Side-Tracked in September

...Nothing scatter-brained about me, ha...I didn't finish posting photos from the 7th when I moved on to photos from the 10th for my last post..... oopsie ...

Thanks for the inquiries re: daughter...the Huz and I decided to dash down to Denver a day early...we'd planned to meet up with my BIL and the three of us spend some time with our daughter, who lives there...daughter injured her knee and was in the hospital overnight due to an infection in a 'pocket' just below the kneecap, so Huz and I drove down to get her out of hospital, etc. We ended up bringing her home for a few days...was going to be longer but duh, she needed to go back for a week-later follow-up with the Ortho., so I had to take her back down again (it's six hours ea way...the Huz and BIL were off to Idaho...via Yellowstone I might add); I took dtr to her appt the next day and then came back home...she is healing well....soooo, ANYwho....

Back to the 7th...this kestrel was too far for a real clear shot...perched on a dead tree branch in a field E of the Hills in the grasslands/farming community...

The grasshopper sparrows were still around too...

Next I drove to the Ft. Meade rec area, the last stop as I make my way N on this photo route...there's a small camping and picnicking area, where a bird feeder was being heavily visited by red-breasted nuthatches, chickadees, and dark-eyed juncos...all very elusive to the camera...boy, I did try!

From the camp area there's a nature trail that goes up the hill into a field....A wasp-y type on goldenrod...it's amazing how many different kinds of bee/wasp-like insects there are...if you aren't paying attn. you won't realize what you think you're seeing is actually something else...

A skipper on fading catnip...

Back in the camp area, this busy squirrel apparently didn't see me standing still....I didn't see it either until it was just a few feet away...hello! Who will move first...eventually the squirrel did.

Leaving the camp area, this stubborn fellow was planted in the middle of the parking area...of course I won the game of 'chicken'...

I did the usual stop further down the FMRA road at a trail where I'd seen the golden eagle on my previous visit...this day a hairy woodpecker was busy pecking...he ignored me but I still couldn't get decent shots due to the harsh light/shadows...

A large fawn was spooked into view from I-don't-know-where, when I headed back to my car...like all deer, it stopped to look back at the intruder...blinking at me from a field of dead bee balm.

Late Summer in the Park

I've just made another dash to Denver, to return our convalescing daughter home...after almost 2 weeks without a photo outing I'm reeeally missing it, so hopefully soon (oh and now the f key is broken off the keyboard so that's _un to work with)...I digress...my last outing was on the 10th to Custer Park...

This male Mt. bluebird posed very nicely for me...photos ops with this bird

have been very scarce this year...

The painted turtles are back/still at the big puddle near the bison roundup corrals...

A skipper on a thistle...too many orange ones to ID...

I like the background color on this shot...

Mamma pronghorn antelope and her twins...stay tuned for part two...

What's Still Here in September?

I'm a bit behind posting photos due to the short trip to Denver...besides the golden eagle sighted on the 10th, I saw several other, more usual birds in the farm/ranch community E of the Hills that day...

Heading towards the pond on Elk Creek Rd., I found this...red-tailed hawk? on a tall, distant power post...

Another visit to "the pond" where the adult eared grebes are a lot more lax...

Beings that the chicks (above and below) are a lot larger now and more independent...(I did see one feeding itself)...no more piggy back rides I'm sure...

The female ruddy ducks are still around...

The coot chicks are bigger too... (above and below) ...probably wondering why they never got piggybacks...

Heading back toward the hwy., I saw another hawk on a post...

Changing landscape...the grass is a lot less green now, phoey...

The meadowlarks are still post posing...above I think is a juvie...below could be too...

The Maximilian sunflowers are small and clustered and were seen in a few spots along the roadside.

Golden Eagle

A week ago I took a drive on my usual route thru the county road network E of the Hills...in the Fort Meade Rec Area I was out walking a path when this young golden eagle appeared overhead...

...Getting the usual harrassment from smaller birds guarding their young/territory...

The Huz and I are in Denver visiting our daughter...on the way down here we saw two golden eagles in a plowed field not far from the road.

Skywatch Friday

On my way out of Custer State Park today, I was driving towards a huge thunderhead E of the park...

A few miles further, when I reached Hwy 79, it looked like this up closer...

Photos don't do it justice; the cloud stretched further both N and S of the center.

A Comma, Cuke, Chips, and Curlycup

Sunday I took a drive up the NE side of the Hills, into Vanocker Canyon and then E on County Rd 168, exiting via Bethlehem Rd...

Along Box Elder Creek, I discovered a grey comma butterfly...its wings constantly opened and closed and this was the only shot of many with the wings fully open...

Same area, the wild cucumbers are still green...those spines aren't actually sharp...

I need a dragonfly field guide to ID these 'colorless' ones...also along Box Elder Creek...

I stopped at one of the Centennial Trailheads and walked a short way down the trail...coming upon not one but four chipmunks...I snapped three, starting with this one (above and below)...

Chip Number Two...nibbling...

Chip Number Three, who was a bit comical flip-flopping on weak twigs or stems trying to reach the dying bee balm blossoms...more nibbling...

The curlycup gumweed (love that name!) is in bloom and the sulphur butterflies love it...

My first shot of a sulphur with open wings and its not sharp, but you get the idea...the clouded and orange sulphurs can be found all over S Dakota...I think this is a female (black border incomplete), either clouded, orange, or Christina...

The Western virgin's bower is in fruit, with its white silky beaks...it's a vine that has white blossoms first...from the Buttercup Family. Quite unique and a favorite of mine. Seeing  it signals the very end of the blooming season, and that leaves one other unique flower left to photograph. Maybe.

At the Water Coolers

...More like, "at the watering holes"...we've had some interesting visitors to our backyard, all three were seen on Tuesday...

A female American redstart...from a good distance...

...A Mt. bluebird fledgling...last year a bluebird couple nested in the neighbor's birdhouse, not sure if they're there again this year...if they are they've been a lot more scarce...until now...

I've photographed a black-headed grosbeak female at our feeder back in May, am wondering if this is the same female's fledgling...

Also on Tues., I drove into the Hills, making a stop at the shore of Sheridan Lake...all I found were a lot of mallard drakes....

And this female yellow-rumped warbler...

So I moved on, stopping at Horse Thief Lake...there are paths around the lake...

So I took a walk in both directions...

Discovering that the Missouri goldenrod and other goldenrods are still in bloom.