Sam, a gentleman from Georgia named Lloyd Snyder and myself went for a most excellent day of birding around the south-central area of Montana. We started the day off at 4:00 AM with a couple of Sugar-free RockStar energy drinks for this kid. As the luminous dawn twilight progressed, we drove eastward toward Columbus.

Arriving at Columbus, we headed for Itch-Kep-Pe Park. The morning air was cold and thick with spritely songs of Yellow Warblers and American Robins sliced through the humid ether. I was observing a Spotted Sandpiper along the near flood Yellowstone River when Sam hailed me over for the first big surprise of the day. A Black-billed Cuckoo was calling from the thicket region along the north edge of park. Soon another cuckoo joined the chorus from ~50 yards away. Talk about a day fulfilled already.

We continued toward Red Lodge and Barb Jaquith’s amazing backyard. I had called Barb the evening before and she said the Black Rosy-finches were in her yard Sunday, but has with all all rosy-finches, there was no guarantee that they would be there tomorrow. As we pulled up along side the house, we had a few of the target finches, maybe 200! One more lifer for Lloyd, who is approaching 700 for his ABA count, quite a feat. We fired the cameras away as the finches eat seed and occasionally flushed by a domineering Common Grackle. A couple of Pine Siskins and Cassin’s Finches rounded out the yard birds. Many thanks to Barb for the great advise that helped make this trip an uber-success.

Onwards to the Pryor Mountains, the land of gnatcatchers, Mountain Plovers and lizards. This region is unlike anything else in the entire state, an area with a serious Southwest feel to it. Parking the car at the entrance of Bear Canyon, we quickly heard Rock Wrens and observe Mountain Bluebirds and many Lark Sparrows. We soon picked up the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, a great bird for Montana. Along the road/trail, we had many butterflies including Juniper Hairstreak and a Skipper of some sort. Nearing the campground, White-throated Swifts were flying at close proximity to us. On the “flats” near Gyp Spring, we found 5 Mountain Plovers and a Horned Lark nest. Also, near the nest there where many mollusk fossils, which were Gryphaea.

After the Pryors, we headed over for the Boulder River and Mission Creek areas. We picked up a few species in the Boulder area and crossed the divide over into the Mission Creek uses Swingley Road. We made several stops on the road without much new being sighted. Near the old gravel pit, we had our biggest surprise of the day. A Yellow-bellied Marmot was standing erect alongside the road and calling rather insistently. Stopping to take pictures of the rodent, Sam exploded with, “There’s a bobcat“. Looking up the little cat was crossing the hillside slowly. It appeared to be hunting a marmot den from on high. This amazing animal allows us to shoot around 200 images each. Totally incredible.

After the bobcat, we stop at a patch of great habitat, and observed American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, MacGillvray’s Warbler and a displaying male Northern Harrier. From here we gassed up at Livingston, and went up the Shields River Valley and a stop at Cottonwood Reservoir. We picked up many waterfowls species, Willet, and Black Tern.

All in all, we finished the day with 125 birds and several great species being observed well. Below you can find a summary of these sightings.

Trip Map

I will explain the but later.

Today I had the good fortune to go with Sacajawea Audubon group on a trip led by Lou Ann Harris. We had a medium sized group of about 15 souls. Our destination was the East Gallatin Recreation Area. We had several spring arrivals and a reacquainting with old friends. We were able to score Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and American Redstart for the warblers. Wilson’s Snipe was visible and calling in a wet pasture to the north. So many birds that were cooperating, I brought the camera and began to…I forgot the battery for the camera.

We continued through the cottonwood-aspen bottomland forest and picked up the first flycatcher of the year…a Least Flycatcher. As we continued to the lake, we were able to find Western Grebes, a lone Ring-necked Duck, Gadwall, and Northern Shoveler. We circled the lake and the conversation turned to rare birds and dream birding locations. I meet an awesome couple who had just came from the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. They had a passion for birds and butterflies, and I was had gotten their names - I hope to run into them again. Speaking of Butterflies, we saw many Mourning Cloaks and the first Painted Lady of the year.

At the east end of the lake, a couple of Western Painted Turtles were basking on an exposed log. As we admired the turtles, Andrew Guttenberg (the wunderkind) spotted a Clark’s Grebe in with the Western Grebes. This was my Gallatin County bird…awesome. This is the aforementioned but.

As I stated before, I forgot my camera battery, so I returned to the East Gallatin in the evening. I managed to get images of the grebes and my first herp capture of the year, a Western Terrestrial Garter Snake who managed to stink my hand to a deplorable degree (see goofy self-portrait). 

Trip Report produced by WilderTrack.com