[mou] Big Stone/Lac Qui Parle Trip

[Leo]

Hi all!
 My dad and I went birding out west for Tuesday, Wednesday, and got back 
today, Thursday. We had a pretty productive trip... Strangely enough, we 
searched each day for the Snowy/Piping Plovers and couldn't spot 'em 
once. Too bad.
 Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge had lots of activity however. We 
took the road in from Odessa mentioned by Phil Chu and Peder in the 
first report of the Snowy Plover and looked out over the bay. It was 
good habitat and produced many shorebirds. We spotted two *Marbled 
Godwits *standing out in the bay. There were a few Semipalmated Plovers, 
Baird's, Least, Pectoral, Semipalmated Sandpipers all over as well. 
Yellowlegs ran here and there through the place. There were also a few 
*Black Terns *flying around fishing on the lake. Clay-colored Sparrows 
buzzed around each time we were there. Just before we turned into the 
second entry way to the wildlife refuge we spotted a *Orchard Oriole* 
and a *Dickcissel*. We headed up to Thielke after that and searched for 
Clark's Grebes but couldn't find them in the crowds of Western Grebe. We 
also went up to Clinton and headed east, stopping here and there. At one 
stop about 3 miles down the road we spotted an *American Bittern* at the 
side of the road. It flew off, but as it did I'm almost certain I 
spotted on the southern side of the road a *Least Bittern *burst out, 
fly, and dive back down. The only thing I can say was it was small and 
there was alot of that yellow-orange buff on the wings as it flew. It 
was flying away from me however and disappeared quickly.
 Salt Lake that evening held MANY, many *Stilt Sandpipers* and even more 
*Wilson's Phalaropes*. There were even 3 or 4 *Short-billed Dowitchers 
*out in the water. The usual sandpipers were here and there.
 Day 2 was pretty much the same, but held one good surprise. We drove up 
to Clinton, then went west and weaved our way through the swamps over 
there. We spotted a few Franklin's Gulls at the lakes out there. About 2 
miles south of Barry, we spotted at an intersection telephone pole an 
adult *Upland Sandpiper*. He hung around for about 10 minutes on the 
post, then dived down into the grass, then back up to a different post. 
He finally flew off and disappeared. We spotted a *Horned Lark *male and 
juvenile down by Salt Lake that day as well. We also made a stop at the 
sewage treatment plant outside of Beardsley to find Phalaropes, Black 
Terns and a few *Bonaparte's Gulls*.
 We headed up to Mud Lake this morning and looked out at the north side 
to find practically nothing. A few Yellowlegs and the usual lake 
birds... Pelicans, cormorants, etc.

 All in all it was a fun trip... A little too hot... 95-ish degrees... 
Yikes! It was too bad we didn't see the plovers, but there was one 
mammal treat. We walked out past the shed at the usual plover spot and 
went to the fenced rock quarry, circled it, then in the middle we 
spotted three big *otters* playing in it. They all dove in out of a 
small hole in the bank, saw us, scampered into the reeds, then one by 
one dived in, stuck just their little heads out and snorted at us. It 
was quite cute and fun to watch.

 Good birding all!
- Leo W-M