Nov
04
2010
Imagine my surprise when the inbox blazed with an email proclaiming that Montana’s 2nd confirmed Western Scrub-jay was present at a feeder in Thompson Falls, which is in the northwestern part of the state, of all places. I had always imagine that this species would destined to make its appearance in the southwestern corner of …
Jan
29
2010
Imagine the surprise of John O’Neill and Gary Graves of Louisiana State University when they mist-netted a strange little owl in the cloud forest of northern Peru in 1976. A strange, small creature with wispy feathers flaring out from its facial disk and peculiar amber eyes. Its legs were bare, and it lacked ear tufts. …
Jan
21
2010
Once again, there is a claim of a recently captured image of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. This time it comes from the Sabine River Basin of Texas by a fellow named Daniel Rainsong via an obtuse press release. He has, rather strangely, not released the images citing some obscure “right of discovery”. Does he intend to …
Jan
04
2010
The day was a rather ordinary day of winter birding. A few Townsend’s Solitaires, a long Northern Shrike, and many Rough-legged Hawks. The star of the day was a Ferruginous Hawk. This is my first winter Ferruginous Hawk in the Gallatin Valley. You can get all the sighting details from the WilderTrack link below. I …
Oct
28
2009
There has been a Long-tailed Duck or Oldsquaw (more on that later) at the ponds near Warm Springs. It was first reported on Sunday, and I though it’ll take off before I can drive the 2 hours. Then it was seen again on Monday, and once again, I said to myself, “It’ll fly the coop.” …
Oct
04
2009
I finally have a Mew Gull on my Montana list. The bird was discovered by Ed Harper, Robin Wolcott and Andrew Guttenberg at Harrison Lake on 3/1/2009. After my presentation on Saturday at the Bridger Raptor Festival, Byron Butler, Sam Koenen, and myself decided to run out to Harrison for this rarity. upon arriving at …
Aug
12
2009
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 …
Jun
22
2009
Sunday, Sam Koenen and I went on a twitch for the first presumed Eastern Meadowlark in Montana. The bird is located in some sedge meadow habitat within a large private ranch that graciously granted us access with a field researcher, Bo. Bo led us right to the bird and both of us were able to …
Jun
15
2009
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 …
Apr
04
2009
This morning Sam Koenen and I went for a quick birding cruise around the Gallatin Valley. There are still quite a few Rough-legged Hawks in the area and the Red-tailed Hawks are definitely paired up and feeling frisky. At Central Park Pond, there were very few waterfowl on the open water. With the birding being …
Loading tweets...
