4th of July Day Trips

For several years now, I have taken time around the 4th of July to get out and spend time with my daughters enjoying the scenery in our (relative) back yard. We typically get started about 6am. The weather is never really a concern as we know whatever it is doing in the early morning will be differnt over both the course of the day as well as the location in which we find ourselves.

We start out talking about our hopes for the day, bat as the miles roll on, we tend to fall silent and find ourselves watching the scenery change from our home valley to rugged canyons to the eastern edge of the mountains and finally to the prairie. Along our side much of the way is the unhurried but powerful presence of the Missouri River.

Taking a trip along the Missouri River is fascinating. Sedimentary canyons give way to volcanic intrusions like dikes and lacoliths. All this exposed rock, showing a wide variety of colors and textures, eventually fades to tall foothills, buttes, rolling slopes incised by long extinct streams, and eventually the prairie. This short trip through such a wide variety of geologic landforms reminds us that the slow and steady Missouri River has not always been the main agent of change in the area. 

Over the 4^th, we like to go looking for Owls and Curlews. First, we head to First People’s Buffalo Jump State Park- just outside of Ulm, Montana. Over the years, this location has been a reliable area to find both of the aforementioned species, plus many more. About half the trips have provided us with Short-eared Owls and Ferruginous Hawks, Golden Eagles and Prairie Falcons. We’ve also seen Bighorn Sheep, Marmots, Coyotes, and dozens of other species. 

Then, once we’ve hiked around a bit at First People’s, we head to Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Benton also never fails to provide a lot of terrific wildlife watching. From waterfowl to shorebirds to sparrows and longspurs to game birds to gulls and terns- Benton is worth the mosquitos and flies. Every time.

This trip did not disappoint. When the day was done, we had over 65 species of birds positively ID’ed and several that we were unable to ID. We found Curlews and Burrowing Owls, but we also found Hundreds of Franklin’s Gulls, a couple of dozen White-faced Ibis, and a single Black Crowned Night Heron. We even saw a Golden Eagle hazing a Prairie Falcon- there were a few Magpies in attendance for this little aerial display. First People’s gave us 4 huge male Ring-necked Pheasants and Benton provided us with a couple of Sharp-tailed Grouse with a half dozen chicks just learning about the world. We had a good day afield. 

That Night Heron was the 200^th species of bird we have ID’ed so far this year. Typically, we have about 170 species by now. This has been a good year for birding for us. In recent weeks we have checked off 8 of the 40 “likely to see before the end of the year” species on our list.

I’m glad to have had this time to get out and about with the girls and I’m glad I live in a place with such easy access to so much variety.