With the passing of a storm that dumped rain in the Gallatin Valley and laid a layer of fresh snow in the Hyalites, Sam and I headed out to Cottonwood Reservoir for a little shorebirding. The reservoir was full of Eared Grebes, American Coots and a assortment of waterfowl – all with young. It was a joy to the juvenile Eared Grebes mob theirs parents as they emerge from the bottom with some slimy morsel.
The scene was idyllic except for one minor detail – no shorebirds. Well, hardly any. We managed a few Willet and American Avocet along with 2 Baird’s Sandpipers and a lone Red-necked Phalarope. The reservoir is as full as it was in the spring and the margins are thick with rushes, not the typical mudflats of late summer.
As I heard the news of a Band-tailed Pigeon that had taken up residence in Elliston near Helena, I was hoping beyond hope that the bird would stay for the couple of days it would take for me to clear up my business in Plains and head out there. How many times I have chase a bird only to be greeted with silence and the wind? I left Plains in the milky twilight, and down the road I went with a supply of coffee and Diet Coke (a typical caffeine-fueled rarity chase).
Just before I arrived at Elliston, I called the gracious home owners to alert them of my impending arrival, only to hear the most dreaded news – “We haven’t seen the bird today.” Upon entering their driveway, I went for a walk around the neighborhood in a snowball’s chance in hell mission – maybe I’ll scare it up. I scanned the cliffs for anything. I scrutinized the tops of Douglas-firs and Ponderosa pines for a tell-tale figure. All I found where Cedar Waxwings and a single Clark’s Nutcracker. Then, I heard a subtle and deep cooing coming from the northeast corner of the property. I rushed back into the yard to find the pigeon perched atop a Douglas-fir in the yard and over the feeder.
The bird was very skittish and never left its perch during the 2 hours of my observation. However, I managed a few distant shots of the pigeon and a few of the mostly immature Rufous Hummingbirds that were quite quarrelsome around the sugar-water feeder.
A great start to the restart of my life.
