For all the miles of grasslands I've browsed my first few years of birding, I've yet to spot some of North Dakota's most sought-after residents. LeConte's, Baird's and Nelson's Sparrows have eluded me. On Thursday I headed out on a short trip, hoping to add some of these prairie specialists to the life list along with a few other species.
The Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge was the first stop, and what a great way to start. Blackbirds, kingbirds and waterfowl flanked the road, providing many first-of-year observations within the first few hundred feet, and after working my way up and around an elevated corner, I happened upon a foursome of lifer snowy egrets!
Further along the road an American bittern popped out of the reeds to make a short flight. This was only the second bittern I've spotted. Not much later I saw a pair of cattle egrets cruising across Chase Lake. The second lifer species of the day!
I continued counting geese and egrets before turning to leave the NWR. I was almost back to the refuge boundary, paused to photograph a gadwall couple, when a small figure slipped through the reeds and let out a series of grunts but feet from me. My first Virginia rail! I wasn't able to grab a picture but did catch audio of a few of the rail's grunts.
From Chase Lake I worked through a maze of gravel roads in various condition--taking a considerable chunk of time to bypass a body of water which didn't appear on GPS--and paused to photograph a field filled with gulls, then some marshes populated by shorebirds and ducks. A pitstop alongside the Kunkel School Section Prairie netted a handful of chestnut-collared longspurs--another lifer!
With the sun diving for the horizon, I pulled into the Horsehead Lake WMA to sleep to the score of blackbirds, black terns and sora. It was a restless night thanks to the plethora of ticks requiring plucking from shirt and pants, but I felt quite recharged come sunrise.
Friday was a relaxing tour of Kidder County's gravel roads, and not long into the day I added the willet to the life list!
