20090614 – LostWood National Wildlife Refuge

20090614 – LostWood National Wildlife Refuge

Tim and I drove to the Lost Wood National Wildlife Refuge this morning and spent the day there, returning about 5:30. Early on at the refuge we were stopped by another birder driving through. It turned out he was scouting to prepare for a field trip scheduled for tomorrow from the ABA conference/meeting in Minot. He learned I was from Olympia and asked if I knew Bill Tweit or Mike Denny. He said that they were two of the finest people on the planet. He asked me to give regards to Bill from “Don formerly from Idaho”, which I will certainly do later. Bill and Don apparently were State Editors for the ABA journal at the same time. Don helped us to put the Baird's Sparrow in his scope, and gave us much information which we used throughout the day.

Looking over the information about the ABA field trip tomorrow, we found that we had seen all the birds they highlighted in their blurb. Independent of that, we felt we had a very satisfying day. We both rated this refuge 5 stars, second only to the Medicine Lake Refuge in Montana for great birding so far on this trip.

Upon return to Kenmare we shopped for some yogurt, bread, chocolate and beer. We could obtain only the first 2 of these items. The chocolate options in Kenmare are quite limited at Gartner's Jack & Jill. That store does not have a beer license, and North Dakota has restrictions on sales at Liquor Stores on Sunday, so they were closed. So that part of the search was futile too.

We finished the day with supper of our leftovers from last night's meal, then went for a walk along the river where Tim picked up ~12 woodticks. I made some family phone calls from there. A shower will feel good before bed—this is the first day on my roadtrip where the temperature is still hot at bedtime.

No Internet access available again today.

Birds: Sharptail Grouse, Common Raven, Canada Goose, Northern Shoveler, Ruddy Duck, Mallard, Gadwall, Red-winged Blackbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, American Avocet, Killdeer, Common Yellowthroat, Redhead, Clay-colored Sparrow, Horned Lark, Brown-headed Cowbird, Baird's Sparrow, Savanna Sparrow, Piping Plover, Nelson's Sharptail, Wilson's Phalarope, Redhead Duck, Pintail Duck, Lesser Scaup, American Wigeon, Horned Grebe, Blue-winged Teal, American Bittern, Red-tailed Hawk (Krider's), Marsh Wren, LeConte's Sparrow, Black Tern.