Tag: bird

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Dakota Awakening

By Christian Begeman

Another spring is settling in. I like to muse that the season is much more than simply another tilt of the planet back towards the sun. It’s the annual promise of new life. It’s another chance to smell rain on the wind. It’s another year to chase the light and see what is beyond the next bend. Springtime provides a lot to be thankful for, but also is a time of nostalgia for me. I remember life awakening on the farm, the smell of the first cut grass, the song of the meadowlark from a distant fencepost and the smell of plowed earth at planting time. This year, the season’s signature flourish of raindrops and rainbows have been few and far between, but thankfully that has not stopped the return of waterfowl on the wind, the greening of the grass and the budding of leaves. The songbirds and wildflowers are back, there’s new warmth in the breeze and the sky seems a bit more blue. Happy Spring everyone!

March 11

While checking the status of ice on area lakes, I startled a large group of migrating waterfowl hanging out in a pond of snowmelt near Silver Lake in northeast Hutchinson County.

March 20

On the official first day of spring I took a sunset hike around the edge of Buffalo Slough south of Chester. All ice is completely gone.

March 31

I found a rather large, wild pasqueflower patch a few miles south of Lake Vermillion including a lovely little natural bouquet of five.

April 4

Just like last spring, a lunar eclipse took place, but dawn approached too quickly to see the full”blood moon.” This photo was taken roughly 20 minutes before totality above Skresfrud Lutheran of rural Lincoln County. Since I was already up, I checked the bird feeders at Good Earth State Park and watched the early bird (robin) get its worm.

April 5

Temperatures reached the low 70s on this Easter Day. In the afternoon, I went looking for snow trillium at Newton Hills State Park and found many blossoms as well as a half dozen Question Mark butterflies soaking up the day’s warmth amongst the last year’s leaves.

April 12

A spring day for the books! First I explored Union Grove State Park to find an early flowering bush along the trail. Later, after a brief thunderstorm passed, an afternoon rainbow graced the sky over the fields of Union County. In the evening another rainbow appeared on the northwest edge of Vermillion and the magic was far from over. As I drove back to Sioux Falls, the setting sun painted the retreating rain clouds pink and blue north of Chancellor.

April 18

A steady, light rain fell for most of the afternoon in Sioux Falls. It was much needed moisture. I spent some time in the Japanese Garden area of Terrace Park to see if I could capture the mood of the day. I was accompanied by a variety of geese, ducks and songbirds, including a male northern cardinal with raindrops glistening on its vibrant feathers.


Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midcontinent Communications he is often on the road photographing South Dakota’s prettiest spots. Follow Begeman on his blog.

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Sounds of Spring

By Christian Begeman

The greening of the countryside seemed to come a couple weeks late across South Dakota this year. I had planned on capturing flowers for this post. After all,”April showers bring May flowers,” right? Since the flowers of May didn’t really burst until Memorial Day weekend, I didn’t get a chance to photograph many during the course of the month. The good news is that the delayed spring growth allowed me to see one of the hidden natural storylines play out a bit more clearly this year.

Most of us who watch the South Dakota skies in early spring are very aware of when the spring migration begins. It is hard to miss the large flocks of geese and other waterfowl moving through our little corner of the great American flyway. The latter half of spring migration can be a lot harder to notice, mostly because the songbirds that bring up the rear are small, fast and unless you have a birdfeeder near your home, usually only heard and not seen.

This spring, however, has seen a very productive songbird migration. At least for me. I have seen and photographed more colorful balls of energy than any other year. I think part of the reason is that the tree canopies were slow growing and the other reason may be that I’m just learning how to notice things like this. As a photographer, I’m always interested in bold colors as well as the challenge of taking a photo of something in a way that is not usually seen.

My equipment this year has primarily been a 100-400 mm telephoto lens with a 1.4 extender. This kind of lens needs a lot of light so shooting while the sun is shining is helpful. The other key is being in the right place at the right time. I found that most of the parks along the Big Sioux River system in southeast South Dakota offer good opportunities to see, hear and photograph songbirds. To top it off, the newest state park, Good Earth Park at Blood Run southeast of Sioux Falls, has a feeder that is maintained by the Sioux Falls Bird Club. It is because of this feeder that I was able to observe many”firsts.”

One of my favorites has been the amazing little ruby-throated hummingbird. I actually saw my first hummingbird in the Grand Tetons last spring. I apparently had walked too close to something it treasured and it buzzed me several times. Ever since that encounter this fearless little humdinger has intrigued me, and I was determined to find a ruby-throated version in South Dakota. I figured that feeders at Good Earth would be a good place to start. The hunch paid off. I spent three early mornings before work observing two different males and a female. The males sparred a couple times and their aerial feats of speed, quickness and precise flying were breathtaking. Later this spring I observed three different rubies”in the wild” (away from feeders) at Sica Hollow State Park in northeast South Dakota. Needless to say, I was thrilled.

I’m not a professional birder by any means, but it’s growing on me. I’ve learned that simply taking the time to look hard can be a wonderful experience. Watching what goes on amongst the branches gives those hikes through our state park trail system a new level of enjoyment. If you are patient, persistent and a little bit lucky, a rare encounter with a little songster can and will happen. Those experiences remind me of the many-layered beauty that surrounds us in this great state if we just take the time to look.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midcontinent Communications he is often on the road photographing South Dakota’s prettiest spots. Follow Begeman on his blog.

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Silver Lake Wildlife

By Christian Begeman

In mid-March I saw a post on a local birding website that 50-plus bald eagles were observed at Silver Lake, along Highway 81 north of Freeman, so I took the camera and long lens out to see for myself.

I set off after work on Saint Patrick’s Day. The evening sky was heavy with low and fast rain clouds that spit a few drops now and then. As I approached the lake from the north, I discerned many large and dark shapes in the trees that surround the little lake. The eagles were still there.

When I pulled into the roadside park I was surprised and thrilled to see an eagle perched right above the outhouse. A few snaps later he decided he didn’t like the looks of me staring at him from my car window and flew off. Later in the evening as I rounded the east side of the lake on a county road, a red fox suddenly appeared on the ice. My vehicle’s engine must have startled him on his evening hunt. We raced alongside each other for half a mile before I was able to get ahead of him enough to stop and capture a shot of his flight across the ice. Later that evening, I drove to a lone barn a couple miles northwest. The low clouds had parted enough on the horizon to let the setting sun through. A bald eagle photo and a sunset shot all within an hour. It was a good day.

I returned the following Saturday to see if the eagles were still around. Sure enough, I saw about 25 in the trees ringing the lake again. I also encountered a hawk hiding in plain sight in a tree adjacent to the roadside park. The edges of the water had receded and a number of waterfowl were enjoying the open water. I couldn’t get close enough in the broad daylight to get any interesting shots so I decided to get up before the sun on Sunday morning and plant myself behind some tall grass near the water’s edge to get a better view. Bald eagles typically are most active in the early morning, so I was hoping to capture them in action as well.

Sunday morning’s temperature was in the mid-teens. When I arrived at Silver Lake, the shades of color were just starting to change in the east. Cold and bleary eyed, I made my way down to the spot I had picked the day before only to discover the water had refrozen. I relocated as best I could to the new edge of open water and waited. The eagles were already out on the ice and active. I watched a juvenile eagle catch a fish, fly up about 60 feet and then drop it. As he did this, another six or seven eagles flew from their perch to join the fun. Unfortunately for them (and for me) the fish broke through the thin ice and they could not retrieve it again.

Since most of the action took place when it was too dark to shoot, I didn’t get the photos I was looking for, but I did get to practice silhouette shots against an ever-changing colored sky. I also got to hear multiple duck species fly over and in front of me. The sound they made reminded me of bottle rockets whizzing past (don’t ask how I know what that sounds like). It was a glorious morning, and South Dakota at its finest.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midcontinent Communications he is often on the road photographing South Dakota’s prettiest spots. Follow Begeman on his blog.

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Eagle Season

By Katie Hunhoff

A bald eagle built a nest near the old Meridian Bridge in Yankton two years ago, and then perched on a nearby cottonwood branch and posed for pedestrians, who were at eye level to the big bird when they were on the bridge’s upper deck.

The eagle eventually abandoned that nest. Maybe it was a tad too close to civilization for her comfort. But more eagles than ever are wintering on the open water of the Missouri River in Yankton, and they often glide slowly over the walking bridge that extends into the city’s old downtown.

Eagles were following the Dodo bird to extinction a scant 50 years ago. Illegal hunting, habitat destruction and a poison known as DDT were killing the species. In 1963, only 487 nesting pairs could be found in the United States.

But the Endangered Species Act banned DDT in 1972, and the eagles gradually adapted to a changing prairie landscape. Today, the state Game, Fish & Parks Department estimates that there may be as many as 300 nesting pairs just in South Dakota.

Most South Dakota eagles can be found wintering below the Missouri River dams, where massive old cottonwood trees provide a barky foundation for their large, heavy nests. Open water below the river’s dams provides easy fishing. Eagles also nest in the Black Hills near the Deerfield Reservoir, and it’s not surprising to find them in any part of the state.

Eagles build their nests by mid-February and begin laying eggs in late February. The birds mate for life, and use the same nests from year to year, adding twigs each year. Their nests are among the largest of any North American bird. One big nest measured 13 feet deep by 8 feet wide.

The majestic bald eagle was chosen as our national emblem in 1787, partly because it was native to North America. The fierce appearance of its curved beak, regal white head and piercing eyes were also factors. In the emblem, drawn in 1782, a bald eagle is displayed with an olive branch in one claw and 12 arrows clutched in the other, representing both peace and war.

Benjamin Franklin famously opposed putting the bald eagle on the nation’s emblem. He favored the wild turkey, which he claimed was, “A much more respectable bird and a true native of America.” He said the turkey was a bird of courage that “would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on.”

It seems Franklin was also put off with the bald eagle’s habit of eating carrion. They often steal food from smaller birds by intimidating them into dropping their prey. They also feed on dead fish and crippled birds. “He is a bird of bad moral character,” wrote Franklin. “He does not get his living honestly. You may have seen him perched in some dead tree where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing hawk and, when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish and is bearing it to his nest for his young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes the fish.”

It seems unpatriotic to dredge up Franklin’s comments. After all, the eagle is just doing what comes naturally. Go eagle watching this spring and you will instantly be reminded of why our founding fathers chose this regal bird to represent our nation. Your best chance to see some soaring is to visit the Missouri below the dams at Yankton, Pickstown, Fort Thompson and Pierre. In Yankton, a few eagles can often be found in the big trees that lie south of Riverside ballpark.

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Feeding Feathered Friends

By Rebecca Johnson

February is National Bird Feeding month, and with this year’s extremely cold temperatures it’s a great month to supplement bird food supplies.”During winter months it is really important that birds have enough food to keep their fires burning,” says K.C. Jensen, associate professor in the Natural Resource Management department at South Dakota State University.”Bird metabolism is extremely high, average body temp is 105 to 107 degrees, so they need lots of fuel.”

Seeds are one of the best sources of carbohydrates, and the more fat the better.”I like black-oil sunflower seeds because they’re readily available, relatively inexpensive and the birds really go for it,” Jensen says. They’ll attract most winter birds like black-capped chickadees, white and red-breasted nuthatches, and downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers. Other backyard favorites like blue jays, American gold finches, purple finches, common redpolls and pine siskins also like mixed seeds. And many winter birds enjoy suet.

Ricky Olson, South Dakota Ornithologists Union president, says he’s often asked if we really need to feed birds in winter.”A lot of people say, ‘birds were here before we were and they would survive without us,’ but I don’t believe that’s so true in many areas anymore,” Olson says.”I live in Pierre and there are very few wooded areas left as habitat has been changed for development and housing. I don’t know if there’s enough natural stuff to sustain much of the population, especially in hard winters.”

Inspired by this info and the national Great Backyard Bird Count set for February 14-17, I decided to make birdseed ornaments for my backyard trees. In honor of Valentine’s Day I made them heart-shaped. This recipe uses coconut oil in place of the usual suet, so it only works for wintertime use. Coconut oil melts at temperatures above 76 degrees.

Bird Seed Ornaments

Adapted from Wikihow.com

Heavy-duty aluminum foil
Non-stick cooking spray
About 6 metal cookie cutters
1 cup coconut oil
1 — 1 Ω cups birdseed
Small saucepot
Twine or string

Coat cookie cutters with non-stick spray. Lay each cookie cutter on two squares of foil, then wrap foil up around the cutter’s sides. Thread a 10-inch piece of twine through the cutter. Melt 1 cup coconut oil on medium heat then mix in at least 1 cup bird seed. Let cool so mixture begins to thicken, but is still pourable. (This took a long time, so I set the pot outside for a little while.) Pour the mixture into the cutters until it almost reaches the top. Let harden at room temperature, then place in the freezer, or set outside, for 1 hour. Finally pop the ornaments out of the cutters and tie to your tree. Make sure to tie near other branches so birds have somewhere to perch while they eat.

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Winter is for the Birds

By Christian Begeman

A friend of mine recently shared a link to a bird photographer’s exquisite work capturing small songbirds in flight. The message was accompanied by a good-natured challenge to start producing similar images of my own. I’m always up for a challenge. The problem, I soon discovered, is that getting a good photo of wild birds in nature is extremely hard … not to mention predicting where and when said bird will take flight. What I’m trying to say is that I’ve failed miserably in this particular challenge … so far.

With that confession on the table, I figured I’d share some tips (and photos, both good and bad) that I picked up along the way. Now I’m not much more than a greenhorn birder myself, but I do have a starting suggestion. Find the nearest winter bird feeder and camp out nearby. Last year I had good luck at the Sioux Falls Outdoor Campus during a steady morning snowfall. This year I tried the bird feeders at Farm Island State Park near Pierre and at the entrance to Good Earth State Park southeast of Sioux Falls. These feeders allow you to get fairly close as long as you stay still and are willing to wait for the birds to return after initially disturbing them. This wait can take anywhere from five to 15 minutes. At Good Earth, I chose to sit cross-legged on the ground next to an evergreen as I waited. Soon I had juncos hopping a few feet away and a downy woodpecker nearly ran into my head. I sat so still for so long that my leg fell asleep. Good thing no one was around. Standing up was accompanied by numerous mutterings and murmurs.

I read that Farm Island is home to northern saw-whet owls, so after spending some time at the feeder missing shots of flying finches (those things can move!), I searched for a couple of known saw-whet roosts reported on a birding website. I failed to find them as well. My guess is that the high water a few years back may have re-arranged a lot of things on the island (but in reality, being a rookie birder didn’t help much either). I did, however, have a fun game of hide and seek with a noisy northern cardinal male for about a half hour along the trail. I must have been near its nest when I saw a flash of red and heard the telltale metallic chirp. Long story short, he let me get the closest I’ve ever been to a cardinal, with one stipulation: he put as many branches and twigs of his favorite tree between the two of us at all times.

I really like owls, and earlier in the month I accidentally scared a great horned out of an abandoned church. He flew to the tree windbreak nearby and, like the cardinal, kept the densest part of the tree between him and me. I saw a long-eared owl for the first time in my life while checking out the swans of LaCreek National Wildlife Refuge in Bennett County. He was sunning himself in the early morning light and I happened to notice his outline from at least a quarter mile away. I didn’t get a great shot of him from that distance, but it made the day worthwhile.

The last tip I have is to use your ears. The best tool for locating a bird while out and about is hearing them. I’ve still got work to do on this one. Just last weekend, as I sat quietly along Sergeant Creek at Newton Hills State Park, I could pick out cardinal, chickadee and at least two other unknown songs amongst the steady drumming of woodpeckers and the brazen calls of blue jays. The only birds I could actually see were two bald eagles soaring high above the distant Big Sioux River. Experiences like this make birding addicting. I know they are out there, I know they make great photos, and I know it is a challenge to put it all together and get the unique shot. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midcontinent Communications he is often on the road photographing our prettiest spots around the state. Follow Begeman on his blog.

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West River Photo Hunt

By Christian Begeman

I’m not a normal hunter. Not like my older brother, anyway. He’s a true hunter. Growing up in West River country, I rode along with him from time to time as a spotter. I suppose I provided companionship and moral support but almost always left the shooting to him, mostly because he was pretty good with a gun. He once spotted and shot a deer from our back sidewalk without the taking the time to put shoes on. I believe he still has the antlers, mounted with the title”In Stocking Feet” printed below.

It wasn’t like I was a bad shot. I spent countless hours honing my skills with my .22 caliber rifle in the prairie dog town a few miles west of our house. That said, I never was much good with a shotgun. I’d rather hunt grouse with my .22. One fall afternoon I did just that with my hunter brother. He made fun of me, like any good older brother would. I silenced him as I took a grouse of the haystack on the hill with my first shot. One shot, one grouse. Of course I didn’t hit anything else all day, but my point had been made.

Nowadays I shoot wildlife with different gear. A 100-400mm lens is my weapon of choice and instead of antlers on the wall I hope to get photos that might be wall-worthy. This means I don’t get to enjoy deer jerky or mom’s wonderful pheasant gravy over mashed potatoes, but I get to enjoy all the other fun of hunting in South Dakota, and maybe more. Many of the animals that are off limits to hunters are not off limits to me. I also get to shoot after the sun goes down and in our national and state parks. Our park systems offer some of the best wildlife viewing opportunities this side of Yellowstone.

I took some time off before Thanksgiving to do a little hunting my way before seeing the folks for the holiday. I started off in the Badlands. That first morning I was up and out before the sun and on my way. Most wildlife is active early in the morning or in the last hours of the day, so I knew if I was going to be able to see anything interesting I needed to be out early. A nice bonus to doing this is being able to witness the beauty of daybreak. Let me tell you, dawn over the Badlands is truly a sight to behold. The following morning as I was driving through Custer State Park in search of early morning elk, I was treated to another colorful sunrise. I eventually found elk in Wind Cave National Park, but they were quite shy and I didn’t get as close as I wanted. No matter, the thrill of just seeing them on the horizon line while hearing the coyotes howl across the canyons made the day a winner anyway.

I’ve been thinking about how many animals I saw on this two and a half day excursion and it really is quite a list. From a fleeting glimpse of a bobcat to a bald eagle in the middle of a prairie dog town as well as bighorns at sunset and a lone coyote howling in the late afternoon, it was a thrill for both the eyes and camera lens. I didn’t get to photograph all I saw, but thrill of being out there and hunting for the”shot” was enough. In fact, it’s enough to keep me going back year after year. Now if I can just get some deer jerky from my brother…

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midcontinent Communications he is often on the road photographing our prettiest spots around the state. Follow Begeman on his blog.


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Dakota’s Other Dunes

By Christian Begeman

Every year as I travel South Dakota’s roads something new surprises me. The latest example was discovering the north edge of the Nebraska Sand Hills is actually located in South Dakota. South of Martin, in Bennett County, the Sand Hills march at least seven miles across the border. When I discovered this, I looked at a topographic map and noticed the lack of roads in this region, which intrigued me. Doing more research, I stumbled across an article online that lamented the fact that hardly any photos can be found of the region in state publications or South Dakota Tourism material. Sounded like a challenge to me.

The Sand Hills eco-region is fascinating. Most of the area has never been under the farmer’s plow, mostly because no decent crops can be grown. It is just over 20,000 square miles of land that is 85% intact natural habitat. Geologists say the area used to be active sand dunes as recent as eleven hundred years ago. It is hard to imagine Sahara-like dunes in South Dakota but once you take a hike out into the hills, it is actually pretty easy to see it. The ground is soft and easy to move. The grasses and plants are not as dense as in other South Dakota grasslands, but the variety of species are surprisingly vast. It is good cattle country and many large, sprawling ranches still thrive.

Sitting on top of the vast Ogallala Aquifer, the Sand Hills boast many wetlands and small lakes throughout the rugged country. Because of this, the area has become a hugely important corridor for migrating birds. Right up against the northern edge of the Sand Hills, pretty little Lake Creek sends a healthy stream out into the picturesque valley of LaCreek National Wildlife Refuge. The US Fish and Wildlife Services maintain this important wetland area of over 5,000 acres. I spent a good amount of time traveling the refuge’s roads, hiking a few trails looking for wildlife and being surprised by brilliant wildflowers at almost every stop.

LaCreek is full of wildlife in the summer, but if birding is your thing, then the refuge is actually better visited in the spring or fall during the migratory seasons. I saw an owl, a couple eagles and a few pelicans, but these sightings are nothing compared to the numbers of birds the place hosts at migration’s high tide. Trumpeter swans are the biggest attraction — LaCreek was a key place that helped the bird’s population rebound in the United States in the early to mid-1900s. A group of cygnets (young swans) was transplanted from Montana and a new colony grew and soon thrived at LaCreek.

Although I missed the swans, I thoroughly enjoyed my two-day stay in Bennett County. The weather was hazy and humid. In the evening the setting sun resembled a molten ball of rock settling into the west. As I looked out over the wide valley and into the Sand Hills on the horizon, it struck me that this place reminded me of my visit to East Africa’s Serengeti in December 2009. I mean, there are no lions or zebras at LaCreek, but I could easily imagine a hippo or two popping out of one of the trout pools. It is funny how the mind plays tricks on you out alone under a vast South Dakota sky. Then again, there used to be real sand dunes and a desert on the southern horizon. So who am I to question South Dakota’s variety and ability to continue to surprise?

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midcontinent Communications he is often on the road photographing our prettiest spots around the state. Follow Begeman on his blog. To view Christian’s columns featuring other unique spots in South Dakota’s landscape, visit his landmarks page.


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Sage Grouse: Living on the Edge

By Christian Begeman

Last Friday, I knocked off work an hour early and headed west with my camera. The weather outside finally agreed with the calendar — a warm breeze accompanied me as I made my way through the Badlands during the sunset hour. Driving with my windows down, I could smell the water from the snowmelt mixed with new grass growth on the breeze. It was a little bit of heaven on earth. But the Badlands weren’t my final destination. I was headed for the farther reaches of western South Dakota on the hunt for a special kind of bird.

On Saturday, I woke up at a hotel in Spearfish, ten minutes before my alarm was set to go off. Instead of my normal bleary-eyed, anti-morning mood, I was wide awake and ready to experience one of South Dakota’s lesser-known treasures. The Greater Sage Grouse were dancing in Butte and Harding counties and I was going to get to watch!

Chuck Berdan, a retired biologist for the Bureau of Land Management, agreed to show me an active lek in Butte County, but to get there without disturbing the birds we had to leave Belle Fourche at 4:30 a.m. I peppered Chuck the whole way there with questions about the birds, his job and the land. He answered patiently and with good humor. I learned that there are somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 sage grouse in South Dakota. The courtships on various leks start in late March and usually taper off by early May. Chuck told me that male sage grouse roost on the lek at night, unlike prairie chicken and sharptail grouse, who fly in to their leks in the morning.

The numbers of South Dakota sage grouse are in a slow decline both here as well as in other western states. The latest trial for the bird has been the West Nile virus. If a sage grouse contracts the virus, they usually only survive for two or three days. This relatively quick death has not allowed for much immunity to build up in the grouse population. It is a worrisome situation as our state’s population of grouse are already on living on the edge. Our birds live on the easternmost edge of the sage grouse’s naturally fragmented range, so it doesn’t take much to tip the scales against them.

Chuck has spent 30+ years studying sage grouse. He told me that counting and studying the bird here in South Dakota allows wildlife management to make plans and policies based on local data rather than from studies done in other states. I asked him if he could predict what the grouse population would be in 10 or even 20 years. He smiled and told me that more studies need to be done to answer those kinds of questions. Right now there are simply too many unknown factors in play to be able to predict the future of sage grouse with any certainty.

I feel lucky to have been able to witness the display. I didn’t even know we had the species in the state until I watched an episode of Planet Earth where they featured the bird’s mating dance that was shot in Wyoming. It’s just another example of our state’s wide range of natural phenomena.

Later in the day, I drove down to Custer State Park to see the spring buffalo calves. The whole way there, I kept thinking about the sage grouse and the magical morning in Butte County. I hope folks like Chuck continue to care about our wildlife resources, and not just because they make great photo opportunities. These animals and ranges are part of what makes our state great!

A Butte County Courtship

Christian also took video of the male sage grouse displaying for the females. Click to hear and view their mating ritual.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midcontinent Communications he is often on the road photographing our prettiest spots around the state. Follow Begeman on his blog.


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Spring Migration

Migration is in full swing despite our recent winter-like weather. Mic Schweitzer took these photos of geese earlier this month near the US-12 bridge over the Missouri River near Mobridge. “They were all just resting in the water for quite some time until some other spectators came to view them and brought several dogs along,” Schweitzer says. “As soon as the dogs were released to run the riverbanks the birds took to the skies for several minutes of frenzy.”