Articles for the Month of May 2017

May 21 2017

Birding on a COLD May morning

Author: DakotaBirder • Discussion: No Comments

I haven’t been birding all week. I haven’t done much of anything all week. Bit of an issue with an eye, and I was wearing a patch over it all week.  Normally, if it’s mid-May, I’d be out birding a lot, given that it’s pretty much my favorite time of year to bird anyway.  However, the weather has been so cold, gloomy, and wet, that I’m not sure how much I would have gone out today, one eye or not.  Today isn’t any better, but I was getting stir crazy and had to get out for a couple hours. Took the eye patch off and headed down to Newton Hills State Park.

It was 38 degrees and windy when I left the house, but despite the cold and gloom, it was a pretty darn good morning birding. There weren’t many warblers around, but quality sure made up for the lack of quantity.  I first heard a bird I didn’t recognize, and then saw him in shrubs near the path…a Black-throated Blue Warbler, only the 2nd time I’ve seen one in South Dakota.  They’re  usually found much further to the east.  Despite the cold, he was pretty active, moving through the shrubs looking for food.  Given that I’ve never photographed one in South Dakota, I stayed with him for almost half an hour and took what photo opportunities he gave me.  There weren’t many, but I finally did get a decent shot.  Here are some photos from this morning.

Black-throated Blue Warbler - Setophaga caerulescens

The first photo of a Black-throated Blue Warbler that I’ve gotten in South Dakota, and only the 2nd time I’ve ever seen one here. This is why May birding can be so spectacular here…you never know what migrant you might run across.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris

A chilly looking Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Given that we haven’t seen the sun in about a week, it’s not much of a surprise I wasn’t able to get the gorget to show that beautiful red color. Despite the cold and his miserable looking appearance here, he was actually quite active, flitting about and courting an unseen female. I watched him for about 15 minutes as he’d perch, then periodically zoom up into the air and do the U-shaped courtship flight that males perform.

Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis

Yeah, I’ve got a ton of Northern Cardinal photos. But when a gorgeous male pops up right in front of you and is practically BEGGING to be photographed, it’s hard to refuse.

Spotted Sandpiper - Actitis macularius

A Spotted Sandpiper, one of my favorite little sandpipers, and one of the few that hang around and breed here.

May 14 2017

Good Birding, Bad Photos

Author: DakotaBirder • Discussion: No Comments

It’s rare that you get that perfect day, where the birding is good and photo opportunities are bountiful.  Some days you won’t see many birds, but there are some great photo opportunities that make up for it.  Other days, you see lots of interesting birds, but they’re all camera shy, and good photo opportunities just don’t happen.  Yesterday was one of the latter kinds of days.  Good birding!  Bad Photos!

It is an opportunity to show people what the vast majority of bird photos look like!  If only every bird photo were crisp, in good light, with the bird clearly seen and in a good pose!  It’s not an exaggeration to say that I throw out 95% of the photos that I take.  Yesterday, there really weren’t any great long-term “keepers”, but below are some (bad) photos of some VERY interesting birds for the day.

Blackburnian Warbler - Setophaga fusca

A Blackburnian Warbler, a species you don’t see all that often here. Warblers in general are SO damn frustrating to try to photograph. This guy insisted on staying up towards the top of the canopy of some Burr Oaks. Since I see them so rarely, I still kept trying to get a “record” shot, but this is the best I could manage.

Blue-winged Warbler - Vermivora cyanoptera

We are on the VERY northeastern edge of the breeding range of Blue-winged Warblers, and the only place they seem to reliably be found is at Newton Hills State Park. There were at least 3 in the area yesterday, singing away and squabbling among each other. They’d occasionally chase each other and get close, but the only shot I was able to get was this one.

American Golden Plover - Pluvialis dominica

American Golden Plovers are a nemesis bird for me. Most years, people are saying they’re seeing them all over…and I never see any. When I DO see some, they’re inevitably very far away and I can’t get any photos. Well, the good news is yesterday I 1) saw a large group of about 75, and 2) got some photos. The bad news…this is as good as I could get. They weren’t particularly shy, but were VERY careful to stay just out of camera range.

Baltimore Oriole - Icterus galbula

I birded 6 hours yesterday. In all that time, in all the photo tries, this is by far the best photo I was able to get. It’s about the ONLY photo I was able to get where the bird “fills the frame”, and is quite sharp.  I could do without the thicket of sticks around him.  But on a crappy photo day…I’ll take it.

May 06 2017

A SPECTACULAR morning of birding.

Author: DakotaBirder • Discussion: 1 Comment

God I love the month of May.  It’s the absolute perfect time of year in South Dakota, both in terms of weather, and especially in terms of birding! All the summer residents are arriving or have arrived, and we have SO many cool migrants moving through the state on their way north.

Today I got up before dawn and wanted to bird the morning hours. I arrived at Newton Hills State Park just before dawn, and right before I even pulled into the park, I saw a big shape in the trees on the side of the road.  A Barred Owl!  Only the 4th time I’ve seen them in the state, Barred Owls are few and far between in a state better known for its grasslands than forests.  WONDERFUL way to start the day, particularly since it was such a photo-cooperative bird!  The rest of the morning was spectacular as well…some photos from the day below.

Barred Owl - Strix varia

Only the 4th time I’ve seen them in South Dakota, a gorgeous Barred Owl right before sunrise. He was in a forest clearing near the entrance to Newton Hills State Park in Lincoln County.

Purple Martin - Progne subis

There’s a home on the edge of Hartford, South Dakota that has 3 Purple Martin houses. They seem to reliable hold Purple Martins every year, and this year was no exception. Beautiful birds, both in appearance and in song. It’s tough to get the good light on them though so you can see the purple! This is probably the best Purple Martin photo I’ve ever been able to get.

Ovenbird - Seiurus aurocapilla

THIS is the sound of spring to me…a tiny Ovenbird, singing it’s heart out from the middle of the forest. There were many Ovenbirds singing at Newton Hills State Park this morning.

Wilson's Phalarope - Phalaropus tricolor

A Wilson’s Phalarope stretching its wings. Beautiful birds, particularly when you see them in large groups doing their “spinning” behavior at the top of the water as they feed.

Virginia Rail - Rallus limicola

A Virginia Rail, perhaps better named “Swamp Ghost”. I hear them all the time! Seeing them is another matter, but usually if you hang out in an area where they’re calling, you’ll eventually get a glimpse of one moving through the marsh.

Yellow-rumped Warbler - Setophaga coronata

A Yellow-rumped Warbler, by far the most common warbler we get moving through. This guy is a preview to the “big show”. Many Yellow-rumped Warblers are around right now, but not many other warbler species. That will change in the coming days…warbler migration in South Dakota can be spectacular!

May 05 2017

There be BIRDS at the end of the rainbow!!

Author: DakotaBirder • Discussion: No Comments
End of the Rainbow - Lincoln County, South Dakota

The age old question of what’s at the end of the rainbow has been answered. It’s this family farm in Lincoln County, South Dakota

I went birding last night, on a weird weather day in South Dakota.  It was cloudy, then sunny, then cloudy again as a brief thunderstorm would roll through, then sunny again…wash, rinse, repeat.  It was actually a bit of a crisp day with temps hanging around 55 degrees, but even so, there were a couple of the little thunderstorms that put out quite a bit of pea-size hail.  It was such a strange evening given that it was absolutely pouring rain at times, yet the sun was shining.

Despite the rain, the birding was quite wonderful (as it generally is in South Dakota in May!!) The best birding for the day was when I was hanging out by a large wetland, one that had swollen with the recent rains to cover much of the surrounding farmland in a shallow sheet of water. Shorebirds were certainly loving it, as were a beautiful little group of Black Terns.  Forster’s Terns were much more numerous, hanging out on fence posts during the rain spells, dipping and diving over the water whenever the rain would stop. It was actually quite peaceful, watching the intermittent downpours, then seeing the birds jump back to life again when the sun would break out. It’s tough being a bird though when the hail starts!  They seemed to do OK with the little pea-size hail that fell at one point. but they weren’t very happy about it!  Shorebirds tended to crouch low during the hail, as did the terns on the posts, but otherwise, they just stayed still and endured.

Although the birding was quite good, the best moment of the night occurred after one of the little thunderstorms. With small scattered storms separated by wide bands of open sky, the sun was frequently pushing through, even during some of the rainy moments.  A beautiful and extremely long-lasting rainbow lit up the eastern sky and was visible for over half an hour as the little thunderstorm continued slowly pushing on to the south and east.  It was a full rainbow, with a partial double rainbow above it, but without my wide-angle lens along (hey, I’m a birder, I rarely use it anyway), I wasn’t able to get a photo of the whole thing. Instead, with my 400mm birding lens on, I decided to shoot what was at the end of the rainbow…this family farm! I’ve certainly never tried shooting a rainbow with a telephone lens, but I think the effect was quite beautiful.

The weather is supposed to be beautiful again this weekend, so hopefully within the next day or two I’ll have some more birding photos and stories to share…

Forster's Tern - Sterna forsteri

A Forster’s Tern perched on a little metal fence pole. This was just prior to the arrival of a little rain band that produced pea-sized hail. Fortunately, the birds seem to cope with the small hail quite well.

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