Cool, dry air, clear skies and a flooded landscape characterized the Missouri River Valley last evening. A raft of flotsam had collected behind the Perche Creek bridge, attracting a pair of red-headed woodpeckers that hopped among the logs, picking off insects. A flock of cliff swallows, temporarily evicted from their homes beneath the bridge, gathered on nearby power lines.
Out in the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, shallow pools covered most of the fields and the permanent waterways lapped against the levees. Waterfowl had dispersed across the flooded valley and were represented by only a few Canada geese and a mother wood duck with her maturing brood. Great blue herons, like posted sentries, guarded the shallows and turkey vultures soared low above the fields, searching for stranded fish. Indigo buntings sang from roadside saplings while lark sparrows and horned larks scoured the gravel for windblown seeds.
A lone red-tailed hawk circled above the refuge, perhaps over-whelmed by the numerous cottontails that emerged from thickets as dusk enveloped the floodplain. Mammals were otherwise limited to a few deer on distant meadows and the occasional muskrat that motored across the lakes. While the extensive flooding produced scenic vistas and a peaceful landscape, it had clearly sent many creatures to higher ground.
