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). The Baikal Teal soon flushed with the Wood Ducks. It circled around and settled in an old, small gravel pit some 300 meters away. I pursued the bird to that location. The teal had settled in with several Mallards. More detail will be added to this posting as I complete...
Read MoreTransitions 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 local avian assemblage also exists in a state of interfusion and flux. The last lingerers of the winter migrants are holding on into the spring months. A few Common Redpolls huddle around well-stocked feeders. A lone Rough-legged Hawk hunts in a field even as competition from arriving...
Read MoreGreat Gray Owl – Naturalist Minute – Ep. 2
Within the maze of ponderosa pine limbs, a gray specter sits silently as it casts an intense gaze my way. A magical experience, finding a Great Gray Owl comes all too rarely to the birder. Like most owls, they make their living by remaining stealthy while night hunting and go unnoticed during the day. The wings of the Great Gray Owl are adapted with forewing bristles that cause air disturbance, which results in flight with almost no sound. Their large, light-sensitive eyes allow them to see in the pitch dark. But the most unique adaption is the pair of symmetrical ears that let the owl...
Read MorePonderosa 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 canopy of dry ponderosa pine forests. They hunt mostly insects in the pitch black of the summer nights. The Flammulated Owl is so secretive that we are still debating its taxonomic status and genetic relationships to other owls. Now it has been...
Read MoreFrom the Brink – Peregrine Falcon Recovery in Montana
The following post is part of the Raptor Blog Tour celebrating the release of Crossley ID Guide: Raptors. Make sure to check out all the really great articles about this superbly fine guide. By early 1980s, the skies over Montana were missing the fastest aerial predator. The Peregrine Falcon had ceased to breed in a state where it was once considered common. The Peregrine population was at the tail end of a roughly 40 year decline that started with post-World War II modernization. The post-war American was focused to better living through chemistry and technology, and removal of...
Read MoreAmerican Dipper – Naturalist Minute Ep. 1
The American Dipper is the enigma of the songbirds…it swims and dives for its food. Living on the wildest of mountain streams, American Dipper is uniquely at home in the torrent. The Dipper has an extra translucent eyelid for seeing underwater. The Dipper’s feathers are water repellent, and it flies, yes FLIES, underwater. The dipper uses its wings as fins when it dives to the stream bottom in search of aquatic invertebrates. Please subscribe/rate/review More Than Birds via iTunes Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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