Bird of the Black Hills

Bird of the Black Hills. The Black Hills are Home to more than 200 Species of Glorious Birds. The Red Valley surrounding you belongs to the transition zone between the flat, treeless Great Plains and the pine-forested Black Hills. Artesian springs and creeks draining from the hills and mountains create draws that provide water, shade, and food for wildlife. The mixture of habitats here attract abundant birds and mammals, making this an excellent area for wildlife viewing, particularly birding. Here are some of the many species you might see in these red lands stretching between Spearfish, South Dakota, and Sundance, Wyoming.

Great Blue Heron , In the upper branches of an old cottonwood grove northeast of here is a great blue heron rookery - one of many in the region. this is the summer roost of about three dozen heron couples and their chicks. The colony migrates south for the winter - probably to the Texas Gulf Coast like many other northern plains herons and cranes - though it returns here each spring. Herons are often seen near water, their favorite food being fish. However, they also eat frogs, lizards, snakes, insects, and rodents.

Dark-eyed Junco , Juncos are common, year-round residents of the Black Hills. Belonging to the finch family, these songbirds flit around the shrubs and grasses at the forest's edge. Announcing the arrival spring, their song is strongest in March. Unlike herons, junco couples do not nest near other juncos. They spend summer months occupying higher elevations and feeding on insects. In winter, they move to lowlands where they eat berries and grains.

Buffalo Bird, a.k.a. Brown-headed Cowbird , Buffalo birds adapted to life on the plains. With the demise of the bison, the birds' lifestyle and their name have evolved to include cattle. now called brown-headed cowbirds, they perch on cattle, picking parasites off their backs, or hop behind them, eating grasshoppers and other insects disturbed by hooves. Having developed a nomadic lifestyle, these birds do not build their own nests to raise their young. They have become parasites, themselves, laying eggs in other birds' nests and depending upon them to incubate and brood cowbird chicks.

Turkey Vulture , Turkey vultures often dwell near areas of mountains or cliffs, Dramatic changes in topography create thermals (rising currents of warm air) which lift turkey vultures as they glide. Thermals also carry the odor of carrion to their unusually acute nostrils, and their keen eyes can distinguish carcasses from two miles in the air. Despite their association with death and decay, these sociable animals roost in flocks in cliffs and crevices, hunt as a group and migrate south together for the winter.