Day 10 - Custer State Park Wildlife

We spent the day here in Custer State Park. When we went to the Game Lodge to put yesterday’s blog on the Internet, we saw a buffalo scratching his head on a small fire hydrant. We pulled over and I started taking photos. He rotated around, and I thought he was scratching his belly. Phil corrected me, and told me the buffalo was scratching his privates. Photos are posted. You be the judge. Is that a smile on his face?
We went to the Grace Coolidge Store where we heard from fellow campers that the Western Tanager could be seen. We walked on a trail, but we did not see any. We went back to the picnic area there and sat at a picnic table for about ten minutes. Then we saw one, and then another. I got some pretty good photos. They are beautiful birds.
We sat outside the camper by the little stream and did some more bird watching. Our two campground buffaloes showed up this morning, and they have stayed around all day. When we came back from the Wildlife Loop Rd. tour this evening, they were lying down. I guess they will spend the night here, too.
Before we got to the Wildlife Loop Rd., we saw two female bighorn sheep in front of the Park Office. On the Wildlife Loop, we saw hundreds, maybe a thousand, buffaloes and lots of calves. We also saw mule deer, white-tail deer, turkeys, and burros. I have a photo of a Mountain Bluebird. We also saw an oriole, but it flew off before we could get a photo. I need to look that one up, but I think it looked like an Orchard Oriole. All in all, it was a very good day! We hope to go back to Crazy Horse tomorrow. Now Phil has decided that perhaps we will go see the laser show. Then we will come back and start organizing to leave early Friday morning.