[wisb] North Dakota/Insect ID help
- From: Mike Duchek <mikeduchek@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:16:08 -0500
This post is a little late, but oh well. At the end of August, I went with my
brother and cousin to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, which
is about 12.5 hours from Madison. I believe Erik Bruhnke made some posts from
there a while back, though I think he told me he had only been to the south
unit. Along the way (mainly in ND) were many small ponds that had some good
places to see waterfowl ? neat to see a pelican right off the interstate ?
though we did not stop to look for any. Visited both the north and south units
of the park, along with Fort Union Trading Post which is on the Montana border
about an hour north from the north unit. We drove through the Great Plains of
North Dakota seeing nothing almost nothing but green plains, small lakes and
fields of sunflowers until suddenly the ground is ripped open exposing the
badlands, which create at times a very desert-like habitat with lots of neat
eroded rock formations. The south unit is the larger of the two and has a
longer drive with more things to see and do, the first thing being a cabin that
once hosted Theodore Roosevelt for a few years ? he lived in the area for a
little bit and established another ranch at a remote site between the two
units. Bison and prairie dogs are common in both units. The south unit also
has elk, which are currently a source of controversy as far as how to control
their population ? Sen. Dorgan has been fighting to have hunting be the method
of controlling the heard, which the park service has resisted for numerous
reasons. Despite their numbers they are hard to find and we only saw a couple
from a distance at one overlook with binoculars. There are also wild horses
which we saw at dusk galloping together across the road through the park. The
north unit is smaller and less visited but arguably more scenic. We did a
great hike there and at one point my brother said he heard horns banging
together. Sure enough, there were bighorn sheep butting each other on a
distant hillside. Note: although bighorn sheep are native there, these are
not. The Audubon subspecies that lived there went extinct around 1925 and
these Sierra Nevada bighorns were reintroduced to the north unit in 1956 along
with the bison.
Because the trip got cut short a day and the timing, I did not see as many
birds as I would have liked, but saw my first rock wrens. Spotted towhees were
also common at times and lark sparrows were not uncommon near Fort Union. The
north unit Little Mo Trail right near the campground was host to numerous
red-headed woodpeckers including juveniles, among others. Otherwise, some of
the same birds I see here, though I was hoping to see mountain bluebirds (but
only saw eastern, which I think are near the edge of their range there). I
also like cacti, and the park is full of plains prickly pear (Opuntia
polyacantha). I also saw one Pincushion cactus (Escobaria vivipara).
All photos are here, with a few birds mixed in. http://tinyurl.com/lgmwo4
Anyway, does anyone know insects well? I?ve seen others post dragonflies to be
ID?d so I figure I?d try. I have two bugs to ID if possible.
One is this spider, which was about half dollar size and was found encasing its
prey into its webbing. http://tinyurl.com/lzl92g and the following one.
The other is a red dragonfly which was very cooperative.
http://tinyurl.com/m76g8s
A few video links:
http://tinyurl.com/nwwrpc (Painted Canyon trail)
http://tinyurl.com/lqnhbl (Prairie dogs barking)
http://tinyurl.com/nvuoay (Wild horses running)
http://tinyurl.com/l8sy5o (Bighorn sheep ? skip to end to see them butt)
-Mike Duchek, Madison, Dane Co.
####################
You received this email because you are subscribed to the Wisconsin Birding
Network (Wisbirdn).
To UNSUBSCRIBE or SUBSCRIBE, use the Wisbirdn web interface at:
//www.freelists.org/list/wisbirdn.
To set DIGEST or VACATION modes, use the Wisbirdn web interface at:
//www.freelists.org/list/wisbirdn.
Visit Wisbirdn ARCHIVES at: //www.freelists.org/archives/wisbirdn.
Other related posts:
- » [wisb] North Dakota/Insect ID help - Mike Duchek
