From the Brink – Peregrine Falcon Recovery in Montana
The following post is part of the Raptor Blog Tour celebrating the release of Crossley ID Guide: Raptors. Make sure to check out all the really great articles about this superbly fine guide. By early 1980s, the skies over Montana were missing the fastest aerial predator. The Peregrine Falcon had ceased to breed in a state where it was […]
Chairman Mao and the Sparrows
They started waving bright red flags, and banging pots and pans at dusk. The frantic commotion sustained for days. Terrified Eurasian Tree and House Sparrows wheeled in distraught flight overhead as they searched in vain for a place of respite. Exhaustion took hold of the little birds, and they soon littered the ground. Children and […]
Another Birding Podcast? (or How Birding Can Change the World)
“We just saw 50 Sage Grouse on the lek this morning,” I blurted out as the waitress’s eyes rolled with such force that her head jerked backward. The Bearded Bird Freak Barricade landed at her table, and boy, was she duly impressed. Well, at least, she will have a new story now about the 3 […]
Himalayan Dreams – Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.
I have often dreamt of leaning against a giant rhododendron on some isolated hillside in the Kingdom of Bhutan while Rufous-necked Hornbills and Beautiful Nuthatches appear within the orbital sphere of my binocular vision. The entire Indian Subcontinent is filled host of both familiar avian shapes and those that seem foreign to this New World-centric birding mind. Culturally India […]
The Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive
The fames Handbook of the Birds of the World series of wonderful volumes is coming online. You can almost hear the glee. Glee, that’s not very manly. How about my brutal grunts of approval.
The Avian Collection of the Philip L. Wright Zoological Museum
Recently, I had the immense pleasure of perusing the drawers of the avian collection at the Philip L. Wright Zoological Museum located on the campus of the University of Montana. In each of drawers, there were lined with preserved skins of many birds, including representation of almost the entire Montana native bird community. The specimens date from […]
Northern dilemma..seems that winter as arrived
Heavy, snow-ladened clouds pressed down on the invisible Bitterroot Range. The light was dampened to levels similar to twilight. As I entered the Lee Metcalf National Refuge near Stevensville, the first bird I spotted was my first Rough-legged Hawk perched atop an utility pole (the usual spot). It was a typical plumaged individual with a […]
Northern Saw-whet Owl banding with ORI and Five Valleys Audubon
Every autumn, a massive migration goes largely unseen. It follows the river corridors and through the adjacent riparian habitats. Hundreds of birds pass by my home during the ever darkening nights. Waves of Northern Saw-whet Owls head southward as the lean times of winter near. One of the rivers that they utilize is the Bitterroot River that […]
Thoughts on the Bridger Raptor Festival
It has been a week plus since I give a couple of presentation at the Bridger Raptor Festival, which is held appropriately at the Bridger Bowl ski area outside of Bozeman, MT. The festival was widely attended with setting a record for the Saturday activities. I know that I had the best audiences that have […]
Smokey morning at the National Bison Range
On Saturday, we went to the National Bison Range early in the morning. The object of the quest was the bugling elk in full rut, but alas, this scene alluded us. We were able to able see plenty of the other ungulates though. Large antlered deer of both species and Pronghorn all posed nicely for […]
Odes of Late Summer – Dragonflies of Lee Metcalf NWR
On Monday, Tom Forwood and I spent a couple of throughly enjoyable hours at the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge and Bass Creek. The first we found was a racer near my home along the Bitterrooot River (what a treat to have a racer stay still and pose). We had originally arrived thinking of birding, […]
Blessed morning on Lolo Creek
Yesterday morning stated with a mellow sunrise through a cottonball sky. The clouds hung high until they gathered in a solid cover that lowered until it rained. IN the shrubs MacGillivray’s Warblers sing and did the Fox Sparrows. Along a small oxbow, Willow Flycatchers called and defended their territories of willow and red-osier dogwood. The […]
Clark Fork River backwaters
In a weekend filled with work and teaching at the Garden of 1000 Buddhas, I managed to carve out some time for a little birding along a couple of sloughs of the Clark Fork River. The cottonwoods echoed with birdsong from Yellow Warblers, Northern Waterthrush, Least Flycatcher, Bullock’s Orioles, Gray Catbirds, and Cedar Waxwings. The […]
National Bison Range and Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge
At the end of May, Tom Forwood and I went for a little birding jaunt around the Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge and the National Bison Range. We encountered many species that were in a photogenic mood, and these are the results.
Glen Lake in the Bitterroots
On Sunday, I undertook a “short” hike up to Glen Lake in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area. I was told that the hike was 2.5 miles, but it is closer to 3.25 miles and bit more uphill than I had anticipated. Almost the entirety of the trail takes you through the post-fire environment left by the massive […]