Spring Arrives in the Rockies
This past weekend was definitely the start of the Montana spring with sun, rain, and snow…you know, spring in the Bitterroot. The Lee Metcalf NWR was alive with Great Horned Owls hooting and Red-winged Blackbirds carrying on.
Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge – Christmas Bird Count 2016
It was that season again…not the holidays, but the Christmas Bird Count season. Joined by Tom Forwood and Bob Danley at the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge. We explored the back areas of the Refuge that are typically closed to the public, and we turned up 56 species through a long day. the highlights included […]
Morning spent in the blind
Managed to get out to Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge for a little birding and photography. Spending most of my time in one of two photo blinds where a number of waterfowl swam by at close range. Walking around the Wildlife Viewing Area, loads of California Quail scurried about and a broken top snag was […]
Birding – Easy Like Sunday Morning
Birding on a warm, lazy Sunday morning in April is like visiting with old friends. These friends are returning from journeys, both short and epic. The landscape of the Montana is being filled with color and sounds as the migrants return. The return coincides with a explosion of life that tracks with increases daylight and […]
Birding along the Kenai Trail – Lee Metcalf NWR
[sgpx gpx=”/wp-content/uploads/gpx/Kenai Trail – Lee Metcalf NWR.gpx”] A place that I have visited many, many times, the Lee Metcalf National Refuge has always had a special draw on me. The series of ponds host a variety of waterfowl and other water throughout the year, and has one of the few extensive wetland areas in the […]
Birding Loop with Tom
This past Monday, Tom Forwood and I took a birding loop that took us up Lolo Creek to the Fish Creek Road, and then, up the Clark Fork River. Even though it was a birding trip, I managed no bird keeper photographs, but I did have several first-of-year species. Among these were Hammond’s and Dusky […]
Birding on Blue Mountain
The birding in the post-fire forest of Blue Mountain, near Missoula, Montana, has been phenomenal as of late. Williamson’s Sapsuckers and Western Bluebirds are definitely the stars of the show. House Wrens are making use of the previously excavated nest holes as the new tenets.
Northern Saw-whet Owl along the Bitterroot
“There’s an owl!”, Vida exclaimed. Following her pointed finger to a small clump in a ponderosa pine thicket, a small Northern Saw-whet Owl sat motionless. I had been hearing a dervish of scolding Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches, apparently they had even found the owl previously.
Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge in November
Horned Grebe at Lee Metcalf NWR
Found this lone winter-plumaged Horned Grebe at the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge this afternoon. A sure sign of spring is the arrival of migrants, and this birds coupled with a pair of Tundra Swans heralds the turning of the seasons.
Birding on the Stevensville Christmas Bird Count
Flammulated Owls of Wood’s Gulch, Montana
The other night, Thomas Kallmeyer and I spent the evening along the ridges above Wood’s Gulch near Missoula. The object of our birding quest was the enigmatic Flammulated Owl. Starting shortly after 10 o’clock, the first male began giving his territorial hoot with its distinctive double-tap intro. This first calling owl was high (<50 feet) […]
BAIKAL TEAL near Missoula, Montana
Today while birding along the Maclay Irrigation Canal, just south of the Maclay Recreation Area near Missoula, Montana. Within the canal and keeping company with a pair of Wood Ducks was a pale-headed teal. Upon glassing the presumed teal, it seemed to be a Baikal Teal. I managed to fired off a volley of photos (see below). […]
Transitions in the birding year
The first full day of spring, which in Montana means weather straight out of the ADHD mind of the godhead. Warm sun, thunder, torrential rain, freezing rain, snow, and, finally sun again, arrives with much faith and hope for the eager birder. Just as the weather is a chaotic mixture of winter and spring, the […]
Ponderosa Enigma – The Flammulated Owl
Say goodbye to Otus flammeolus and hello to Psiloscops flammeolus. Flammulated Owls have always been an enigma. They are tiny, secretive, and quite easy to overlook. Take the Flammulated Owl’s historical status in Montana, where the birds went largely undetected until the 1980s. The little, and I mean little, owls tend to live higher in the […]