Our First Greater Prairie Chicken Viewing

Friday April 11, 2014 --Prairie Chicken Heaven

In order to see Prairie Chicken that is found less and less each year, some states of  the Plains, like Nebraska, have habitat that will allow them to breed there. It is grassland that sustains them with little interference from predators and humans.  We journeyed about 20 mile NE of Grand Island on a road by the Taylor Ranch to watch their ritual at 6:30 in the morning as light showed and the dawn broke forth. It was a marvelous sight and even though we were some distance from them (300 yards)  the significance was not lost.  These are the Greater Prairie Chicken as there is an Endangered Lesser P.C.

 They jump in the air, blow out their cheek pouches and hoot and cluck.There
were 8 in this lek that we counted. It wasmagnificent.

Here is another male jumping for joy. The ladies just watch and walk around them.

     Other venues included a Boy Scout Lake where we picked up 9 species of birds and among them was the beautiful Ruddy Duck. One WMA (Wildlife management area) we sought was "under reconstruction" and it was almost impossible to recognize it as a viable wildlife area. I am sure in a few years it will be more acceptable for birds and animals. One of the better sites was a park just a few miles from the motel that is dedicated to the Mormon Trail that went through there. . There is a  lake that is situated with this camping and picnic park ( a very large one) and had many waterfowl that we observed. There were  Scaups, Cormorants, more Ruddy Ducks, Green Winged Teal, Shovelers, Red Headed Ducks, a Spotted Sandpiper. The  surprises today were the  Greater Yellowlegs, White Pelican, Tundra Goose, and a Brown Headed Cowbird. There were 32 species in all . Yesterday we counted  40 , but the sites were much better habitat and we traveled more miles to get them.
     We ended the day with a stop at Ruby Tuesday for dinner and inasmuch as I am still limited ineating  many foods I settled for a crab cake, baked potato and a delicious cranberry/pineapple "Berry Fresh" cooler. Ruth said the hamburger she had was the best in many years It dripped on your fingers and was a perfect 'medium rare'.
     In the evening we post our pictures (some 200 tonight), label them and compile them together.
     Tomorrow we will venture a distance away with a loop tour SE of Grand Island. There are some 25 sites in all and even f we don't see them all, it will be new territory and away from the Cranes and the Prairie Chicken for away. There are still many Cranes here, but they can go all at the same time when the time is ripe and their "bellies are full of corn".  Catch you tomorrow.

 Meadowlarks by the hundreds sang all the tine we watched the Prairie chickens

 Sunrise this morning to match the sunset last night (see)

 Morning ground fog at the Taylor Ranch with the Prairie Chickens

 The hill in the background is where the Prairie Chickens danced. Ruth was the "guide".

 A Canada Goose wanted his picture taken. OK, I humored him.

 Thought you fishermen would enjoy this post!

 Lots of cattle in Nebraska and this is one of the feed lots.

 A typical dirt road like  we traveled many times here in Nebraska.

The activity on the farms is picking up rapidly. They had only 5 inches of snow
 this winter,  so moisture is a severe problem.  Rain is expected tomorrow evening.

Thursday April 10, 2014
From Grand Island Nebraska. Pictures tell the story today.- Jim

 The Crane Trust Vistor's Center . They see that the Cranes are protected in many ways.

 The only "original untouched" portion of the Platte River (The Big Bend)

 Today we saw 10,000+ cranes right up til sunset, mostly in corn fields.

 This is one example of dozens of fields we saw .

 It's busy time in the fields , disking, tilling, and repairing electricity wires
 for irrigation sprinklers. Almost 100% corn is raised and little beans.

 Springtime means moms getting the milk to the calves.

 Two pictures of a controlled burn for feed for wildlife. The wind was 0-5 mph.

 I felt the heat from this blaze across the road.

 He watched not only the fire but the smoke to know the wind speed and direction.

 One of three small towns we visited while looking for the Cranes
in the fields and the 32 other bird species we saw today.

 Talked at some length to a rancher who with his father owned 800+ head of
cattle (Red Angus) . He was tagging and inoculating the many calves they will keep
with the mother s for 220 days. His handshake was the most powerful haveever received.

 Two of the many birds we saw today . Yes, Ring Necked Pheasants.

 And finally the sunset and watching the many cranes roost along the river
for the night on sandbars,

 Don't need words.

 One of the sandbars got filled by the time the sun set.

Enjoy the end of day in Nebraska.

Nebraska , The Cornhusker State!

   

       We arrived today at Grand Island in late afternoon. The temperature in Grand Island had risen to 82 F and the wind was blowing fierce like it can here on the Plains of North America. The trip from Coralville Iowa (Iowa City suburb) where the University of Iowa is located,  started with temps in the low 30's but it was a bright shiny blue sky.
      Although  Iowa is known for its "tall corn" there is much industry and I was especially impreessed as we moved into the higher hills of west central Iowa, with the great number of wind generators that we saw on both sides of I-80. It was so impressive that Ruth wanted to get some closer shots, so we pulled off in the small town of Adair, where there seemed to be a great activity concerning the first tilling of the soil and plantings for the year as well as the wind generators that were whirring around with the 30 mph wind that was doing its job . (They are 240 feet tall and the blades move at more than 60 mph.) We stayed long enough to take pictures and eat lunch in the car in the local cemetery.
      I would refer you to the site under the heading "Adair IA wind generators" on Google or another search engine to see what a dynamic project this is. Some of the farms have 5-6 generators on their property which  produces an income of about $6,500 per generator. It has really improved the communities standing economically and added some growth to the population. It is an interesting look at what a wind generating farm can do for an to a community. Sure there are pros and cons.
     Central Iowa has many attractions that can be reached from the freeway such as the Amana Colonies, a group of seven small communites that up until recently practiced a communal style of life. Now they have disbanded that practice and have just kept the religious aspect alive. They originated in the mid 1800's here and historically started from a movement in the 16th century in Europe (German).
     Crossing the Platte River two times was not noticed as the first time it is a small stream as we crossed into Nebraska just outside Omaha. The second crossing was more obvious near Grand Island as the River splits in two so both channels have to be crossed. This area near Grand Island is where we will be spending much of our time to watch for and observe as many bird species as possible. The Sandhill Cranes feed here before their journey to the northern reaches of our continent to raise their young.
     At Minden  NE is the wonderful Pioneer Village which is a stop worth the time as it is truly a look at America when 80% of the people lived on farms while the many buildings hold mementos, equipment and machinery from those times.      
     Today just before we turned into Grand Island, we did see dozens  of Sandhill Cranes in the corn fields gleaning  in the afternoon. Although the 100,000 of them that feed along the river have headed north there are some that have stayed to browse awhile yet.
     Tomorrow we will start the  eight or ten sites we have lined up, which will begin at the Nebraska Nature and Visitor Center near the River. From here we hope to get some added hints to where the best current sites are to see bird life. One area has the elusive Prairie Chicken that does the terrific mating dance early in the morning. Friday is our date to try to find them just outside of Grand Island.
     It was a smooth ride half way across this beautiful land and we will report what we see and how the next 6 days go for us.. Thanks for reading.

Last night on the road April 17th 2012 Geneseo, Illinois (Day 48)

Today, the six week trip to west Texas and the Texas Coast with stops in OK, Ks, MO, and IL on the way home is coming to an end.  Many thanks to those of you who took the time to check in from time to time and to at least look at The posted pictures and maybe read a snippet or two from the blog. You might be interested that we had almost 2,000 “hits” on the blog  and  we thank you for that interest. Our trip with the truck (not trailer) covered  6,000 miles

The trip to Illinois was an easy one as we stayed on the Freeway in order to expedite the distance from NW Missouri to Western Illinois. It was almost 300 miles but went very smoothly even with some one lane traffic for bridge work on the highway.

The plaque about Herbert Hoover

A "quote fromMeredith Wilson in cast iron

Part of the Mormon story when
they stopped here

The front of the rest area with the pen "nubbin".

One of the Iowa rest stops was most interesting and I have displayed some of those pictures in this blog. The state of Iowa (which we went through from the south end to the east end) has done a marvelous job in dedicating that rest area to writers of the state of Iowa.  There are large cast iron relief placards on 7 “lean to’s” where there are picnic benches. Inside the rest area there are writings of authors and poets  and large letters cutout from native woods that decorate the hallways. Outside also there are large memorials to three different thoughts  that occurred in Iowa, One on President Hoover (Iowa native) , one on the Mormon travelers to Utah, and another one on the history of Iowa City (university of Iowa is located there)

Later in the afternoon, we overshot our intended destination as Ruth and I were both distracted listening to a good mystery story on the CD player. So, we continued to another stop, not on Iowa but in Illinois across the Mississippi River.  (That was  shocker to get gasoline at $4.09/gallon as in Missouri we had gotten it at $3.58/gallon.) In two days we crossed the two great United States rivers, the Missouri and the Mississippi. I wonder how long it took Lewis and Clark and all the other pioneers to cross those two rivers and how many died trying before bridges and float barges were used to  cross them?

There were no pretty sunsets tonight as the sun went down in a clear blue sky with no fanfare.

So the trip was a good one with lots of birds, and the final tally was 191 BIRD SPECIES SEEN. There were a few new ones to us and I will check the list when I get home. Certainly seeing a MERLIN, three GREAT HORNED OWLS on the same day, both the BALD and the GOLDEN EAGLE, MISSISSIPPI KITE,  FERRUGENOUS HAWK, COMMON MOORHEN, AMERICAN BITTERN, and the FULVOUS WHISTLING DUCK, were among the best sightings for us. We have to remember that we did this before the migrant songbirds started their journey north, or we could believe the count would have been much higher.

‘Til the next time , again, thanks for “tuning in” as the radio shows used to say. We will let you know when the next trip and postings occur.

Bless you all,

Jim and Ruth

Less than two weeks to go.

Jim and Ruth are making those last minute plans for the trip to Europe. This will be the blog that we use for the trip and we hope you  enjoy the pictures and narrative that accompanies the trip.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of each entry or sign in as a member.

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See you soon (April 8 the take off day).

Jim and Ruth

Day 18 at Rockport Big Birding day

March 18th, DAY 18  Big birding day!

The first day on the Gulf Coast turned out to be a great day for us to locate and identify birds. It was the best day thus far.  IT was a “sort of” triangular ride through brush country, some city ponds and finally the backwaters of the Mission River and the flats of Copano and Aransas Bay.

It was slightly windy and interestingly for you weather buffs, the temperatures are setting records for maximum lows each night . We have been at 75 F the last few nights and not over 80 during the day. Galveston set four maximum low records in the last five nights.  Seems like the wind off the Gulf is constant all day long.

Today too, was the EXODUS of the Spring Break travelers, so the road going north to Refugio was crowded. There were many people moving away from the Gulf resorts back to Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. Every time I pulled off the road to observe the birds I made sure there was space behind me. Remember that TEXAS has a speed limit of 75 MPH. So they really move fast even on two lane highways. This is at least 10 MPH faster than most states.

To allow you to get an idea of the birds we saw today,  here is a partial list of the 49 species seen today with some emphasis on those not seen often. 

Mew and Franklin Gulls,  *Black Bellied Whistling Duck, Belted Kingfisher, Great Egret, Kestrel, Gray Hawk, *Caracara,

 Western Meadow Lark, Loggerhead Shrike, Reddish Egret,  The *Great and Little Blue Heron, Baird’s Sandpiper, *Ruddy Turnstone, Black Necked Stilt, Greater Yellowlegs, Scissor Tailed Flycatcher, White and Brown Pelican, Purple Martin, Golden Fronted Woodpecker, Bank Swallow, Red Tailed Hawk,  Swainson’s Hawk,  Snowy Egret, American Oystercatcher, Redhead (duck) Widgeon, Ruddy Duck, Pied Billed Grebe, Blue Winged Teal and the Osprey. We saw the Osprey only because it dove into the water to catch a fish at some distance away.

I left out the common ones such as the blackbirds, grackles and doves.

I will attempt to download the pictures of those with an asterisk * if the internet is fast enough tonight. It has been sluggish at night but better in the AM.

One stretch of road from Refugio to the coastal areas was filled with many hawks and Caracaras perching on the telephone poles along the way . Ruth counted 15 hawks  that we could not identify, but were probably Swainson’s or Red Tailed immature .

A side trip included Goose Bay State Park near Fulton, where there is a 1000 year old *Live Oak tree that has been preserved and established as a memorial to the live oak trees in southern USA. We had seen it before but it is a good one to remind us of the world we live in that was much simpler in years gone by and that we need to continue to honor and preserve  those wonderful plants and animals .

We ended the day at the  RV Park by grilling hamburgers and that is Ruth’s job. She is the expert and I stay out of the way there.  They were excellent. Tonight is again warm at 78 F at 8:00 PM. It will probably be that all night. 

HEADING OVERSEAS

Hi there fans!

Jim and Ruth are getting ready to head "on the road" one more time. This time it s not with the trailer and it is not going to be in the USA.

We are planning a European trip that will take us to the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Ireland and return to the USA.

Jim came down with an intestinal disorder  so that has slowed hom down and he is "recovery mode". If all goes well the two of us will meet the April 8 departure date, flying Detroit to Paris to Amsterdam.

So hang on , and check in once in a while after that date to see if we are truly "Across the Pond".

More later ,

Jim
Here is a look at one of the polders in the Netherlands so you can have a "sneak peek".