Day 24, Friday Juy 1, 2022 Last day at Malta , MT

 Day 24, Friday Juy 1, 2022, Last day at Malta , MT

Well, we did get back to Bowdoin NWR a third time.This time we did as we had planned and went it the "wrong way" exit to get to the water a bit sooner than traveling around the dry lake beds on the NE side of the Refuge. It worked quite well as we did see a few birds we had not so far and did count some 45 birds today. 

One of the surprises was to see a single Pronghorn Buck in one of the grassland areas, that was quite indifferent to our appearance. Not like the group with two young that we saw two days ago. They scooted as soon as they saw us and we were 1/3 mile away. This buck was  only a few hundred yards away.

Lark Bunting

That Burrowing Owl Adult again.

The Pronghorn Buck that wandered in the grass.

 

We saw no Eagles or Hawks, but yesterday evening we did see the first Turkey Vulture we have seen in a while. Lark Sparrows and Lark Buntings were abundant once again, but we did not drive the area that had the 100's of Meadowlarks.  (Although we did see many.) We stopped for lunch at the bridge where the water flows through from Beaver Creek and noticed that even in one night the water levels had gone down noticeably. There were fewer birds as a result.

Plumless Thistle

Prairie Thistle (sic)

Prickly Pear Cactus in bloom

 

We had some tense moments with the camera as when the camera has too many "buttons" they can be a nuisance if touched when operating the camera. That happened to me and it took Ruth's sleuthing to get it straightened out. We have three cameras that we use. Ruth's "Big Gun" that had a doubler at 500, and we each have a smaller one tat has 200 zoom and wide angle. Good for close ups as well.  Ruth likes to take flower photos out the window and both cameras work well to do that. Not many flowers here in the Refuge, besides the milkweed, sunflowers (a few),  and the  Prickly Pear Cactus , that are abundant.

More on cameras tomorrow.

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe RR. 20 trains/day

There were over 150 cars on this train.

Where there was water, the birds gathered, but far out!

 

So it was a good day , and I loved to watch the trains go by and actually took a video of one ,before Ruth asked me to end it! There are , as I indicated a day ago, 150 cars in most  trains, loaded with double stacked container shipments, , cattle , auto, grain, and those huge wind generator blades all filling one train.

One of the ponds on the Refuge

There is some private land to cross through!!!

A serene look atone of the ponds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow we head for Billings as we begin the trek easterly, and start toward home.  We are about 1/2 way on the journey. Again it is a short haul  to Billings,   Three hours)which takes off  the pressure of long driving and long days riding in the truck.  Ruth and I am thankful for that.

So again  tonight more photos ,and less chatter!

Billings is Montana's largest city at about 160,00 people, but we will only hear the fireworks from there if they have them,... as many cities are not having them out here,  as the conditions are too dry.