WISN Surveys near West Helena, AR

Yesterday we completed the township near West Helena, AR, where we had seen many snipe flying around the previous day. The ice on the trees was covered in a new frost, and in the sun, every tree looked like a Christmas tree. This cooper's hawk was a little too cold to move, and we got pretty close before he flew off.

cooper's hawk

I started off the day finding these two sleeping snipe in a field, and throughout the rest of the day we found only a handful more. All open water was frozen until around noon, so the snipe must have found open water elsewhere-but not in our transects.

Other highlights were double-crested cormorants sunning themselves in a tree near an open lake, american coots, numerous American pipits, and a juvenile bald eagle, that soared low over one of our transect lines for about 20 minutes.

American coot

double-crested cormorants

American pipit

juvenile bald eagle

South Dakota: Badlands National Park and Buffalo Gap National Grasslands

I finished all of my work for the Playa Lakes Joint Venture Habitat Survey three days ago.  On my last day of work, I saw this bald eagle:

immature bald eagle: Cherry County, NE

And this great horned owl:

great horned owl: Cherry County, Nebraska

And these two trumpeter swans:

trumpete swans: Cherry County, Nebraska

I said goodbye to Nebraska and headed north to South Dakota, only about a 2.5 hour drive.  My first stop was Badlands National Park.  The weather has been excellent here, and it was a gorgeous day in the park.  There really weren't too many birds around; in the park, I only saw a kestrel, some bluebirds, starlings, and a golden eagle.  But there was plenty of other wildlife to keep my busy.  At the entrance to the park was a few mule deer, including this huge buck!!!

As soon as you enter the park, you see just why this area was designated a national park.  If you haven't been there, you need to go!!!

About a mile or so down the road I came across this bighorn sheep, just walking down the middle of the road.  He barely looked at me as I snapped a ton of photos.  I let him walk by, then drove around again, just so he could walk by again.  At one point he walked right next to my car.  Later, when I drove back through this area, he was standing on the side of the road eating grass.

A little farther down was this mule deer, that had climbed to the top of an outcrop, and was following his buddy down the steep slope.

At another overlook, this little rabbit ran right towards me.  I later found out he was a desert cottontail.  There were more throughout the park as well, in addition to a few large colonies of prairie dogs. 

Over one colony of prairie dogs was this golden eagle.

And a little further down the road was a herd of bison.

As I was watching the bison, I noticed a coyote in the field.  I drove to get closer, and as another car drove by, the coyote got even closer to me, allowing me to get really good photos.  I have not been hiking alone ever since I heard of the story of a 19 year old in Canada getting attacked by two coyotes.  She later died in the hospital. 

The badlands are surrounded by various tracts of National grasslands.  I drove through the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands on my way to Rapid City.  Before I got there, I came across this herd of pronghorn antelope, the first I have seen on this trip.

Within the grasslands, I found this rough legged hawk sitting on this sand dune.  There are not many trees here, so raptors make due by using these natural perches.

So now I am in Rapid City, waiting for Alex.  In the last two days, I got an oil change and cleaned my car, and did some laundry.  Today I went to just about every city park, looking for birds.  I didn't find anything spectacular yet, but I will keep looking.

Rough legged hawks, ferruginous hawks, and a bald eagle

After spending 2 days in McCook, NE, and taking 4 days off due to bad weather, I got back on the road this morning.  Most of the snow has melted, but the roads are still mushy in parts.  For the most part, though, roads are passable. 

In Chase county, I had three rough legged hawks withing one mile!!!!  All had full crops, and were sitting on telephone poles/soaring.

Rough legged hawk number 1: Chase County, NE

Rough legged hawk number 2: Chase County, NE

Rough legged hawk number 2: Chase County, NE

Rough legged hawk number 3: Chase County, NE

A little further north in Perkins county, I passed another interesting hawk on a pole.  I passed it at first, but thought I should go back to document it, especially if it was another rough legged.  A picture text/call to Alex confirmed it was a ferruginous hawk, the first I have ever seen! 

ferruginous hawk: Perkins County, NE

ferruginous hawk number 1: Perkins County, NE

It seemed like every where I went, I saw a new and different bird.  Interestingly, I barely saw any red-tail hawks today.  I found this ferruginous hawk about 5 miles SE of the first.

ferruginous hawk number 2: Perkins County, NE

And finally, as the sun started to set and I rushed to get point done, I found this juvenile bald eagle sitting in some trees in a pasture.  He was not shy at all, and I got excellent photos.  He watched all of the cows intently that passed underneath him.  A great raptor day!

juvenile bald eagle: Perkins County, NE

juvenile bald eagle: Perkins County, NE