Remember that ice boat dock shot from last post? This is the same place, in the same position but about a full month later! Ice and water has receded slightly... and more room for waterfowl!
I went down the east side of the Flathead River, wondering south of Creston. About the only thing out there was a bunch of Rough-legged Hawks. That's not too bad though; I got to get some .... interesting shots of them.
My favorite! I love the depth of field it shows between the in-focus tail and the out-of-focus wings!
I crossed the Flathead River at the "Sportsman's Bridge" near Bigfork, and then headed up the "lower valley". Here, I scouted for potential waterfowl hotspots but I think it's still too early to tell. I did, however, get the best Harlan's Hawk shot I have yet to get!!
I like this shot for the look at the tail pattern! No red in this one at all!Feb 14th: I went to drop my sister off in Whitefish, and was thinking this was large use of gasoline if I didn't do something....so, I went to the landfill!!!! It was about 2pm when I got there, and there was about 200 gulls present. A quick scan revealed a LARGE gull, obviously bigger then a Herring Gull, and its back was whiter, and its wingtips were 100% whiter! An adult GLAUCOUS GULL!!! What a fantastically beautiful bird! Unfortunately, I had left my camera bag at home as when I left I was not thinking of birding. So, the only photos I have are from my cell phones camera through the scope... not that bad considering!
Also at the landfill, was at least on THAYER'S GULL (adult) and a few CALIFORNIA GULLS. These 3 gulls, and BROWN CREEPER on Thursday bring my year, and MT year list to 64. Kinda low for mid-Feb, actually like over 10 less then my last years list at this time.
I am working on doing more birding then I have done for the last month, which was almost zip!
