Destination Circle: Day 3

May 16, 2016

The motel was a mile west of town (Ashland, WI) and when I arrived last night, the birds in the cattail swamp across the highway were very noisy as a group of blackbirds can be. But the next morning, it was quiet. I was hoping to hear Marsh Wrens but only heard Yellow Warblers and Common Yellowthroats.

The breakfast deal was this: One could get a small complimentary breakfast of one egg, one piece of toast, one strip of bacon (or sausage) and "1/4 cup of hash browns" or pay $3 and get a bigger breakfast. I got the free breakfast and it came with much more than "1/4" cup of hash browns and was just the right amount of food. And the coffee was better than one usually gets at a free motel breakfast. I sat near the window and ate looking out at Chaquamegon Bay.

I got gas and then checked out a beautiful city park (using eBird) on the west end of town and birded there for half an hour, seeing Palm and Myrtle Warblers, a single Blackburnian Warbler, and a Blue-headed Vireo. There were tall evergreens, mixed deciduous hardwoods, swamps and marshes with trails throughout, all pretty much across the road from Lake Superior.

Dandelions

It was 450 miles to Devil's Lake, North Dakota, where I stayed the night, driving through sunshine, under blue skies, listening to Minnesota Public Radio, which is always good. The night before, while traveling through the UP, NPR's Mountain Stage was on with its variety of eclectic and talented musicians. And there are always at least two classical music stations available in these north woods.

The landscape opens up in western Minnesota, the trees get smaller and fewer, and beyond Grand Forks, ND, the land becomes rolling prairie with innumerable watery potholes, each with waterfowl...usually a couple pair of ducks and one pair of Canada geese.  Occasionally, the geese were foraging with their fluffy and adorable little goslings by the side of Hwy 2, not the best place for them.

Near Devil's Lake, I entered the fringes of the Bakken oil field, activity from which has spread from Williston in the far west of the state, 200 miles away. Trucks, oil well pumps, some actively pumping, some idle, 100s of pipe sections neatly stacked on the ground, oil storage tanks, natural gas burn-offs, dust, incredibly utilitarian, dreary man camps, new motels and fast food eateries and all the businesses and paraphernalia that an oil extraction industry needs... The countryside is uglier and messier and lacking its natural grace with this intrusion.

Years ago I stayed in a Sleep Inn in Devil's Lake when it was new and cheap and loved that motel, but it was now expensive with a mini-mall almost in the parking lot. I also stayed here on my Blue Goose Year and drove for hours around the area which is half water / half farmland. North Dakota has the most NWRs of any state by far. There was also an Art Clare motel in this town. (At least I think it was Devil's Lake.)