20090611 – Fort Peck to Russel Wildlife Refuge to Culbertson

20090611 – Fort Peck to Russel Wildlife Refuge to Culbertson

It was a short morning drive from Glasgow to the Fort Peck Dam on the Missouri River. This is a massive earthen dam built in the 1930's creating a very large Reservoir—the first obstruction on the Missouri River. The Reservoir has only a few access points, and is almost surrounded by the Russel National Wildlife Refuge. Our low clearance vehicle did not permit exploration of the refuge on this Eastern end. We walked on an interesting nature trail and talked with a reserve field staff person who turned out to be from very close to our home. He is from Princeton, Minn and went to college at St Cloud State, the same as Tim, although perhaps 10 years later. After the nature trail we had a peanut butter sandwich, chips, and fruit lunch, then returned to US2 for the drive through Wolf Point to Culbertson. We concluded that it would have been much preferable to sample this refuge on the Western end, about 70 miles SouthWest of Malta.

At Culbertson we secured a space at an RV park, then went North on MT16 to a detached segment of the Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge. We birded from the car there for about an hour, then headed back to Culbertson for supper, a shower, review of the birds from the day, more conversation, and (soon) bed.

One interesting event, among many for the day, was when I saw a bird get hit by the car in front of us on our way back from the Medicine Lake Refuge. We stopped and went back to find the bird which was dead on the shoulder of the road. We had the opportunity to examine a Horned Lark in detail and compare it to the pictures in the books that we had along. The books showed the features of the bird more distinctly than the actual bird. This may help us to understand why we often have difficulty matching the birds we see to the pictures in the book. The books, by necessity, simplify reality, emphasizing points that assist in distinguishing one species from another—almost creating a caricature.

Birds: At Fort Peck-American Goldfinch, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Kingbird, Lesser flycatcher, American Robin, Orchard Oriole, Cedar Waxwing, Osprey, Grey Catbird, Western Wood Pewee, Western Meadowlark, Common Tern, Great Blue Heron,
At Medicine Lake Refuge-Western Grebe, Bobolink, Gadwall, Ruddy Duck, Cliff Swallow, Ring-necked Pheasant, Eared Grebe, Eastern Kingbird, Western Meadowlark, Blue-winged Teal, American Coot, Red-winged Blackbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Northern rough-winged Swallow, Sora (heard), Mourning Dove, Savanna Sparrow, Northern Shoveler, Pintail, Killdeer, Horned Lark.