Hello to everyone,
On the morning of June 8, we visited the Cross Ranch State Park about 45 minutes north of Bismark, North Dakota along the Missouri River. This pleasant drive is certainly worthwhile, wonderful scenery and lots of wildlife.
Once inside the park you get the real feeling that east meets west, especially when you are talking about bird life. White-breasted Nuthatch and Hairy Woodpeckers climbing the talls trees, Black-headed Grosbeak singing from a high perch, Eastern Wood-Pewees doing their classic peeee-weeee song and a male Spotted Towhee digging around in the undergrowth. All of this activity was taking place just in the parking area.
While birding in front of the visitor center, we saw a very unusual bird. A strange hybrid of a Lazuli Bunting and an Indigo Bunting. It had the brilliant blue color of an Indigo Bunting, but nice white-winged bars like the Lazuli Bunting. There wasn't even the slightest smudge of orange-rust on the chest and it had a white belly. Quite interesting to see, a new hybird for both of us, whooooo-hoooooo!
Later Magdalena and I hiked a beautiful trail along the Missouri River hoping to catch a glimpse of the diminutive Least Tern. We searched for about 30 minutes or so without any luck. However, there were many nice things that caught our attention. A huge adult Ferruginous Hawk flew gently over head and we watched a Yellow Warbler sitting on it's nest.
We decided to head back to the car and try another site for the Least Tern, when I happened to see the tiny Least Tern flying in the distance. The views were poor and we decided to wait some more and see if it would turn up again. About 20 minutes later it showed off very well and Magda was as happy as a singing Athi Short-toed Lark on the short-grass plains of East Africa!
I'm sure everyone knows what I'm talking about, yeah right!
While in route back to Harvey, we made several roadside stops and were able to photograph several more birds not yet posted on the blog. Sedge Wren and White-rumped Sandpiper being the most notable.
We hope everyone is enjoying the photographs and stories that we have been working on. Feel free to write us a comment after the blog stories, or send me an e-mail at stvneasley@yahoo.com
Thanks so much to everyone for all the support given thus far!
Good Birding, STEVEN EASLEY
On the morning of June 8, we visited the Cross Ranch State Park about 45 minutes north of Bismark, North Dakota along the Missouri River. This pleasant drive is certainly worthwhile, wonderful scenery and lots of wildlife.
Once inside the park you get the real feeling that east meets west, especially when you are talking about bird life. White-breasted Nuthatch and Hairy Woodpeckers climbing the talls trees, Black-headed Grosbeak singing from a high perch, Eastern Wood-Pewees doing their classic peeee-weeee song and a male Spotted Towhee digging around in the undergrowth. All of this activity was taking place just in the parking area.
While birding in front of the visitor center, we saw a very unusual bird. A strange hybrid of a Lazuli Bunting and an Indigo Bunting. It had the brilliant blue color of an Indigo Bunting, but nice white-winged bars like the Lazuli Bunting. There wasn't even the slightest smudge of orange-rust on the chest and it had a white belly. Quite interesting to see, a new hybird for both of us, whooooo-hoooooo!
Later Magdalena and I hiked a beautiful trail along the Missouri River hoping to catch a glimpse of the diminutive Least Tern. We searched for about 30 minutes or so without any luck. However, there were many nice things that caught our attention. A huge adult Ferruginous Hawk flew gently over head and we watched a Yellow Warbler sitting on it's nest.
We decided to head back to the car and try another site for the Least Tern, when I happened to see the tiny Least Tern flying in the distance. The views were poor and we decided to wait some more and see if it would turn up again. About 20 minutes later it showed off very well and Magda was as happy as a singing Athi Short-toed Lark on the short-grass plains of East Africa!
I'm sure everyone knows what I'm talking about, yeah right!
While in route back to Harvey, we made several roadside stops and were able to photograph several more birds not yet posted on the blog. Sedge Wren and White-rumped Sandpiper being the most notable.
We hope everyone is enjoying the photographs and stories that we have been working on. Feel free to write us a comment after the blog stories, or send me an e-mail at stvneasley@yahoo.com
Thanks so much to everyone for all the support given thus far!
Good Birding, STEVEN EASLEY
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