I doubt whether anyone gets on a plane to the USA because they want to see a small burrowing rodent. They might head for Yellowstone, as I am doing, hoping to see Grizzly Bears, Wolves and Moose – and, yes, I really hope I do see all of those. At the moment I really hope…
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On the Montana prairie
I’m standing on the prairie in Montana and the sun is shining. Prairie is a wonderful thing – it’s a work of art and a work of technology. The technology bit is that prairie acts like a finely designed machine. The grasses and flowers that make it up, hundreds of different species, are well-adapted to…
Black Hills
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I’ve spent much of the last four days in the Black Hills of Dakota in Western South Dakota. Some of it in rain, some with a flat tyre, but even so I can see why Doris Day wanted to go back. Maybe she hadn’t quite seen all the region’s birds either. But the bird list…
Feeling tyred
Yesterday I woke fairly early and the sun was shining so I wrote a blog about black birds by the side of the road. It was too early to get the tire fixed. Here is some very valuable information for anyone who gets a flat tire in Custer, SD on the Sunday before the holiday of…
Black birds by the side of the road
I have spent a lot of time in the car and, as a result, see lots of roadside birds. Many of them are black. Starlings are still with me – I have seen starlings every day of my trip and that includes Starlings hopping round near bison. Larger than a Starling but similarly iridescent when seen really well,…
Rainy day and a nice Highway Patrolman
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Today I drove around the southern Black Hills of Dakota in the rain. I saw a few Bison, I saw some birds and I had a nice day. I also learned what I did, really, already know, that I really should check where the jack, wheelbrace, spare tire etc are just in case I get a flat after…
Wounded knee (2)
Yesterday I wrote about Wounded Knee and today I bought Roger L. di Silvestro’s ‘In the Shadow of Wounded Knee’ which I will read properly but share these points from his book. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is almost the size of Connecticut and is home to 40,000 people whose median annual income is…
Who is the more wounded?
I drove through the Badlands enjoying the scenery, the early morning coolness, the promise of another sunny day and the ubiquitous song of the Western Meadowlark. Meadowlarks, Eastern and Western, are declining grassland birds who suffer from the earlier cutting of hay and silage these days. They are the corncrakes of North America. But with their…
Not so bad lands
The Badlands National Park is 224,000 acres of scenery south of the I90 and it is stunningly beautiful. A prairie grassland with striking rock formations. And the sun shone all day. I saw Bison and Pronghorn Antelope roaming the Plains, Bighorn Sheep on the rocks, Mule Deer in the valleys and Prairie Dogs in…
Wall Drug
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I didn’t really want to go to Wall Drug but I am glad that I did. The legend behind the drugstore, restaurant and shopping arcade on the I90 is that it was set up in the 1930s and wasn’t really making a go of it until the lady behind the business had an idea. They…