Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Badlands Birds

I did not expect the Badlands to be as birdy as they were.  I'd been hoping to get a decent Mountain Bluebird pic and I heard one singing from a scrubby tree right next to the visitor center.  It was the only tree.  The bird flew down, caught a bug, then teed up about 6 feet away.


We started around the loop and after a few turns came across another tree.  This one had a family of freshly fledged Loggerhead Shrikes.

"Aww, it's so cute," said no grasshopper ever.   Basically every tree had one or two nests in it, the next one had both Western Kingbird and Orchard Oriole.

Lark Sparrows were pretty common.  This one was panting in the shade.

This was the first time I've been in Rock Wren habitat with an SLR.
 You know it's the Badlands when millipedes are a choice morsel.

Fun with the invert function in photoshop...
 Here's the actual pic, another fledgling.

One last look at the scenery

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