First and foremost I want to start this post with an apology for still being behind and late on my posts. I am hoping to get caught up by Week Thirty-five’s post next Wednesday (9/3), or at the very least have Weeks Thirty-four and Thirty-five both out by next Friday. Now, with that out of the way:
Despite only including South Dakota in the cover image for this week’s post, Week Thirty-three began in North Dakota as I departed Dickinson and headed south, snagging a handful of Red-tailed Hawk and Swainson’s Hawk along the way. The real birding of the day didn’t begin until South Dakota, though, when I arrived at the Reva Gap Campground and started tallying birds for the Mount Rushmore State. Western Wood-Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Say’s Phoebe, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern House Wren, and Spotted Towhee were all solid pickups, but the highlight of the bunch was my first-of-year Black-headed Grosbeak.
My next stop was at JB Road, one of few known locations in South Dakota where Baird’s Sparrows can be consistently found, and while I didn’t have any luck with the main target the stop was still worthwhile, producing Upland Sandpiper, Northern Harrier, Loggerhead Shrike, Western Kingbird, Eastern Kingbird, Horned Lark, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Grasshopper Sparrow, Lark Bunting, Vesper Sparrow, Western Meadowlark, and Brewer’s Blackbird – plus a few Sharp-tailed Grouse nearby just off the road. From there I headed to Bear Butte Lake just north Sturgis, where I picked up a mix of ducks and shorebirds including Blue-winged Teal, Gadwall, Mallard, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Baird’s Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, and Pectoral Sandpiper.
Finally I closed out the day with my initiation to The Black Hills as I drove Spearfish Canyon, which from the road wasn’t especially birdy but still held White-throated Swift, Western Flycatcher, and Violet-green Swallow.
After spending the night in the town of Spearfish, I started Tuesday morning by heading headed into The Black Hills – a place my dad has regularly referenced as one of his favorite places in the world. My first stop at the Bridal Veil Falls didn’t have much, but things picked up at Iron Creek with Canyon Wren and Townsend’s Solitaire. Roughlock Falls was fantastic, hosting Red-naped Sapsucker, American Dipper, Swainson’s Thrush, Red Crossbill, Pine Siskin, and my Lifer Dusky Flycatcher. Ward/Long Draw continued the excellence with Canada Jay, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper, my first-of-year Western Tanager and my Lifer MacGillivray’s Warbler. The Bratwurst Trailhead brought Plumbeous Vireo, Pygmy Nuthatch, and Mountain Bluebird, and I closed out the day at the Hanna Campground with another Dusky Flycather and American Dipper.
On Wednesday I continued birding The Black Hills, starting the day with a series of short stops at Roubaix Lake, Pactola Reservoir and it’s Osprey Trail, Sheridan Lake and it’s Flume Trail, the Spring Creek Picnic Area, and the Samelius Centennial Trailhead. Through these stops I didn’t add many new South Dakota birds, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic scenery. Truth be told I hadn’t even realized Mount Rushmore was in The Black Hills until I realized I was almost there, and so I figured it was well worth the detour even though it wasn’t much of a birding stop.
From Mount Rushmore I headed down into Custer State Park, birding at Lakota Lake and along Iron Mountain Road before passing through the Whiskey Gulch Entrance, stopping at the Visitor’s Center, and swinging by Stockade Lake before closing out the day in the town of Custer. The entire day didn’t do much in the way new South Dakota birds, but still my birding in The Black Hills was an incredible time and they were a spectacularly gorgeous place.
On Thursday morning I bid the Black Hills farewell and began heading east, not doing much birding until I arrived at my destination for the day: Badlands National Park. After a bit of birding outside the park on Sage Creek road I reached the West Entrance, where I heard a pair of Bell’s Vireo singing back-and-forth. Once in the park I headed to the Sage Creek Campground to try for Burrowing Owl, but only managed to track down Mourning Dove, Western Kingbird, and Lark Sparrow. I did spot several Burrowing Owl along Sage Creek Rim Road as well as a Rock Wren at Pinnacles Overlook. While it certainly wasn’t an especially birdy location, Badlands National Park was amongst the most scenic places I have been all year, as the landscape was equally impressive and, in a way, bizarre.
Shortly after leaving Badlands I spotted a pair of Common Nighthawk flying around in broad daylight at Saddle Pass, a sight which I always find interesting. While there are certainly more Nighthawks out west than there are back home in Michigan, I find it interesting that I have only ever once seen Nighthawks active during the day in Michigan while in the Great Plains it has become an almost-daily sight.
I closed out Thursday with a visit to the Oahe Downstream Recreation Area just north of the town of Pierre, where Great Crested Flycatcher, Franklin’s Gull and Ring-necked Pheasant brought me past the Century Mark for the state. I didn’t do much birding on Friday, spending the day around Pierre and making a short trip south to Farm Island where I tallied Yellow Warbler and Northern Cardinal.
Much of Friday was spent doing DoorDash orders, something that is going to become more commonplace in the coming weeks and months as, unfortunately, my funds are rapidly drying up and in order to keep this journey going through the end of the year I will need to stem the bleed.
Saturday was much the same as Friday, though I relocated from Pierre to Aberdeen, where I spent the evening doing DoorDash again. On that front, I want to take a second to be candid about the financial situation of my journey – the next few paragraphs are going to cover this, and if you (totally understandably) want to just get back to the birding talk, skip the the “The Farthest East I Will Be for the Rest of the Year” section. This has been something I have battled with the idea of talking about openly, as I hate the thought of coming across as soliciting; when I set out on this journey I had the full intention of paying everything myself outside of a couple sponsorships from groups like the Oakland Bird Alliance (for whom I have been writing articles for their Nuthatch Quarterly News Letter) and the incredible generosity of those who have subscribed to my Patreon – where while I am behind on my Daily Notes I have at least tried to make there be some benefit from offering me patronage. As the year has gone on, though, more and more issues have arisen (needed brake work back in March and probably again soon, for example), food has been more expensive than I had anticipated even eating as cheaply as possible, and miscellaneous expenses such as entry fees to state parks have been far greater than anticipated, and the reality has set in that, probably sometime in October, my bank account balance is going to hit $0.
That is a reality I am willing to accept: this journey has been more than worth it, and if reading this your thought is along the lines of what I would imagine mine would be if I were on the opposite end in that it would be unreasonable for me to expect anyone to fund my insane endeavor, I totally understand and agree. That is why, other than a few mentions plugging my Patreon, I haven’t talked much about this topic aside from just thanking those who have been so incredibly generous in their support. Yesterday, though, I finally caved and created a GoFundMe after the idea was suggested on a post on my Facebook page of my go-to meal of late of rice, beans, and pasta. I am going to take this one post to plug that GoFundMe (hyperlinked every time I typed GoFundMe). I also want to put out there a reminder that, at the end of this year, I will be writing a book about my journey – and that anyone who was subscribed to my Patreon at the Sponsor tier for at least five months during 2025 (in addition to receiving a monthly signed postcard from somewhere I birded each month they were subscribed) will receive a free copy of that book once it is written and published. With August being the 5th-to-last month of the year, this Sunday (8/31) is the last day where subscribing to my Patreon through the end of the year will qualify for that bonus.
With all that out of the way, I want to thank everyone who gifted me with their tremendous generosity this year, as well as thank anyone who read those past few paragraphs for sticking with me as I panhandled for a moment, as I said it’s something I feel uncomfortable doing and I really don’t want to come across the way I feel like those past couple paragraphs probably do (at best corny, and at worst obnoxious), so I don’t plan to dedicate such extensive lengths to talking about it in the rest of my posts combined. Now, back to birding:
On Sunday the 17th I finally got back to the first part of my journey: People. Since departing Michigan I’ve done a woefully poor job of the birding with locals element of my journey, but finally the time has come to get back to that. And so, just before 7am I met Aberdeen-area birder Barry Parkin, a Waterfowl Biologist with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and we headed our for a morning of birding around Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
Our first stop was at the Slough East of Northville, which held an assortment of ducks, and shortly after which the amount of Ring-necked Pheasants began to massively pile up, including at one point 42 along the side of the road! At the Mansfield Slough there was an assortment of shorebirds including a large flock of Long-billed Dowitchers, and at the Erickson GPA we had a few great birds including Redhead, Ruddy Duck, Black-necked Stilt, Semipalmated Plover, Wilson’s Phalarope, Willet, and an early Ruddy Turnstone! At Sand Lake along Brown County Highway 5 we had Northern Pintail and White-faced Ibis, and at the Hecla Ponds we tracked down both Blue-winged Teal and Green-winged Teal, a bunch of Western Grebe, and a Marsh Wren.
I had a great time birding with Barry, and after parting ways with him I headed southeast towards the corner of South Dakota, putting myself the farthest east I will be for the rest of the year as I went for a short walk at the Newton Hills State Park Horse Camp, where I closed out my South Dakota list at 147 with the additions of Wild Turkey, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Yellow-throated Vireo, Wood Thrush, Eastern Towhee, Baltimore Oriole, and Indigo Bunting. That wrapped up my birding for Week Thirty-three as well as for South Dakota, and I headed into Nebraska for the night with the plan of spending the next five days birding my way west through South Dakota, meeting up with a few locals along the way and finishing what I started back in March when I brought Nebraska to 97 species before returning to Kansas.
Happy Birding, everybody, and again thank you to everyone for following along my journey. It has been incredible to even just hear from others via email and messenger how they have enjoyed reading about my travels – while this journey has definitely been primarily for myself, I don’t know if I’d have had the mental fortitude to carry on through some of the adversity I’ve faced so far without the support and feedback of others.
eBird Trip Summary:
First and foremost - thank you to anyone who chooses to support me in this insane adventure of mine. When I initially had this idea and began planning I didn't even consider the possibility that others would want to support me, but I am extremely grateful to those who have reached out to do so. For those who are interested in supporting me, I have set up a Patreon, which can be accessed by clicking the logo to the left (or you can send me a message via the contact page). Again, thank you for your incredibly generous support!
All Patrons will receive my "Daily Notes" 12-36 hours after the end of each day, and Patrons subscribed to the "Sponsor" tier will receive monthly postcards, mailed out between the 25th and end of each month.
For anyone who wishes to support me without using Patreon, clicking the "$" Icon will link you to my Venmo as well. There is also an option on Patreon to purchase my Daily Notes Collection for a one-time $10 payment without becoming a paid member, which will give you access to the Daily Notes without having to subscribe to a monthly subscription. For those who it requests the last four of my number for, it's 1403.
Following recent suggestions I went ahead and created a GoFundMe in order to help ensure I can keep this adventure going and afford the costs of gas, vehicle maintenance, and food (including, with enough support, some more diversity in my diet). The GoFundMe can be accessed by clicking the image link with the coin going into the donation box. (If anyone knows how to add a custom icon on Elemetor to make the Venmo and GoFundMe Links their respective logos, I'd love to hear how to do it!)
Thank you again to those of you who have supported me so far, it's tremendously generous and greatly appreciated.
Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday (I will try to have them out by 5pm, but situationally they might be a bit later) and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
