Multi State Road Trip Summary Stuart Healy, June 17 - July 4, 2008 Trip Log (journal entries) List of species seen     List of photo links

Minnesota North Dakota Wyoming with travel through Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas.

Another year has flown by and this trip was my annual June getaway from Arizona. As always, my main objective was to be in a place where the weather is a little more hospitable than it is in southeast Arizona at this time of year. By the way, if anyone tries to tell you that June is a good time to be here, they are blowing smoke up your ventral region. Obviously, the northern states are attractive and, as many of you will already know, I favor Wyoming where I've been many times. In a year when the cost of gas has skyrocketed, it perhaps wasn't the best year to embark on an extended road trip. However, that's just what I did by traveling as far as Minnesota.

Life bird opportunities are not a primary driving force for these trips which is just as well since they diminish with each June expedition. The principal targets this year were Connecticut Warbler (my last regular warbler in the states) and to try to photograph a Great Gray Owl (seen several times but not when I owned a camera). Of course, there's always a chance for my long time nemesis Black-billed Cuckoo whenever I venture far enough east. However, this year I was determined not to be obsessive about any of my objectives.

I planned the itinerary such that I could focus on trying to see the target species at the start of the trip then spend the rest of the time casual birding in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wyoming. I also included a few stops along the way in the states through which I needed to travel. As things turned out, I didn't have too much trouble locating Connecticut Warblers. However, seeing them was an entirely different matter and I ended up with a very poor view. I was fortunate to learn of a Great Gray Owl hangout and managed to obtain a moderately decent image. The warbler and owl were both seen in Minnesota. Although the cuckoo remains a nemesis (no surprise there!), I did move a step closer this year by hearing a bird in North Dakota.

From June 17 through July 4, 2008  I drove 5927 miles as I traveled through (in order) Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and back to Arizona. My birding time was mostly in Minnesota (5 full, 2 partial days), North Dakota (2 full, 2 partial days) and Wyoming (3 full, 2 partial days). The remainder was travel and opportunistic birding through the other states with planned stops in Colorado and Kansas. I recorded a total of 220 species and managed to obtain photographs of 17 species with varying quality, 7 of which were new increasing my photo list to 479. At my present rate of progress, my objective of 500 species photographed in the ABA area seems rather unlikely in the near future.

The weather was generally very good, although wind and rain for several days in the middle of the trip in North Dakota certainly impacted my limited birding time there. Fortunately, I didn't have any specific birds to find otherwise I might not be so easy going about that. It was a little warmer than I would have liked in some areas of Minnesota and Wyoming but this certainly wasn't an big issue.

When I left home, I had a firm plan for the first five days in terms of locations to stay. As the trip progressed, I planned 1-3 days in advance for upcoming overnight stops. Since I stayed on the road into July this year, lodging became an issue as July 4 approached. In fact, I had to compromise in a couple of places.

Minnesota
Apart from the first day (driving through the state from the southwest corner to the northeast), my time in Minnesota was spent in the central and western counties of the northeast and several counties in the northwest. Although I needed to visit St. Louis County in the northeast for my principal targets, I decided to stay in Grand Rapids rather than Duluth (the travel distance to birding locations is about the same from either location). If you prefer small cities, this is a good alternative (among several). I enjoyed my time in Roseau County more than anywhere else that I visited. Overall, I encountered the best weather of the trip in Minnesota (mostly sunny and dry with very little wind). On the downside, the state had more road work going on than most other states combined. Oh no, not another orange sign!

Apart from achieving my main objectives, highlights were stumbling into a roadside Spruce Grouse (Roseau County) and watching 3 Wilson's Snipe chicks follow momma across the road (St. Louis County).

North Dakota
Most birders looking for specific grassland targets probably choose to stay in Minot. I based myself in Bottineau where I've been several times. I like the diversity of habitat provided by the Turtle Mountains while still being able to get to grassland locations. Rain and wind were a problem and this seems to be typical at this time of year based on three June visits (2002, 2005 and 2008).

Highlights were seeing Red-necked Grebes in the Turtle Mountains (I haven't seen many since I left Washington state); Sharp-tailed Grouse, Sprague's Pipit and Baird's Sparrow at Lostwood NWR; and hearing my first ever Black-billed Cuckoo at J Clark Salyer NWR. Of course, I still have to see one!

Wyoming
As always, I wish that I could have spent more time in Wyoming. I had to forfeit a visit to the Beartooth highway in the northeast part of the state and won't see Black Rosy Finch this year. However, I didn't miss out completely on the high country and the time that I spent in the Snowy Range west of Laramie was my favorite part of the entire trip. A higher than normal winter snowfall this year meant that snow levels were about the same as my previous visits even though I was here almost two weeks later than "normal". Grassland bird activity was noticeably lower compared to previous visits so this was a downside of being here later. However, I don't think that I missed anything due to this.

Highlights were finding Mountain Plover on the Laramie plains; photographing Pine Grosbeak at Brooklyn Lake; and watching Wilson's Warbler singing its heart out at 10,700 feet at icy Lake Bellamy. The next time I see a Willy Warb migrating through Arizona I can perhaps make believe it's that very same bird -- and who's to say that it won't be?

They say that travel broadens the mind and I've certainly done my share over the years (initially as a drone when I was in the chip business and now the considerably more enjoyable birding travel in the years following my escape from Silicon Valley). In fact, the learning experiences that I have on such trips are as rewarding as anything else. When most of your birding is in one location, it's very easy to get a narrow perspective about the birds that you see every day. For example, take Yellow Warbler which is a very common and widespread species that nests throughout the states and Canada. In Arizona, they are mostly confined to riparian habitat and nest in fairly large cottonwoods and willows. Years ago I remember being surprised to see them nesting in what at the time I thought was very marginal riparian habitat. Now I know that this is normal. I've also seen them nesting in coniferous habitat. On this trip I learned that they will nest in the scraggliest of bushes in a roadside ditch.

By using the links at the top of the page you can find day to day details of the trip (in my journal), see the the overall trip list (with sightings broken down by state) and view all of the bird photos.

Questions and comments welcome.