Saturday Fort Peck Birding

This morning the boys, the dogs, and I headed down to the banks of the Missouri River for a walk. We had a good time making wailing sounds from the new green grass blades stuck between our thumbs (well, I was able to do it). Benton (4 years old) made a good imitation with his own voice while holding a blade of grass to his mouth and Crean (1.5) made funny sounds while holding an old cattail blade in his hands. We looked at the resident beaver dam, threw sticks into the water for Addie, our Flat-Coated Retriever, and the tried to avoid the shower when she shook near us after bringing the stick back. We saw the first Painted Turtle of the spring basking on the edge of the pond. We also were able to watch a large flock of Bohemian Waxwings come to water at a small clearing along the trail. The boys and I were able to crouch near the edge of the water and have the waxwing come in all around us. There is a good bunch of waxwings around the area right now - probably at least a couple thousand. Many of them were flycatching from the tops of the Cottonwoods this morning and the sky was full of swallow-like waxwings. We also saw our first Red-winged Blackbirds and Killdeer of the spring.

Back home for lunch for all of us, a nap for Crean and a dinosaur movie for Benton. Dad gets to work on his computer!