Prairie Field Trip May 17-31, 1998

The first night out, after a long rainy drive from Renton we spent at Quartz Flat Campground just into W. Montana, in beautiful Lolo Nat'l Forest before you get to Missoula. We made good time, considering we got away from Seattle around noon! Next day we stopped at Great Falls and spent 2 nites at the KOA there. It was a fancy one and cost too much, but the showers were WONDERFUL! There weren't many people there, and Kiska was able to have good exercise out in the fields behind the campground. All the bunnies in the campground kept her attention, for sure! We thoroughly enjoyed the brand new Lewis & Clark Heritage/Interpretive Center in Great Falls, and went to the Charles M. Russell Museum & homestead there too. Gave us a special feel for that area.

Then on east to Havre, through "Rocky Boy's" Indian Reservation. We thought sure we had gotten on the wrong road when it turned to gravel at one point and ended just across from "Stoney College". I went into a very plain-fronted little store to ask directions after our 'main' road sorta dead ended. EVERYONE was Indian and we were feeling a little out of place because they all seemed to be staring! The Indian at the counter was so friendly and told us the county park we were looking for (Beaver Creek) was not far--just keep going on the gravel road, we were nearly there. About every 4th car was a police car driven by an Indian--very interesting place!

Eventually we found this HUGE county park and the office, which was run by a lady who lived there. When we chided her about how hard it had been to find, she told us they LIKE it that way, and would we please not go home and tell everyone about it. They wanat it to be kept a secret! We had the place we chose totally to ourselves the first night. It was a very enormous park--went on for 17 miles along a stream, encompassing 10,000 acres--one of the largest county parks in the nation! It borders Bear Paw Mountains. The lush vegetation was box elder, chokecherry, willow and cottonwood, and the birds were abundant! I got to hear the catbird's lovely song after being awakened by this strange buzzing sound just outside the tent trailer. It turned out to be the clay-colored sparrow! It truly sounds like a bug. It and the grasshopper sparrow got cheated, I think, when songs were being distributed among the sparrows! They put their whole hearts into their singing but they are SO unmelodic!

Spent 2 nights there and will never forget the thrill of seeing lots of chestnut-collared longspurs there and - in a nearby field - stumbling onto a McCown's longspur standing in the road in front of us. That was exciting, because there didn't seem to be a lot of those, and while we watched, a Northern Harrier hovered over what appeared to be the McCown's nest, dropped down, and picked up it's mate and flew across the road with it! You could see the white tail feathers of the little bird in it's clutches! (For you non-birders, this is most unusual, because the N. Harrier (marsh hawk) usually takes rodents.) The McCown's mate was hopping & flying frantically around the hawk who was standing in the grass and the bird might have gotten away in the commotion--the grass prevented us from seeing exactly what happened. We couldn't tell if he had the bird when he flew or not!!!

We never found Lost Lake (it really WAS lost), but we saw a lot of neat birds in the prairie grass on both sides of the roads we drove slowly along. There were Wilson's phalaropes in the ditches in many araes. You could stop and set up the scope in the middle of the road--there was never much traffic. And the occasional pickup that went by--even out on the paved roads--the driver would always wave.

After 2 very relaxing days at Beaver Creek Park, we pushed east and explored Bowdoin NWR, leaving our trailer off at a city park in Malta while we explored the Refuge. We were the only ones there, and it looked great, under the big cottonwoods, until we returned in the late afternoon and kids in cars started driving through. It seems that they had just graduated from HS and THIS WAS THE PARTY PLACE!!! Friday night on the prairies--there wasn't much else in town for them, and altho they looked like good kids, we could do without the music, so we re-hitched up the trailer and drove east. We came to Culbertson, just before the N.Dakota line and set up camp in another city park. This one we will always remember. Not only did it have train track nearby (don't they all!), but the neighboring house had a beagle that couldn't quit barking! Seeing Kiska really set him off! But the one great thing about city parks beside that sometimes they're totally free, is that there's SHOWERS!!!

From there we explored wonderful Medicine Lake NWR in the upper NE corner of Montana. So many birds! Loved watching the big white pelicans!

We eventually got into N. Dakota and stopped at a sleepy little town called Stanley, found another city park by the train track (!) with showers (yea!) and settled in. The police car drove through (there was only one other RV there) and the officer asked me what kind of dog Kiska was. He was very chatty, and we got to talking about the rather ornate building across the street. He said it was the county bldg. and would I like a tour--he'd show me inside! Before I could answer yes or no, he took off to park across the street next to the place, so I tied up the dog, asked Bob if he wanted to have a 'tour', (he was busy doing something & declined) and ran across the street. He pointed out the cornerstone that showed it's building date in 1914 (the year my Dad was born in Norway, I told him). We went inside, past the tiny police dispatcher's office and he introduced us, and she was bringing back the trays from the four inmates in their cells. I asked her if she had to cook their meals, and she did--part of her job :-). He unlocked doors and showed me upstairs where the courtroom was and the jury sat and the deliberation room, the library, the sheriff's fancy saddle and boots sitting on a stand in the hall--it was all very interesting. Several years ago they had to add an elevator to accommodate the handicapped, and they didn't want to spoil the structure of this fine old, ornate building, so he showed me how they added it on out back. We stood and talked a long time looking out the top window out over the prairies that stretched out as far as you could see. I loved to try to imagine what life would be like in such a small prairie town! Then later, from the campground, Bob and I could see the 4 prisoners in their bright orange overhauls washing and waxing the 2 police cars in the hot sun for hours! I took a picture using the telephoto--hope it comes out!!!

I asked his permission to walk out in the huge fields behind the courthouse, and he said there'd be no problem--a farmer had been running some cows there but had recently moved them, so Kiska and I had a lovely walk one evening. Scared up a Loggerhead shrike from the plowed field into the hedgerow along which we were walking. Never been so close to the little "butcher bird" before!

Behind our campground there was a golf course, and I spoke with a maintenance man and asked him if I could walk my dog along the edge. He was super friendly and said just to watch out for the golf balls, kiddingly, saying there weren't very many people playing and sure, go right ahead, take the trail around the whole thing. Kiska got to chase some things in the grass and had a real good time. Later the man came over and visited us and we asked him lots of questions we had had about things we had observed as we drove along. He invited us to come have coffee with his wife who ran the restaurant on the course! Everyone we talked to was so friendly!

Then on to Kenmare, ND where we had another city park, next to a pizza place. Guess where we had dinner that night! I brought in a plant growing with the native prairie grasses that seemed to be persistent in spite of the burnings that are done to remove woody shrubs/trees. The waitress told me to asked the farmers sitting at the only occupied table. They were great and seemed amused that I had so many questions. We probably talked about 1/2 hour with me asking all sorts of prairie management/wildlife questions from the farmers' perspective. It was neat. The plant, incidentally, was snowberry--the same one that grows around here. It's native to the prairies, and the farmers find it useful for the little calves to bed down next to, to help hide them, making good wind breaks. They had no problem with snowberry. I asked them why there were short grass prairies--what keeps them short. They said they had just been discussing that and did not know the answer. They said the old timers remembered when the grass used to be chest high. They told me to ask the NWR manager that question.

So I did, the next morning when we visited Des Lacs NWR. I asked about short, mixed grass and tall grass prairies, and got good answers from this young refuge manager. He told me, in certain places it gets that tall, and the further east you go, the grasses get taller because of more moisture. Basically, tho, he explained that it was the TYPE of grasses that grow in each area, and he showed us true native grasses vs. exotics and pointed out the benefit to buffalo/cattle from the very short but highly nutritious short bromes, etc. We got into the pros and cons of burning, soil types, salinity of the potholes, bison vs. cattle grazing, predation food chains, etc. etc. All very fascinating!!! All the while watching the purple martins coming and going from his 'martin apartment' on the headquarters' front lawn!

It was here later in the morning that Kiska started barking at something in the bushes, and when I got her out she had 7 porcupine quills under her nose! They weren't very big and I yanked them out without her yelping. She wanted to go back and harass him some more! Back on the leash again... Fortunately there didn't seem to be any rattlesnakes out--wasn't warm enuff yet I was told. But we did LOTS of tick removal every day--from us and the dog. I thought we got them all, but on the way home I found 3 that had gotten attached and were getting quite plump on Kiska's face. At a rest stop I found a man who lived in the area to show me how to properly remove them. He took a cigarette and burned their little bottoms, then pulled them off. She took it all with her usual calm nature.

We then headed north through Bottineau, ND, where we stopped at the Bergstrom Agency (aka J.C. Penney catalog store) to use the computer for Bob to read his email messages. By this time he was getting pretty homesick for his computer, and the local guy understood for he had just returned from a trip to Germany and he wanted computer access from there.

This enterpreneuring fellow seemed out of place in this town. When I asked him what Bottineau meant, he proceeded to pull out a file of a bronze statue being made of Pierre Bottineau whom the town was named after. He happened to be chairman of the committee and had a web site and proceeded to give me more information than I really wanted! He has invented a sweeping machine and gave us the pamphlet on it and where we can find the dealer in Seattle! He took care of Penneys customers along with all his other sales lines including floating docks, chain saws, computers, and appliances! Small towns really are interesting.

From Bottineau, after loading up on a fresh supply of ice and groceries, we drove northeast to Metigoshe State Park in the Turtle Mountains (Hills?). It suddenly seemed as tho we crossed the line from west to east. There were all kinds of deciduous trees, humidity, lightening and thunder at night, fireflies (!) Baltimore orioles, rose-breasted grosbeaks, common grackles, etc., etc. And lovely big box turtles everywhere! After we got nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes and bothersome big biting flies on the 'hike from hell' nature trail around the park the first evening, we went back to town for some bug repellant and things got a lot better!

When we returned we found this interesting note stuck in the tent trailer door warning that severe storm warnings were in effect with the storm coming thru Minot to the south. The only tornado-safe place in the park was the comfort station on the other loop of the camping area(!!!) We decided to keep this note as a souvenir of the trip! Another park employee came by later around 9 when we were finishing up dinner (it was VERY calm) and told us the storm would probably miss us, but they'd keep us informed. It was howling when we went to bed, but by midnight things had died down completely.

From Bottineau we explored J. Clark Salyer NWR, and I think it was my favorite! Wow, what a lot of neat stuff on 58,700 acres. Beautiful grasslands. Never got tired of hearing that soft little Baird's sparrow singing from down in the grass and the amazing Sprague's pipit singing up high in the sky on the wing. It would hover and start it's downward descent every time it sang! Really cool bird! Exciting potholes with nesting birds of all sorts. Just as we were concluding the 22 mile scenic tour, it started to rain and we got to experience the 'gumbo' roads we'd been warned about in the birders' guides we'd been following through Montana and N. Dakota. I put it in 4 wheel drive but was going sideways and making deep trenches in the stuff. It was ALL I could do to stay on the road. Pretty tense until we hit pavement again. Big globs of mud were being thrown up by the front tires, but it rained so hard that it eventually all washed off! What excitement!

The second day at Metigoshe we checked out several of the MANY lakes surrounded by deciduous trees of all the same height (this must be what Minnesota looks like) and found a serene nesting loon with her mate on the quiet waters not too far from the boat launch where we parked. So beautiful and we were the only ones there to enjoy it! (We were alone in our loop in the campgrounds too.)

We drove up to the border and visited the Peace Gardens in Canada, which was interesting. We wondered if they'd let us back in the US with our dog, without papers, but they didn't question us. We didn't have to go through Canadian customs with our dog - which wouldn't have worked anyhow.

Now we had to head back, but on the way back, before we got out of N. Dakota Bob got the inspiration to check out the Badlands in N. Dakota--everyone sees the ones in S. Dakota, so we turned into Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Nat'l Memorial--South Unit--and fell in love with it! Ended up camping there 2 nights! It was in a coulee and drew birds in like magnets! I got up between 6 & 6:30 a.m. the first morning and had tied the dog out to the picnic table and was rounding the corner of the camp trailer to dash to the restroom when to my amazement, there was a huge buffalo! And it was coming my way. And behind it were several others coming with their calves. They walked right past our picnic table to the river beyond; and let me tell you, there 'weren't nothing' that was going to stand in THEIR way! They were monstrous. I figured the dog might made them charge and my fingers were shaking as I untied her. She had her tail tucked and was shaking even harder! We took shelter in the trailer, hoping they didn't realize how flimsy it really was! When I let her in, she jumped in the bag beside Bob and decided then and there that INSIDE was definitely better! The buff's sauntered on through camp to the river (Little Missouri). We later learned that those weren't bulls--all were females and the bulls had been booted out from the herd at calving time. Later as we did the 38-mile scenic loop we saw several of these lone bulls down at the bottom of ravines all by themselves. Took lots of pictures. The ranger/volunteer gave us several good tips when he found out we were interested in birds. The wonderful new scope was so good to have along. Altho we couldn't see the chicks in the huge golden eagle's nest on the cliff face, we could see the flies buzzing around the carrion! So we knew it was an active nest and could see the pair soaring over the distant hills.

Then we got to the great horned owl nest in the limestone rocks. We could look right in at that sleepy family--the adult didn't even open an eye, but the 2 fuzzy-headed chicks stared at us with their saucer-wide open eyes for a long time. The one turned around and snuggled closer to mother, and the other one's eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Pretty soon there was a big yawn, and it made me sleepy just watching him! Soooo cute! There was a rabbit's remains next to Mom.

From the same vantage point we watched a coyote go down to have a drink in the river, then lift his leg on a clump grass and walk along the riverbank, thinking he was hidden! We also got to see a small herd of wild horses up on a plateau from the first short hike we took at the beginning of the loop. They were sleek and fat. No one else we talked to had seen them. And of course we watched the prairie dog towns for quite a while; hoping to find a burrowing owl, which we never did. But the prairie dogs are a lot of fun to watch! We also got to see a red fox!

I met some really good birders there from Wisconsin and we exchanged info--they were using the same 20-yr.-old N. Dakota bird finders' guide as I was, and I was able to tell them where to stay, and what to expect because they were headed north where we had just been. We had each seen a few different things in camp--and were eager to check out each other's finds! We ended up exchanging names and addresses, and they told me about some neat stuff in Wisconsin (Amer. woodcock, Henslow sparrow, sharp- tailed sparrow, lesser prairie chicken, etc. and seemed excited to show me their good birding places. (They've already been to WA & have taken a pelagic trip out of Westport with Terry Wahl) They really want to see a sage grouse some day! It was good to find some kindred spirits...

Well, we covered 3636 miles in 2 weeks and saw a lot of beautiful, unpopulated country--some of it still much like in Lewis and Clark's time. We also took in another 1-yr.-old Lewis and Clark/Mandan Village Interpretive Center north of Bismarck which was just excellent. The information is presented so creatively and we both thoroughly enjoyed taking our time in both these places, then thinking and discussing the Corps of Discovery's journey for the next few hundred miles!

I got 139 species for the trip and 14 of these were life birds!

(Birds listed as I saw them)

_________

* life bird
(H) Heard
(N) On a nest

Refuges visited:

Benton Lake NWR (Nr. Great Falls, MT)
(Did the Lewis & Clark Heritage Interpretive Center and Charlie Russell Museum while in Great Falls--both really gave us a special feel for this area!)

Medicine Lake NWR (both in NE MT)

Des Lacs NWR, ND (both near Kenmare, ND)

Lake Metigoshe State Park, ND (in Turtle Mtns. nr. Canadian border)

South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt Natl Memorial, N.D. (We camped in a coulee in the park that produced wonderful birds like Wenas!) And a buffalo herd that passed through our campground at 6 a.m.--right beside our tent trailer!!! This was a spur-of-the-moment decision to visit & we ended up spending an extra day there!

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