The Burros are descendants of the ones used to haul visitors up to the top of Black Elk Peak before the tours were discontinued in the 1930s. They are not native to the Black Hills of South Dakota. We had driven by the place the Burros hung out a few times, and we had not seen them. After stopping at the Bison Center, we decided to check for Burros.

This time, we found the Burros. There was a herd of nearly twenty with maybe 5 or 6 babies. At first, they were pretty far away – maybe a quarter of a mile. It was late afternoon, and the heat shimmering off the ground was distorting the image. You can see the heat shimmering in the video.

Not long after we got there, a few cars pulled up to look at the Burros. Next a family showed up with a bag of salad greens, and they started shaking it. This seemed a bit weird, until we saw some Burros start heading over. Apparently, they are known as the “Begging Burros”. The park appears to allow them to be fed, but they are only supposed to be fed things appropriate for Burros.

Sadly, they are starting to get diabetes from all the inappropriate food ignorant tourists feed them. Hey, Lady in black tights! Cereal is not appropriate for Burros!

Nor surprisingly, the rest of the herd started coming over. Then, the tour cars showed up. Then kids showed up. Then people started petting the Burros. They are referred to as “Wild Burros”, but that is bull. They are basically a petting zoo.

At this point, we were kind of disgusted, so we went back up the street to the Prairie Dogs to look for Burrowing Owls. We did not see any Burrowing Owls, but with the heat shimmer, everything was kind of wiggly.

We did have an Eastern Kingbird land close enough to good pictures.

In addition to the heat shimmer, the wind was also strong enough to impact the pictures and videos. It was so windy that the birds had trouble staying perched.

After a couple trips to the ground and back for a bug, the Eastern Kingbird moved on.

We were still close enough to the Burros to hear the yelling children and be impacted by the traffic. We decided to follow in the birds … wing steps? … and head out.