Wild turkeys, wild flowers and more...

Three Toms and Lady

While in the western part of the state in late April, I happened to come upon various unique scenes and wildlife as I toured the backroads in my free time.  This post is a collection of images from those experiences for you as well as some random shots from East River the last month.  The first three photos of the wild turkeys were taken just west of the Cheyenne River and not too far from the semi-ghost town of Owanka, SD.  I had never seen Tom's in full display mode before, so it was fun to watch them try to woo about a half dozen hens.  Click on a photo for a larger file to view and enjoy!

A month and ten days since I saw my first pasqueflower of the year East River, I found this lovely patch high up in the Northern Black hills.

A yellow-bellied Marmot (or rock-chuck) sighting in the Northern Black Hills, which was also a first for me.  It reminded me a lot of a prairie dog.

Here is a nice stand of Blue Flag flowers (or wild iris, I think) on a roadside of Custer State Park:

Custer State Park deer

Sunset above trees near Keystone, SD

Star trails and painted clouds from the lights of Sioux Falls add a little drama to this abandoned farmstead near Montrose, SD.  I was working on a column about star trail photography in April for www.southdakotamagazine.com.  The column (with more photos) is here if you are interested:

http://southdakotamagazine.com/star-trails

The "super moon" above the trees of Adams Homestead and Nature Preserve in extreme southeast South Dakota.  This was taken on the evening of May 5th, when the moon was closest to the earth for the year 2012.

Gosling at Covell Lake in Sioux Falls over my lunch hour one day in late April.

Ghost Town Hunting - Chapter II

The ghost town of Owanka, SD

The last week of April, I traveled to Rapid City for work mid-week.  On the way out and on the way back,  I was able to take some major detours in order to satisfy a few of my ghost town curiosities.  Another SD photographer (Robin Hao Gonzalez) had been posting shots of a little town called Owanka that intrigued me.  Come to find out, it is not that far off I-90 and just west of the Cheyenne River.  I found it on a hot (84 degrees), Wednesday at about three in the afternoon.  Not the greatest light to shoot, so I only got a couple shots from the ridge above.  Below is a shot with my long lens of the abandoned elevator.  I used the (new to me) photomatix plug-in in Aperture to get the black and white image of the same photo.  I think it looks pretty cool.  As always, click on a photo for a larger file to view and thanks for stopping by.

Last December, I tried to find Tinton, SD as it was reported to be a ghost town with many buildings still standing (abandoned sometime in the 1950s). The problem was that it was located high up in the Northern Black Hills, so it was covered in a lot of snow and unless I rented a snowmobile, I was unable to get there.  So I decided to go and find it this time around.  I was successful, sort of.  I found the edge of town, but it is apparently located on private property and there were "no trespassing" signs posted quite clearly everywhere.  I resisted the temptation to explore further and shot the photos below from the road.  I'd love to go in and explore more down the barely visible road because if you look on google maps, the satellite photos show many more buildings beyond these.  I need to find out who to call to get permission to go back there.  If anybody knows, feel free to leave the info in a comment and thanks much!

Mid-Spring in Dakota Territory

New leaves on trees lining the Big Sioux River - April 2012

Tis mid-spring here in South Dakota. The state is getting rain as I write this, which is really good as it was a mild winter and a hot March with little precip. This post is featuring some shots over the last couple weeks and today. Click on an image for a larger file to view and thanks for checking in!

A burrowing owl checking me out from just off the Bad River Road southwest of Ft Pierre over Easter weekend.

A trail heading into the Bad River Breaks. I added a color filter to the sky to give the clouds the color I wanted.

No color filters here. This is the pre-sunrise sky as it appeared from the backside of the prairie chicken blind on Fort Pierre National Grasslands.

Sharp-tailed grouse dancing and displaying.

A meadowlark greeting the morning light.

A prairie chicken lifting off... when hens arrive on the booming grounds, the males often hop, call and make short flights in order to attract the ladies attention... then they dance. My next column at southdakotamagazine.com ( Monday, April 16th) will feature more photos and hopefully a short video if you'd like to see more about the prairie chicken and grouse displays. Check it out: http://southdakotamagazine.com/article?articleAuthor=christian+begeman

A wild violet in the woods of Beaver Creek Natural Area near Brandon, SD.

I think this is an Asian Ladybug but I I'm not exactly sure. It is hard to tell them apart from the normal ladybug.

I believe this is a Red Admiral butterfly. There were many out today at Beaver Creek. Mostly feeding on the dandelions along the walking trails.

Split Rock creek just above Devil's Falls outside of Garretson, SD.

An Early Spring

Sunset at Clear Lake north of Humboldt, SD in Mid-March, 2012.

March has been one of the warmest on record and the warmest I ever remember in South Dakota. Because of this, spring has come early to our fair state. That means the "itch" to get out and photograph all the changes has taken hold of me. Today (April 1st), it was windy and 91 degrees (according to my vehicles thermometer) for most of the afternoon. It truly felt like a mid-summer day. I'm not complaining, but I truly hope this doesn't mean we are in for a long, hot summer. Regardless, thanks for stopping by and feel free to click on image for a larger file to view.

Below are a few shots of Mud Lake in Turner County from early March. It was hard to believe the ice was off the water so early.

The pasqueflower arrived early as well. I found my first on March 14th. The two photos below are from March 20th in Hanson County.

The remaining shots are all from today (April 1st). I spent some time in Newton Hills State Park as well as Union Grove State Park and to my surprise found many flowers in bloom. Below are two shots of what I think are bloodroot flowers.

The next two shots are called "Dutchman's Breeches" according to the internet. I have never noticed them before but found them in both parks along the edges of the park roads as well as the side hills of the forest.

I spotted a tree with pink/purple buds at Union Grove. I believe it is some strain of redbud tree, but am not completely sure.

I even spotted a lilac bush in bloom just north and west of Union Grove Park. Hard to believe they are out this early!

This evening's sunset was another beauty. I shot this somewhere north and west of Wall Lake. The bad news is that two ticks hitched a ride home with me. Tis the season... I guess.

Ghost Town Hunting

An abandoned building on the edge of Dewey, SD

I took the week off before Christmas this year in part because I wanted to go ghost town hunting in Western South Dakota. Ghost towns offer some pretty interesting photo ops as well as give my back road meanderings some focus and purpose. I saw a lot of country side I had not seen before and want to go back out this spring to find some more. This post shows some of what I found last month. Click on the photo for a larger file to view and enjoy!

Along the Cheyenne River in the southwest corner of the state is the old town sight of Burdock. There are no buildings left, just a sign marking the spot. I was able to see and photograph a Bald Eagle at the sight though.

The next series of shots are from Dewey, SD. Dewey lies a little further north up the Cheyenne River along the railroad line. The internet told me that Dewey was a ghost town, but I found out that wasn't completely true as there are one or two inhabited houses in what used to be the town. There are, however, several abandoned buildings including a school and a church, so I guess it could be considered a "near" ghost town.

The next two photos are of Ardmore, SD. This town lies south of Edgemont very near the Nebraska state line. I arrived just before sunset and it was eerie. It was almost like every inhabitant just up and left sometime in the 1980s and left everything as is. The only activity I witnessed was two trains rolling through just fifteen minutes apart.

I tried to visit a few more sights in the Black Hills area, but I couldn't find one and the other was only accessible via snowmobile. So I next went up to the Short Pine Hills area of northwestern SD to find Harding, SD. On my way there, I was able to capture this magnificent Golden Eagle in flight.

Here is a shot of downtown Harding. Just as I snapped this shot a gentleman arrived in his pick-up and I asked if this was indeed Harding and he told me "You are smack dab in the middle of it." We chatted for a few minutes. He was the only resident and owned everything on his side of the road. I didn't stay to much longer to explore as the day was getting late and I had a couple more hours to drive that night to get home.

The next two shots are of Huseboe or Lightcap, SD at dawn. Apparently it was originally called Huseboe due to who owned the store, then changed names when some of the buildings were bought by a man with the last name of Lightcap. There is only one building still standing on the town site now. When I was a kid I seem to remember three standing. There are remains of at least three other buildings there. Just a quarter mile to the north, the Lightcap schoolhouse still stands as well. My great aunt used to help run the store I'm told. My aunt has also told me she helped at the store one summer when she was a teenager. This site is about 15 miles north of Isabel, SD on highway 65.

The last ghost town I went to investigate was Okobojo which lies northeast of Pierre, SD. I did not shoot any photos there but I was able to spot and shoot a couple photos of this snowy owl that was perched on a round bale. I have not seen a snowy owl in South Dakota before, so I was pretty pumped to see this one.