June 3, 2012 - South Dakota Prairie Bird Workshop - Part 2

Here are some more photos from the Prairie Bird Workshop I attended near Fort Pierre, South Dakota. We visited many birding spots in the area. At one of them we saw this Red-headed Woodpecker. It was high in a dead tree so I couldn’t get a very good shot, but in the photo on the right you can see a yellowish spot on the belly. I have many bird field guides and all of them say a Red-headed Woodpecker has a totally white belly. Finally, I looked this bird up in Birds of North America Online and it says, “White underparts rarely washed with variably dull yellow, orange, or red in center of belly, at times extending from breast to vent”.

WoodpeckerRedheadedFortPierreareacomposite20120511

At another spot we saw several Willets. They are fairly large shorebirds (15”) and very plain looking when seen on the ground (mottled brown and white). But when they fly, they show off their beautiful wing pattern.

WilletflightSouthDakota20120510

We stopped at a flooded corn field and saw several dozen American Golden Plovers. They are just passing through South Dakota on the way to their nesting grounds in the Arctic. Their black under parts are an advantage when incubating eggs. In the Arctic, the summer sun is up almost 24 hours a day but it is low on the horizon. The plovers position themselves to face the sun when sitting on their nests. The black feathers absorb heat from the sun’s rays and help keep the eggs warm.

PloverAmericanGoldenbreedingplumageMilbankarea20120513

I also got some nice photos while traveling to and from the workshop. This male Yellow-headed Blackbird was in a cattail pond right along Hwy 12 near the Minnesota/South Dakota border.

BlackbirdYellowheadedmaleBigStoneCounty20120509

Every little pond along the way seemed to have a few ducks in it. I didn’t make note of the exact location, but I found this mail Pintail along Hwy 12 in western Minnesota. I think Pintails are one of our more elegant looking duck species.

PintailmaleHwyWesternarea20120513

I was approaching Howard Lake, Minnesota on my way home. It was almost dark and the low sunlight lit up this American White Pelican. It was slowly swimming by in a pond along Hwy. 12.

PelicanWhiteHowardLake20120513