Our last night in North Dakota was spent at a Harvest Host who lives among waterfowl production areas in the Prairie Pothole region. These shallow ponds and lakes were created by retreating glaciers many years ago and are now where nearly half of our migratory ducks come from. Many of the roads here seem to cross right thru the ponds.
Above, Asher is sweeping the slide before we pull it in.
As we drove this road, I spotted juvenile black terns sitting on a stump. We waited for a couple minutes and got to see the adult swoop in to feed them!
I was delighted to see the beautiful lake at our host's property and find it was also heavily populated with black terns. What a lovely place!
More Black Terns
I could hardly contain my birding excitement and left early the next morning to go explore the nearby ponds and prairies.
I found a NWR sign for Chase Lake Wetland Management District and took their wildlife drive. Most of it is grasslands, but there are also lakes and a forest area- nice diversity.
Northern Harrier (above) Vesper Sparrow (below)
Our last stop in North Dakota was the Red River Zoo in Fargo. We used our AZA reciprocal membership for free entry, my favorite kind of road trip leg stretch.
We were delighted to hear the Kookaburra calling.
Journey's favorite- prairie dogs
Jacob's Sheep have four horns!
This Two Toed Sloth looked so funny hanging upside down to eat from the platform below.
We had planned to stay at a grain farm with a Harvest Host, but it didn't work out. Looks like this is the closest Journey will get to harvesting grain this year.
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