Other than the cancelled Arizona road trip, I had very few planned summer birding ventures. I was hoping to get over to the Sheyenne National Grasslands and camp out to see/hear the commonly reported Eastern Whip-poor-wills, but missed the window I was hoping for. The only other plan I had was an overnight trip to some of the prairies in central North Dakota from which I've recently returned.
But first, a stop to my family's lake place was in store. So, early on Thursday morning I headed east to the Kettledrummer Prairie. When I arrived, the sun was just rising, and the blanket of fog was fading. The little prairie was full of blackbird, clay-colored sparrow and sedge wren song, plus a constant mosquito buzz (was very glad I decided to bring boots, gloves and full coverage).
The lakeshore has purple martin apartments. Among the adults zipping in and out feeding young birds was a single male house sparrow. The house sparrow would forage around the ground, then fly up to the apartment and feed an immature purple martin.
Middle of the afternoon, I was westbound on interstate. While not long, the drive was rather stressful. Just as I was going through Fargo, I entered a pounding rainfall and took shelter beneath an overpass with several other cars. Beyond Jamestown, what felt like half or more of the way was under construction. It was quite a relief to arrive in Dawson.
With only a few hours of daylight remaining, I scouted out the area around the Dewald Slough. First, I checked the Dawson WMA, then drove around the slough, stopping in several spots to take some photographs of birds flying and perching at roadside and birds in and around the more distant slough. I then drove to Slade NWR where I was hoping to catch some Zs only to find large signs forbidding overnight parking and camping. So, after recording a few observations, I headed back for the Dawson WMA and pulled out a book to read until it was too dark. The sort of sleep you'd expect to achieve in a car followed.
