Since there was so much fun stuff to post from our South Dakota trip, I have split it into two parts, the Badlands (see the entry below) and this entry on the Black Hills, featuring in particular Custer State Park.

Before going to Custer, we stopped at a zoological facility in Rapid City to enjoy some animals living within “Bear Country USA”.   Although I took loads of photos there, I’ll just post the two below.   This grizzly was having such a delightful time in his pool.   This gesture just killed me!

It appears that Alan is enjoying a new friend.  A buddy like this can be nice to have, as they wear a constant smile and don’t ever talk back!  It seems at least for the moment like they have a lot in common…!

OK, on to Custer State Park, which is why we made this trip in the first place.  What an amazing park this is.  It reminded me of a mini Yellowstone, featuring fewer species but offering unparalleled viewing and photographic opportunities.   The animals are wild, but are so used to visitors in cars that they barely noticed us.

The American Bison is the  species that most represents the tragic history of the great plains, and it is a feature species in Custer State Park.   Smaller sub-families of females and their calves  gather together in summer to form great herds of hundreds of animals.  And you can sit right in the middle of the action (inside your car of course, as bison are VERY dangerous) and watch them all around you.   It is like a window into the past, when bison herds covered the great plains in numbers too great for us to even imagine.

(Below) Although this bull is not yet fully mature, he is formidable looking when staring you in the eye from only a few feet away!   All bovine species can go from placid to really PISSED OFF in .001 seconds.  Lucky for us this guy decided that we were OK and put his attention on something more gratifying like the lush green grass at his feet.

One of hundreds of new bison calves dotting the plains…

A Mountain Bluebird surveys his surroundings.  This is a really prolific species where the high plains meet forest edges.   Their blue feathers are almost electric in color.

I lost (or should I say temporarily misplaced) my mono-pod strap.  When we made a back-track to find it, we discovered this Mountain Bluebird nest in an old dead pine tree.    I was so glad that I misplaced that strap.  Finding a nest like this in a big wooded area is a bit like finding a needle in a hay stack!  It was our lucky day!

(Below) A shot of the open prairie…just BEAUTIFUL!

(Below) The  Pronghorn Antelope is the Maserati of the great plains.  This species can clock over 60 mph, making him the second fastest land animal on the planet (second only to the Cheetah).  All of this speed allows him the luxury of being right out in the open during daylight hours.  There is not another animal in this country that can catch him in a chase.    So he is calm, cool and collected.   This is a fully mature male.

“If we all put our heads together, maybe we can find the answer we’ve been looking for…“     Three young male Pronghorn put their heads together in a mock sparring display.   It is too early in the season for this to be serious, and these males are all too young to be real contenders.   But they learn how to spar early in life.

(Below) A Leopard Frog in a mud puddle.

We were seeing early mock sparring in a number of ungulate species while in Custer.  Here two mature Big Horn rams “play spar”.   They first face each other, then suddenly both rear up and lunge forward hammering their huge horns together.  The impact is so hard and loud that it sounds like a gun going off as it echoes through the hills.   This is only “for fun” right now, but by fall it will become a serious competition for mating rights.

Custer State Park was once known for its large population of Big Horn Sheep.  But in recent years pneumonia has somehow gotten into the population and is killing most of the babies.  This year only one baby survived and it was later taken by a Mountain Lion.   The park has made the painful decision to allow this population to disappear through attrition,  and then reintroduce the species back into the park when the disease has cleared.   We were very lucky to spot these two rams twice during our stay, as Big Horn sitings are becoming more and more rare.

(Below) A stunning Western Tanager.

(Below) A “wild” burrow and her baby.  These burrows are so funny.  Because park visitors have fed them for years, the adults will walk right up to you and if you are in your car, they will stick their big heads well into your vehicle begging for handouts.  It’s hard to remember that they are wild when they behave in this way, but last year a child was badly hurt by one of these.

It has been a wet year in South Dakota.   The prairie grasses were especially green and flowers were in bloom everywhere.

A Whitetail Deer with her two brand new twins.  She was very nervousness as most new mothers are and quickly moved her babies to a good hiding place.  The deer in South Dakota are so much smaller than the monsters we see outside our windows here in Kansas.   It is likely a simple difference of how harsh their winters are.

Anyone who thinks that a prairie is “void of life” or is “boring” has never spent time in western South Dakota.    I Just love the tall-grass prairie and the abundant wildlife that lives there.

Alan and I recently returned from a trip to beautiful western South Dakota.  We had traveled through there nine years ago on our way to the Yellowstone National Park area.  But on that particular trip, South Dakota was a mere “pass through” to our final destination.  Unexpectedly, we both fell so in love with the Black Hills and Badlands area that we vowed to one day return, with this area as the final destination.   It took almost a decade, but finally, we made that trip.   And it was more than worth the wait!

Our real reason for going on this trip was for me to study the wildlife of Custer State Park in the Black Hills.  But of course one cannot simply zip down a highway and roll right past beautiful Badlands National Park.  I will do another blog entry (above) on our findings in Custer State Park a bit later.  In this entry I will feature the beautiful Badlands.

For anyone who hasn’t been, the Badlands are an area of jagged buttes and spires and deep canyons caused by millions of years of wind and water erosion.   This area contains one of the richest fossil beds in the world.  The winds of the great prairie have exposed the rock in rich layers of color almost like a multi-layer cake that spans for several miles across the rolling tall-grass prairie.    Heavy rains this year have turned the vast grassland into brilliant shades of green cloaked with the yellow blooms of summer flowers.   Contrasted against the orange rock and bright blue sky, this beautiful land is a feast for the senses.

(Below) one of many amazing views across the Badlands.

One of the only things this baby bunny really has to fear here is the wrath of a rattle snake.  Keeping an eye on the sky is not a bad idea either.  Raptors quite like the taste of rabbit.   But for now, with human visitors around, he is safe and seems to know it.

Another amazing vista…

Badgers love the open prairie.  They dig huge dens in loose soil.  These animals are famous for their tenacious, raspy personalities.  I would not want to upset one of these!

Modern technology is mind blowing.  While viewing the beautiful scenery out in the middle of nowhere, our good friend and dog sitter (”Sitter Susan”) called with a report on our dogs.   “They are being angels.”     That was good to know and nice to hear and Alan looks really happy about that.   I guess that one is never really out of touch these days!

(Below) One of my favorite birds, the Meadowlark.  This is the state bird of Kansas (and Wyoming too, I believe).  They LOVE the open grassland and can be found in great abundance here.

And of course one cannot ever do a piece on the prairie and not include its most famous resident, the Prairie Dog.   Although considered vermin in areas populated by humans, they sure are funny and cute!   They are prolific breeders which is why they are considered a nuisance.    There were once countless billions of prairie dogs in the western half of the US.  Now they continue to thrive in wild areas like this one.

(Below) On to the black hills.  This old rock road tunnel perfectly frames the four famous faces of beautiful MT. Rushmore.

A better look at those famous faces of stone.  What an amazing feat this was to conceptualize, create and maintain.  It is truly a one of a kind landmark.