Crow Valley to Sheridan, WY

This morning when I woke up the weather was very pleasant.  The temperature was 45 degrees but with no wind it felt quite mild as I took Dulce out for her morning walk.  It was overcast but no rain and it was not long until the clouds were burned off and there was bright sunshine.  I birded around the campground for about an hour.  Last night before I went in I heard a Boreal Owl calling not too far out from where I was camped.  I tried to entice him closer by playing a tape but I was not successful.  In the campground the morning chorus was very loud.  I noticed Cassin’s Kingbirds calling, saw both a Spotted and Green-tailed Towhee, Swainson’s Thrushes, Brown Thrasher, American Robins everywhere, a Dusky Flycatcher, many grackles and blackbirds and a surprising Bullock’s Oriole.  All of these before I left for a drive through the grasslands. By 8 I was on my way.  The road we traveled on the TOS Chicken Run tour was very muddy from the recent rains.  I followed a grader for a short distance but soon passed him.  This road surprisingly is heavily traveled by large oilfield trucks carrying out oil and water from the many production sites along the road.  I was treated to a never ending supply of male Lark Buntings displaying everywhere and they are beautiful (check Jim Hailey Nature Photography for pictures) as well as an unbelievable number of Horned Larks.  What I failed to find this time was the longspurs we had seen just 3 weeks ago.  They must already be nesting and not displaying.  It was 50 miles round trip and I was back in camp and ready to pull out by 10:00.  It is but a short drive from here to Wyoming and I stopped in Cheyenne to fill up with fuel.  Wyoming is a great example of the short grass prairies of the Great Plains with long rolling hills some mesas and after the community of Wheatland you can see the Rockies that are between Highway 25 and Yellowstone in the distance.  Around noon I pulled into the Ghugwater Rest Area for lunch.  In the small number of pine trees planted here I observed a mixed flock of American Goldfinch, Pine Siskins, and Chipping Sparrow all of whom were feed on dandelions that had gone to seed.  No doubt that the breeding plumage male American Goldfinch is a very handsome bird (see pictures at Jim Hailey Nature Photography).  While looking at these birds I met another birder from Victoria, BC who was on her way south to a Wyoming campground.  We exchanged information.  Today the drive was 386 miles and I reached Sheridan, WY where I camped in a local park provide for people in transit.  After setting up I headed to Rib & Chop House, a steak house I had eaten at several years before.  This time I was disappointed in the meal.  I remembered it as one of the best steak houses I had ever eaten at, but this time it didn’t impress.  Then back to the campground and a good night’s rest for the journey tomorrow.