Blog #5. North Dakota and Minnesota Prairies

18-20 May 2020

I rose early at the Green Valley campsite in Glendive, Montana, and broke camp and drove east to Theodore Roosevelt National Park (south unit), adjacent to the tourist town of Medora, ND. I was here last year and much enjoyed the stay. 

This morning I found that the Cottonwood Campground was closed, but part of the road system was open. So I drove the roads in search of wildlife. The deciduous trees still have that wintery look—no bud break! This is because of elevation. Higher and colder... I did find Mule Deer and Bison, but no Sprague’s Pipit, a species that has haunted me (I had had a single glimpse of a flying bird on the Bentonite Road).

The two Black-tailed Prairie-Dog colonies in the Park were busy with spring activity, so I spent most of my time there, hoping for other creatures attracted to the activity. Black-billed Magpies and a Western Kingbirds were about all...

I left the Park and drove east on I-94 to Bismarck, where I stopped for lunch and some trip planning. The wind on the prairie was ripping this morning. I stopped for gasoline at Richarton and the wind pulled the door out of my hand as I opened it and nearly ripped it off the frame—gusting to some 40 mph...

    American Bittern

Searching online, and making some calls, I found an open state park 6 miles south Mandan, just to the southwest of Bismarck. This is where I will spend the evening tent-camping. Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is the site of a former US Army Fort, and before that a Mandan Indian village, right on the west bank of the Missouri River. The first post commander of the expanded fort in 1876 was Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer. It was from this base that he launched the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, which led to his death at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

    which cottontail? 

The Park is nicely situated and there are some nice Cottonwood stands that attract migrant songbirds. The river itself was pretty quiet, bird-wise. I spent the afternoon and evening bicycling around the park in search of birdlife. The wind continued...the mortal enemy of bird-watchers!

    White-faced Ibis flock

The next morning I broke camp and set out to the eastward to visit three sites where Sprague’s Pipit had been reported this spring. These sites produced none of the desired pipits.

    Ring-necked Pheasant cock

I also visited an eBird site near Bismarck that had reported Hudsonian Godwit, but, again, no luck. Then I drove east to Fargo, ND, and visited another eBird site for HUGO, and again, no luck.

    Western Meadowlark

I spent the night camping in urban Lindenwood Park in downtown Fargo, right next to I-94. My tent was set within 75 meters of the busy highway. Thank heavens the sound of rushing cars became white noise in the night. I used my time in Fargo to wash clothes in a laundromat and also to scout out sites that had reported Greater Prairie-Chicken, a bird I wanted to photograph in display.

    Trumpeter Swans

Early the next morning I broke camp in the dark in Fargo and drove east to Felton Prairie, Shrike Unit, in the prairie of western Minnesota. This is a pretty site, with some nice habitat.

     Bobolinks (male above, female below)

No sign of Prairie-Chickens, but I did spend time communing with a breeding pair of Marbled Godwits, and also Sedge Wrens, Bobolinks, Western Meadowlarks, Trumpeter Swans, and winnowing Wilson’s Snipes. No sign of the Le Conte’s Sparrows that had also been reported on eBird. In late May, the prairie is bursting with bird song in the early morning, and is a lovely place to be.

    Marbled Godwit at Felton Prairie

Next, I head east into the boreal forests of Minnesota, to witness the arrival of the migrant songbirds at Greenwood Lake and Sax-Zim Bog. This will be reported in my next Blog.

      Spotted Towhee in Makoshika State Park, Glendive, MT