Rufous, Black-chinned, and Calliope – a hummer of a day
There is a few feeders that hang outside of the restaurant at Quinn’s Hot Spring along the Clark Fork River…these feeders are covered with hummingbirds. Calliope, Rufous, and Black-chinned all made their appearances, much to my delight. These tame little critters are more than photogenic as these images can attest.
Another rainy morning spent with swallows and Bobolinks
I awoke this morning to the soft drumroll of the drizzle outside. The drizzle ever ease or increased – just a drizzle. So, I did what I always do I went birding. This time I birded the Sweeney and Bass Creek Roads. Which yielded Swainson’s Thrush, a variety of swallows, and a plethora of Boblinks.
Bobolink and Barn Swallow Morning
This was rather gloomy, so dark that taking any images was difficult. Luckily, I stumbled upon a cooperative Barn Swallow and Bobolink along the Bass Creek Road. The Barn Swallow was just one of fifty or so that were feeding over the fields of timothy, which were also full of singing male Bobolinks.
There’s nothing Country about the Nashville Warbler
Since back to northwest Montana, I have once again been treated the to presence of the Nashville Warbler. They are an explosion of color and voice. The gray head with its brilliant white eye-ring contrasts the olive back and yellow throat, chest, and belly. Its song always starts with a series of double notes. The Nashville Warbler […]
First Gophersnake of 2012
This past Saturday the US Fish and Wildlife Service had opened the Red Sheep Mountain Road within the National Bison Range. We went with the intentions of seeing the unbelievable scenery and, of course, birds. The pleasant surprise of the road was a Gophersnake along side of the gravel road. When I was a child, […]
Black-backed Woodpecker – sense a theme here?
Some creatures hold a mystic grasp on my birding imagination. They are rare, elusive, or just plain odd. The Black-backed Woodpecker may just possess all three of those attributes in a single animal. Incredibly patchy in distribution due to their requirement of recently burnt forests for both nesting and feeding, Black-backed Woodpeckers are scattered widely […]
California Quail of the Bitterroot Valley
I have not seen a California Quail since moving back into western Montana, and I decided to take a break and find a few of the little buggers. And boy, did I find a whole mess of California Quail. I even managed a couple of images. California Quail is Montana’s introduced species problem. They have […]
Cassin’s Vireo from Mount Sentinel
Harsh questions and answers resonate through the Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine. The first note is always an upward, plaintive infliction, and the following an answering second, upward note. This questioning is relentless as if I am being grilled in a Turkish prison. The Cassin’s Vireo is one of three members of the former Solitary Vireo, which was split into […]
Return of the Ospreys – Past and Present
Each spring, I await the return of one particular raptor with particular anticipation, the Osprey. Always around the first of April when the ice has disappeared, they re-appear to their platform nests that sit atop numerous snags along the rivers and lakes of western Montana. All at once, there seems to be a pair occupying every available […]