Back in Black (Part 1)

Monday I took my first drive in the Hills since returning from the W coast on the 8th. I drove approx. 175 miles in all, down the E part of the wildlife loop in Custer State Park, on down thru Hot Springs and further south to Keith Park at the very S end of the Hills...I did see buffalo but not any photo ops...

There were plenty of prong-horn antelope grazing in the morning in Custer Park...

The little Mrs. at Apt. BB14 peeked out to see who was stopping by...

The female Mt. bluebird exited the birdhouse soon after my arrival...

Two does were crossing the side road that leads to a ranch neighboring the park...

The echinacea, a cone flower, is in bloom, and a bee was busy gathering pollen on this one, its underbelly covered in the orange powder...

One of countless W meadowlarks watching its territory...this fellow seems to have a deformed right foot...at first I thought it was birdie poop but it looks more like the foot is enlarged...

A song sparrow crooning from another post...

A spotted towhee was crooning away from a treetop near the buffalo round-up corrals...a park ranger even stopped to see what I was snapping and ID'd the towhee, telling me that a nighthawk has also been spotted in that area...

In that same spot, a male Mt. bluebird was busy preening and allowed me to creep closer for better photos...

For all I know, it could be a juvie, still blissfully naive about distrusting humans...

The leadplant is in bloom...its coppery bits are hard to capture when they're glistening in sunlight...it's quite pretty, and unique.

Thursday I'll post Part 2 of my finds during my drive...there may be a Part 3 as well. Lots of goodies!