The Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge

The quickest way to the grandchildren in Colorado from Bluff Country is south on I-35 to Omaha and the west of on I-80 across Nebraska and eastern Colorado. After the umpteenth time on this route only two things can be said - BORING & HEAVY TRUCK TRAFFIC. Thus, we alternatively have tried other routes such as I-90 to the Black Hills and then kitty-cornering south west across Wyoming or other two-lane east-west highways across Nebraska.

The later brought us to the famous and scenic sands hills of Nebraska and the small town of Valentine. There we spent a night and also visited the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife refuge. Are you a birdwatcher? If so there are more than 240 species of birds for you to see at this refuge. There are also elk, bison and deer.

Just observing the wildlife that roam the area, is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy seeing nature at it’s most beautiful. The river is one of countries top wild and scenic canoeing destinations. We had just a couple of hours before dark so we did the self guided auto tour.... all to ourselves.

The auto route took us over and thru the dry sands hills. Here we saw scattered small herds of bison.

Then came a real surprise. Coming over a small hill, I noticed some rather unusual birds perched atop the fenceposts that contained the bison.

From a distance, it was hard to tell what they were, but one thing was clear ..... they had long legs. Shorebirds? In the middle of a dry prairie? Not too likely, I thought. Still, shorebirds are not something I see very often. They all scattered into the short grass as we approached in the car. I pursued on foot. Well, to make a short story even shorter, the were upland sandpipers. A "lifer" for me!