Mindful Big Year Prologue: 60 on the Christmas Bird Count

“Virginia Rail!”, Tom shouted. Rushing over, we catch a glimpse of the dark rail as it slipped through the dead blades of grass and cattails. The thin air bristled at the pig-like grunt call of this secretive species. This rail had taken us all-day to find, and it was our 60th species on our portion […]

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, […]