Date: 12/21/25 3:17 pm From: Vic Fondy via groups.io <treasurecreek...> Subject: [sd-birds] WW to Newell Lake and return
We birded various lakes today including Bear Butte and area lakes, Newell Lake, and Belle Fourche Reservoir. We returned via Crooked Oak Road and SD 34. All ponds and lakes were frozen over except for one near Bear Butte Lake and several open spots on the BF Reservoir. The BF Reservoir open spots had several hundred Canada Geese and quite a few Mallards. Raptor sightings today were good and included 2 Bald and 1 Golden Eagle, 8 Rough-legged Hawks, and 1 Red-tailed Hawk. Other sightings of interest included a few Horned Larks North of Newell, 3 different sightings of American Robins, a few Western Meadowlarks, and 1 Northern Shrike. European Starlings sightings again led the highest number of small bird sightings.
