Date: 10/6/24 6:55 pm From: Vic Fondy via groups.io <treasurecreek...> Subject: [sd-birds] Whitewood to Orman
We birded Fort Meade recreation area, Bear Butte Lake area, Nisland slough, Belle Fourche Reservoir and back to Whitewood via Crooked Oaks road and St. Onge. Bear Butte area lakes were about as birdless as we had seen this year with only a few Western Grebes and no ducks at Bear Butte lake.. We did have a few shorebirds including Killdeer, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Least Sandpipers. Belle Fourche Reservoir is quite low. Sightings there included Bald Eagle, American White Pelican, DC Cormorants, Least Sandpipers, and Ring-billed Gulls. Our bird of the day was a Brown Creeper at Fort Meade recreation area. Our surprise of the day was a Great-horned Owl sitting quietly by the shore of a small lake on North Sale Barn Road near St. Onge. Raptor sightings were five Red-tailed Hawks and the Bald Eagle. Sparrow sightings were Vesper, Lark, White-crowned and a few Juncos.
The Western Tanagers have left our feeders 1.5 miles south of Whitewood and our last sighting was 9/25. The first Dark-eyed Junco arrived on 10/4 and we still have 5 Spotted Towhees feeding daily.
