Every year (well almost), Sam Koenen and I make a trip to the Pryor Mountains and specifically Bear Canyon for bird species that cannot be found elsewhere in the state or are very difficult to find. These include Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Canyon Wren, Blue Grosbeak, and rarities such as Black-throated Gray Warbler. Full trip report at WilderTrack.
Our route took us first to Itch-Kep-Pe Park near Columbus and Barb Jaquith’s house in Red Lodge. The park produced White-breasted Nuthatches and a multitude of songsters. The sunrise was spectacular and Barb’s house kick ass as usual. At Red Lodege, there was lots of interesting variations of plumage coloration among the Red Crossbills. There was also a female Broad-tailed Hummingbird and several Cassin’s Finches among the Pine Siskins.
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Leaving Red Lodge, we headed for Bear Canyon. When we arrived the morning was cool and ground was actually damp. Immediately, the Rock Wrens and Dusky Flycatchers were singing. We found many Blue-gray Gnatcatchers as the Sagebrush Lizards scurried in the undergrowth. White-throated Swifts were very active and vocal. Say’s Phoebes were in abundance as well. Besides the birds, we had several great butterflies; Acmon Blue, Melissa Blue, Sagebrush Checkerspot, Nevada Skipper and Juniper Hairstreak.
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Leaving the canyon, we headed towards Gyp Spring for Mountain Plovers (hopefully). As we drove to the spring, we turned up Loggerhead Shrikes and Sprague’s Pipit. Arriving at the spot, we started scanning the short vegetation for the plovers, and there it was, a lone Mountain Plover followed by woo-hoos and high fives. After this we decided, to keep driving until we were south of the border – the Wyoming border that is. We had no maps or experience in this area, but we managed to come out at Cowley, Wyoming. We headed back into Montana and stop at the traditional Blue Grosbeak spot, and we could not find any grosbeaks. We did, however, turn up a Northern Mockingbird (my second state record). I managed a few documentation images. From here we headed back to Bozeman.
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Full trip report at WilderTrack.
