20090618 – Sully's Hill National Game Preserve – Devil's Lake

20090618 – Sully's Hill National Game Preserve – Devil's Lake

Lightning continued throughout the night till about 3:00, then we had a nice rain for a couple of hours before we rose to clearing skies. We left Dry Lake Campground after getting good looks at a Brown Thrasher. On the way out we again stopped to admire the ~12 Great Egrets in a roost tree along our exit road. In Devil's Lake Tim picked up a few supplies from K-Mart while I worked the phone trying to locate a tire outlet that carried the Continental tires that Volkswagen recommends for the Rialta.

I contacted the VW dealer in Fargo using the literature that comes with the Rialta. They did a search, then called back referring me to OK Tires in Fargo, and saying that the tires for the back of the vehicle were in stock, but tires for the front were not available in the Continental brand. I called Patt to discuss the purchase and we agreed to replace all the tires at this time since those on the Rialta are 9 years old now.Tim had returned by that time, so we took off for our target for the day—Sullys Hill National Game Preserve.

We drove about 30 miles to the preserve, and looked at the trail system map. Then I dropped Tim for a couple of hours of solo birding while I went a few miles back to pick up a cell signal. With that I ordered 4 tires for installation Saturday morning, got the address for that, and went back to bird solo for half an hour, before meeting Tim for lunch.

We feasted on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato chips, pickles (me) and string cheese (Tim) while watching some bird feeders at the headquarters building. Finishing that we went for another bird walk, finding that some trails were closed due to flooding. We left the refuge via a scenic drive encountering ~10 buffalo and an elk on the way. These critters obliged us with great looks and posed for a few photos.

We had learned of a great stop in Devil's Lake. We retreated there for soul food (apple pie and ice cream) with coffee. Then drove East for ~ 60 miles to the Larimore Dam Recreation Area RV campground, just North of US2 at Larimore. We are staged for a foray to Kelly's Slough NWR before entering Grand Forks. Tonight will be one to catch up writing blog posts (although there is no Internet available again) and doing high finance to settle accounts for the time Tim and I have shared on this roadtrip.

Birds: American White Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Egret, Canada Goose, Mallard, Mourning dove, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Downey Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Least Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Red-eyed Vireo, Barn Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, House Wren, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow Warbler, American Redstart, Eastern towhee, chipping Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, House Finch, House Sparrow.