On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
It’s Albatrossity Monday! Looking forward to getting a virtual break from the heat, first with time on the water and then in colder climes.
Albatrossity
Some folks have expressed an interest in visiting or staying at the Hutton Ranch Sanctuary that was featured in last week’s installment, so I thought it would be good to provide a bit more information.
As previously mentioned, the Hutton Niobrara Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary is a nearly 5,000-acre ranch located along the Niobrara River near Bassett, NE. It has spectacular scenery, including upland prairie, steep canyons, high bluffs that overlook meadows (where Sandhill Cranes have nested in the last few summers), marshes and riparian forest. It is on the south bank of the Niobrara National Scenic River and is owned and managed by Audubon of Kansas (AOK). The Hutton House, on the sanctuary, is a unique opportunity for visitors to stay overnight in a beautiful part of the Great Plains. If you yearn to visit the Nebraska Sandhills, this is a good place to start. Full disclosure: Elizabeth is on the AOK board, and I contribute photos and the occasional article to Prairie Wings, their annual magazine.
We left the ranch on a beautiful May morning, headed to Dickinson ND and a visit to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park (South unit). For those of you who appreciate maps as much as I do, here’s a look at our route (dark blue on the map). When I travel in the western US, blue highways (state highways and less-traveled US highways) are preferred, and interstates are usually avoided if possible. So those other (light blue) options were nixed, based on the miles of I-94 involved. Click here for larger image.
Somewhere in South Dakota, along SD Highway 73 just north of Bridger Creek. Click here for larger image.
We got to Dickinson, checked into the hotel, and then moseyed a bit west to view some parts of TR National Park. This is Painted Canyon, and these are the typical “badlands” of the western Dakotas. That red rock atop those buttes and hoodoos is known as clinker, and it has an interesting genesis story. Locally that caprock is also called “scoria”, but that is a different rock with a different origin, geologically speaking. Click here for larger image.
One of the major attractions of TR National Park would be the Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus). Prairie dog towns can be seen from the highways in this part of the country, but here is a chance to really get closer and watch these amusing little critters. Click here for larger image.
The other attraction here is the American Bison (Bison bison). Perhaps because they were nearly driven to extinction, or perhaps because of their integral role in the lives of the indigenous tribes of the Great Plains, or perhaps just because they are big and scary examples of charismatic megafauna, they seem to be highly sought-after critters for photography or wildlife-gazing. This little one, born earlier this year, was trying to keep up with the herd, and mom was definitely looking out for him. Click here for larger image.
To me, however, one of the great attractions of the western US is the abundance of Black-billed Magpies (Pica hudsonia). This one was foraging in a bison grazing lawn and found a tasty snack. And here is its excellent foraging behavior, which I have also observed with meadowlarks and some sparrows. Click here for larger image.
This is an actual sign along one of the roads in the park. Clinker rock production in progress. Photo credit E. Dodd. Click here for larger image.
Brewer’s Blackbirds (Euphagus cyanocephalus) are another bird of the western US that I like to see when I get out there. They do show up in small vagrant flocks here in Flyover Country in some winters and they are a quite handsome bird, imho. Click here for larger image.
Speaking of handsome, the Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus) would be a top contender in the sparrow category. Couple that with a cheerful song, and you have a winner. Here’s one from Montana a few years ago, with a bonus Western Meadowlark in the background. Click here for larger image.
I originally IDed this as Smallflower Wallflower, aka Shy Wallflower (Erysimum inconspicuum). But a commenter who knows more about botany than I do corrected that ID to Silver Bladderpod (Physaria ludoviciana). Thanks! Click here for larger image.
Baud
You make me want to visit those states.
MagdaInBlack
One childhood trip we camped at both the North Unit and South Unit of TR Nat’l Park. I recall the North Unit being a little more wilderness-y than the South Unit. I recall Medora, and yes, the burning coal vein. My mother said it smelled like the Chicago of her childhood.
Thanks for prompting those memories. I’m kinda sad I don’t recall any Magpies, tho.
p.s. You also called to mind William Least Heat-Moon’s “Blue Highways” book.
Winter Wren
Your great photos make me recall my one visit to TR National Park on a cross country camping trip in my youth. It had a real wilderness and uncrowded feel – definitely on my revisit list.
stinger
Prairie dogs and baby bisons! A fun trip! That Black-billed Magpie is quite striking — it looks so clean!
JeanneT
Awesome vistas. If anyone ever gave me the choice between traveling to the Rocky Mountains or to the Dakotas, I’d chose the Dakotas. Somehow that landscape gives me a feeling of the great age of the earth. I wouldn’t mind a chance to see one of those magpies and blackbirds!
SteveinPHX
Thank you for the tour. I will probably never get to that “neck of the woods.”
Albatrossity
@SteveinPHX: I hope you do get there someday. Besides the scenery, there are lots of awesome birds. Two species of longspurs, Long-billed Curlews, Upland Sandpipers, Orchard Orioles. Red-headed Woodpeckers, Baird’s Sparrows, Wilson’s Phalaropes, to name a few.
Sky
David –
Nice photos, but that last one is a bladderpod (Physaria ludoviciana), note the pods.
#botanypedant
Albatrossity
@Sky: Thanks! I actually appreciate botany pedants, since I am pretty ignorant in that realm!
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Think twice! It’s not all magpies, you know.
mvr
I like the first shot of the SD sky.
Thanks!
MCat
Thank you again for such a great start to the week. So much beauty.
Madeleine
A variety post, not omitting birdies! And so many beauties to see!
burnt
East River Road from Amidon, ND, to Medora, ND, is a must drive. Leave Highway 85 just west of Amidon and follow the signs for Burning Coal Vein State Park (while there are other burning coal veins this one is no longer one of them) and from there drive north to Medora. The scenery is spectacular. The Maah Daah Hey Trail parallels East River Road so one can hike, bike, or ride one’s horse for a side excursion. It’s spectactular. The road is gravel but it’s clinkers so it’s pink. Any sedan can drive it–no high-clearance vehicle required.
frosty
We stopped at TR NP on our way east last summer and you’re right – it’s a lot more interesting than I expected. The prairie dogs were our favorite. The park map called out a couple of prairie dog towns but they were wrong. They were prairie dog metropolises!
BigJimSlade
@MagdaInBlack: That book was the first thing that came to my mind, too.
Miss Bianca
God, your photos. Always a beautifying and uplifting addition to my Monday mornings.
ETA: Seconded on wanting to visit the Dakotas now – I think North Dakota is one of the only two states I haven’t visited yet (Hawaii being the other,)
Albatrossity
@burnt: I’m sorry I did not know about that route before we planned this trip. It certainly does sound like an excellent excursion! Thanks!