on the road in ND. There are many by the thousands. |
The camp spot we are in is on an Oxbow of the Souris River and very shaded with huge Cottonwood trees around us. It is a comfortable spot. A couple from Medford, OR is in the spot next , on their way from the east. It is refreshing, also, to see the children enjoying the camping in many of the parks.
After Ruth made a great pot of macaroni and cheese, trying to emulate Mar's famous recipe, (It came close but still not the same, she says) we had a relaxing evening and a quiet one without any wind to speak of.
 |
| A quickly taken photo of rape seed (canola) next to Flax. |
 |
| Good contrasts in the green and yellows |
 |
| The seed silos in the towns are endless. (Wheat, etc) |
The weather is still in the 70's and the rest of the country is sweating it out. We shall see if the weekend changes things.
No comments:
Post a Comment