Day 99, Tuesday July 10, 2018, Sully’s Hill ND, and maybe Buffalo?

The campground at Devils Lake ND

It was a sunny morning and time to get back on line for Jim with both the e mail and Face Book.  There had been a problem that needed to be solved. Both Ruth and Julia (daughter)) pitched in and accomplished doing just that. Jim was happy and Ruth was relieved.  Somehow Face Book had enabled Jim’s name to become ‘James’ and he couldn’t get to his home page. We are back in business.

Today was  a visit to Sully’s Hill. That is a Fish and Wildlife Department’s Game Reserve that contains Buffalo, and Elk as well as other naturally present animals and birds. It is a good birding location and although not very large, contains a completely wooded area of Bur Oak, Green Ash and Basswood in the rolling hills and deep crevices of its confines.. It is  1,900 acres of deciduous forest.

One of the wooded areas in Sully's Hill

Hard to see, but it is a deep gully.

The only road through Sully's Hill.

A 3 mile loop allows autos to traverse the area and even though it is quite short, it took us 3 and one half hours to complete the circuit. That gives us time to study the birds and understand more about their habits and antics. There is very little traffic, and maybe we saw 8-9 vehicles all day. One of the most seen birds today was the DUSKY FLYCATCHER as we saw dozens of them.  They were close enough to get a few photos even though they are in the shade of the trees.

One area has a city of Prairie Dogs. Cute antics make us laugh.

One of the many Dusky Flycatchers.

The view from the lookout at Sully's hill. (Devils Lake.)

 The view from on top of the hill was of the entire Devils Lake (as much as you could see to the horizon) and it is some  3,800 sq.miles in size. The largest natural lake in ND. It has not drained it's waters to the Sheyenne River in over 1,000 years. Flooding is an on going problem.

Entry sculpture and sign.

On the way out in the Lake were these resting Pelkicans AND Cormorants.

We had not seen the DOWNY WOODPECKER since we left Michigan in April, and the AMERICAN REDSTART  was a new addition to the trip list as well. The Redstart we saw as we were seated on a bench eating lunch. Ruth and I usually look around  the local area when eating and have our binoculars handy. This bird landed in the tree next to us so was picked up quickly by Ruth. At that same lunch time the NORTHERN CATBIRD  was moving through the trees. The total today was 31, which for a entire wooded area and a few water birds,  was a good count.

A yet, unidentified flower

Rape seed n bloom (Canola)

Wheat in midseason.

On the way out and on the way home , Ruth wanted to get some close ups of both the Rape seed and the Wheat growing in the fields. We stopped both times and did get those as well as some Western Grebes carrying their young.




 Devils Lake come from the Lakota name "Lake of the Spirit". Hence the tribal name of the ""Spirit Lake Band". It is almost the same in Arikara.

Tomorrow is a short trip to two smaller National Wildlife Preserves namely Stump Lake and Black Swan.