| The Bird Book contains sighting by many of our hostelers. Bob & Evie Eisenhard act kind of like a clearing house, keeping a list and providing these little reports. Everybody is learning. |
 June 13 - Following Lewis’s example, we are listing bird sightings along the trail. Starting today, June 13, we have identified 12 species common to the area. Six of them were spotted along the bluff at Arrow Rock State Historic Site along the Missouri traveled by Lewis and Clark. Two birds sighted during lunch break today were a flashy Baltimore Oriole and a tail-bobbing Eastern Phoebe. |
  June
14 -16 - Our version of the Lewis and
Clark Journey West has now identified 24 bird species. Notable were two
White Pelicans, which Lewis described in his journal, and several
Cedar Waxwings eating berries from a tree near the L&C Interpretive Center
in Sioux City, IA Red-wing Blackbirds are often seen along the road in
South Dakota |
 Today,
June 17, was our fifth day out of St. charles and we identified 8 more
birds. we added cliff swallows to the tree, bank, and barn swallows we had
already seen. they were nesting in mud, bulb shaped nests under a bridge
over the Missouri river at Bismarck, ND near the Lewis & Clark Riverboat
dock.Also sighted was the Ring-Necked Pheasant, which now lives in many states although originally an import from overseas. |
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June 18-20; Bismarck, ND to Helena, MT
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 This bird report covers
June 21st - 24th. Fifteen more birds were sighted for the first time.
Notable were the Western Grebe, the Yellow and Wilson't Warbler, the
American Avocet, and the striking California Quail. Our total bird list
now comes to 54. |
Eight
new sightings were added to our bird list during these last three days.
First waas the Turkey, introduced to this area some years ago and doing
well along the Missouri River. It was sighted near Washburn, ND. We also
saw our first Black-billed Magpie. This conspicuous, 18" long bird is
black and white and has a long green tail.
Another bird find was
the Western race of the rufous-sided Towhee--sometimes called the
Spotted Towhee. It was seen at Pompey's Pillar. The towhee has a black
head and back with a white belly and rufous sides. add to this the white
shoulder spots and two distinct white wing bars that identify the
spotted or Western Race.