Josh Covill's birding blog

Bird of the Month: Gray-crowned Rosy Finch

2010-08-01T16:33:00.005-06:00

My favorite photo (above)

Logan Pass Expedition

2010-08-01T12:42:00.005-06:00

Logan Pass (pictured above). 6,689 feet above sea level. Great spot for birds and more abundantly, people. Mostly residents from all over, including Europe and Asia, just here for a few days.

The birds though, the birding is what draws me to Logan Pass. The views and mammals are draws "normal" people to Logan Pass. On this day, both took me there. My visiting relatives and I made a trip up the boardwalk to the Hidden Lake lookout. Here are the pictures and story.

In the first 500 feet of the trail, Columbian Ground-Squirrels dominated.

They definitely know how to show-off for the visitors. The ground-squirrels are very conditioned, which isn't the best thing.

The views from the boardwalk were killer!! The snow pack is continually melting, so there was a lot of water flowing around.

My target bird, Gray-crowned Rosy Finch. This bird always gets me. It's elegant and just down right cool!

I saw about 10 or so birds, and even got some killer photos!!!

I found an adult bird feeding 4 juvenile birds! WAY COOL!!!

Please check my next post for a series of photos of the birds!!

Finally, at the Hidden Lake Lookout, I saw a few White-crowned Sparrows and Golden-mantled Ground-Squirrels

Like the Columbian Ground-Squirrels, these little guys are also trained to beg for food. Sad but cute.

Views from the boardwalk, White-tailed Ptarmigan and Gray-crowned Rosy Finch habitat.

The Rosy Finch is my 198th yearbird!! WOOHOO!

Campin' and Birdin'

2010-08-01T00:32:00.005-06:00

Monday, after work, I meet up with my family. We were to go camping, and they already set up camp at our spot. This was a great spot too; it was full of birds! Along Hungry Horse Reservoir, the birds are great and the water is warm...perfect.

Tuesday morn, I woke up at 6:30am to the sounds of Swainson's Thrush, MacGillivray's Warbler, Red Crossbill, Townsend's and Audubon's Warbler ((formerly the Audubon's form of Yellow-rumped Warbler-they were split, again)) What a wonder way to wake up!

I walked around the campsite, and down to the lake.

The birds were great!! I got eye-level looks at a Townsend's Warbler feeding in a bush. AMAZING! Juvenile Ruby-crowned Kinglets were right in my face! Cool stuff.

Walking back, I spooked a male Pine Grosbeak. I got some good looks at him. It sure has been awhile since I got good looks at a male Pine Grosbeak.

Swainson's Thrush were everywhere out there.

Huckleberries. The second greatest joy of camping up here.

Wednesday, my dad and younger cousin went and explored. We found a nice hiking trail up high in the mountains, and started trekking!

Up there, I saw a Cordilleran Flycatcher!! yearbird number 198!

Coolest butterfly!!

I saw some good birds, and had some good times.

Check back soon for more posts about my birding in the last 2 days!

Work Benefits...

2010-07-29T21:39:00.003-06:00

Monday the 26th I woke up bright and early. Time to do some birdin'

I took a drive down Riverside Rd in Creston to visit the "Bobolink" spot off of O'Bryan Rd. Unfortunately, its just late enough in the season that the males aren't singing very much, but I did find 2 bird!!! I love seeing BOBOs

Right near there, along the stream, there was about 40 Bank and Cliff Swallows! I found a juvenile Bank Swallow that must of gotten clipped by a car; it couldn't fly and was sitting on the road.

I moved the poor bird off the road and wished him/her a good life, not knowing how much longer he/she will live.

That is one benefit of working in Bigfork. I have to drive past great birding spots to and from work!

Now after a great day at work (Kehoe's Agate Shop) I was told that there was a lot more shorebirds at the Farm Rd pond than last time I was there. On my way home, I went by, and behold! Shorebirds!!!

There was a lot!! About 30 or so!

15 Long-billed Dowitchers (above)

3 Greater Yellowlegs

8 Lesser Yellowlegs

3 Semipalmated Sandpipers

5 Killdeer

2 Least Sandpipers

and one Spotted Sandpiper

The first 4 listed were yearbirds!! Woohoo that makes 195

I walked up closer to the pond all stealthy like a ninja and attempted to get some good Shorebird photos :)

3 Long-billed Dowitchers and a Least Sandpiper pictured.

What a great day! I really do miss birding, and I am really really really glad I am getting back into the swing of things!!

And It Has Begun, The Birds that wander the Shore

2010-07-23T15:55:00.007-06:00

I have been hearing news of it, but I was unsure if it was true. Could it be? It seems too early for it to start, or at least for here.

I was optimistic and had to go see for myself.

Sad part is that I needed an excuse to go out birding this time. I had to go pick up something in Bigfork, and made a birding trip out of it!

Many Brewer's Blackbirds along the various back roads out here. Also, a few geese just hanging around in the fields.

Montford Road pond (above) is getting more and more .... gross, but the water level is going down. That is good for August birding adventures. On the other section of the pond not pictured above, a very odd bird was hiding and I didn't see it until it flew up. A single AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN!! What the .....? That is a weird and good find for the valley!!! WOOHOO!

First pelican of the year! 190th ABA bird for 2010

Cinnamon Teal, a large family of Ruddy Ducks, many American Coots, Marsh Wrens and a single Great Blue Heron also were making a living here on the pond.

- Red-tailed Hawks are very common in the valley.

The next pond didn't really have much new at all, but did have a good amount of Clay-colored Sparrows in the bushes!! Sweet birds! I really like Clay-coloreds.

LOWER VALLEY: On to SPLIT POND. In the past, it has been the best pond to view shorebird in August. On the 22nd of July...not so much.

There was, however, Yellow-headed Blackbirds as usual. Red-winged Blackbirds, Redheads, Common Goldeneye, Mallards, Bank and Tree Swallows were also just hangin' round.

Next was the pond along Farm Rd. FINALLY! some mudflats along the edge of the pond! 4 or 5 Killdeer, 2 actual Deer in the background and a Turkey Vulture flying around....and wait...PEEPS! (birder slang for Sandpipers) After a long study of them, far away and in the wind, I came to the conclusion I need to read up on my shorebirds. I'm a bit rusty.

Least Sandpipers, 3 of them, along with a Spotted Sandpiper! Great stuff! The Least Sandpiper is my 191st yearbird.

It was true. Still a bit early, but it has begun, the birds that wander the shore have begun to fly. Fly south on there twice-yearly journey - migration.

A Light Touch of Boreal Birds

2010-07-23T14:14:00.005-06:00

HELLO everyone! It has been a while, but I really am getting out and seeing birds!

Visiting family from out-of-town is always fun. It's even better when you get to see birds while being with your family! My little cousin and my uncle joined my dad and sister for a half-day hike up to the ridge along Mt. Aeneas.

I love the high alpine atmosphere. Just something about it, it's just amazing. The birds there are amazing too. Just amazing.

Hermit Thrush!! First yearbird of the day! Varied and Swainson's Thrushes were also singing all over the mountain side.

After hiking up part of the trail, listening to MacGillivray's Warblers, Fox Sparrows and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, the trail levels of on a overlook of the moraine that the parking lot is in. As we stood and admired the view, a flock of 20 White-winged Crossbills flew over! That was cool!

...I do love that song. Pine Grosbeak, one of my favorite songs ever. WAIT!? Pine Grosbeak! Next yearbird! Unfortunately, like the Hermit Thrush, I did not see this bird. Listening to it sing is almost as good though!

The Microwave Relay Building on the ridge. Owned and operated by Bresnan Cable, which my dad works for!

Everything seems to look stronger up here. The trees and flowers have to fight to survive up that high.

On the way down, I heard some nestlings peeping like crazy, and saw a woodpecker form fly away down the mountain. The nest was in a large burned area so I camped out right in front of the nest to see if it belonged to a species of "special interest".

While waiting for the parents to return, I was visited by 3 Olive-sided Flycatchers! I absolutely LOVE those birds! My favorite Tyrannus Flycatcher yet! Then, not too long after they left, 2 BLACK SWIFTS flew on by!!! WHOA! yearbird! I really wish I could have gotten a better look at them though. They are such amazing birds...

AH HA! The mystery woodpeckers have returned! ... Not as "exciting" as I would have hoped but Hairy Woodpeckers are still fun!

Hiking back down the trail, looking forward to a nice cold Arizona Tea, I heard an odd chickadee call. GAHH! BOREAL CHICKADEE!! Only one problem...I didn't get to see it! I really wanted to see it! Oh well, I guess I have plenty of years to see more. That was the last yearbird of the day. Bringing my ABA yearlist to 189

There was many butterflies along the way, and I managed to get some shots of 3 species. All a very similar shade of orange...odd.

I hope to get out and do more birding soon!!!

Local Spots To Pass The Time

2010-07-07T19:09:00.007-06:00

Finally got out and went BIRDING!!!

I just did a little loop of 3 wetlands today and found some cool stuff.

The first marsh is on Fairview Crossroad, thus named Fairview Marsh. Here I found AT LEAST 12 Black Terns!! The most I have ever seen in one spot in Montana. Other birds around were Red-necked Grebes, Eared Grebes, Cinnamon Teal, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, and Common Yellowthroats....the usual marsh crew.

The fields held large amounts of Savannah Sparrows. Singing all day.

Next on the list was Montford Road Pond.

- Brewer's Blackbird panting

This really scummy pond had several families of American Coots as well as a family of Ruddy Ducks, and Cinnamon Teal. The Teal were actually diving completely underwater. They didn't stay down there very long but it was a new behavior I have never seen before.

Anyone good with dragonflies????

This one looks really cool...

(edit) Many thanks to Chuck Carlson for the ID to this dragon: A "Twelve-spotted Skimmer"

No ID for this one...I am still looking.

- Red-tailed Hawk

The last pond was on....well I seem to have forgotten the name of the road it was on, but I got a yearbird! BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD. Surprising I have went 7 months without seeing one here.

- Song Sparrow

The Hummingbird brings my total yearlist to 185.....sad. I need to get out more!!

Ovenbird!!!

2010-07-07T15:19:00.004-06:00

Rafting. Epic.

Even more epic? Rafting and finding an OVENBIRD!!

My best friends and I rafted a stretch of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River from Moccasin Creek to the West Glacier river access on JUNE 26th. Amazing trip with class 3+ whitewater rapids!!

At the "pull-out" in West Glacier I heard another Tennessee Warbler singing...then shortly after I heard an OVENBIRD!! I tracked it down and got my "life look" at this bird, or the best look at one I have had yet!

Great new Yearbird!!!

Summertime Views

2010-07-07T14:07:00.005-06:00

Well I haven't been out birding much lately... actually at all! I am hoping to change that soon though :)

Here are some cool sunset and vista pictures I have acquired over the last month.

Hope you enjoy!

Tennessee Warbler and a Dusky Grouse moment

2010-06-19T19:01:00.004-06:00

Friday, my friends and I went to look around Glacier National Park for fun. We drove up to where Avalanche Creek meets McDonald Creek, and believe it or not....I got to see a TENNESSEE WARBLER!!! It was singing a shortened version of its song, very similar to a Wilson's Warbler which I thought I was looking for!

This is Dan Casey's AMAZING digiscoped shot of the Tennessee at Tally Lake, but this is about the SAME view I had at the one in the park!

Now, several hours later, my friends and I drove up a back round in Big Mountain and we found a displaying DUSKY GROUSE! That was soooo coool to see him display and make that deep booming noise!!

What a great day of birds!!

Tally Lake Warbler Weekend!!!

2010-06-19T18:14:00.006-06:00

The "Tally Lake WARBLER Weekend" 3rd annual camping trip was this June 11, 12, 13th this year.

The local Audubon reserves a section of the campground and we all just hang out and bird leisurely or vigorously depending on when you wake up and what you wanna see.

I was in Lewistown for half of the weekend, and I got to the campground around 8pm Saturday. By then, this is how much birding was going on at the moment...

Not bad! That evening I did hear a Red-eyed Vireo, which was a yearbird. Also, they had a singing TENNESSEE WARBLER all day and I got to hear it sing many times but we didn't see it :( maybe another time I will get a good look at one. I was pretty bummed but that wouldn't last for long....

the Dinner stove....yummy!

I got up at about 5:45ish and the sun peaked up at 6ish or so.

There was TONS of birds singing!

Yellow

Yellow-rumped

MacGillivray's

Orange-crowned Warblers

American Redstart

Northern Waterthrush

Dusky

Hammond's

Willow Flycatcher

Warbling

Cassin's Vireo

Chipping Sparrow

Swainson's Thrush

Black-headed Grosbeak

Western Tanager

and more!

The sun breaking in the dew was a great photo opportunity!!!

This Swainson's Thrush posed nicely, but a tad far away

- Red-naped Sapsucker

The crew viewing some Willow Flycatchers. It was a fantastic day for birds, and spending good time with friends!

(Above Photos - various images from wandering around the area)

Leslie Kehoe and I took a little noon hike and saw some Gray Jays and this little guy!!

I ended the trip with my yearlist at 180 for the 2010. Not too bad but I am still missing lots and I need an out-of-state trip also!

Lewistown and The Nature Conservancy

2010-06-19T17:12:00.007-06:00

HELLO again!!!

I know I have been neglecting my blog and neglecting birding as well. It has been really rough not feeding the primeval instinct to go birding, but now I finally have!

Barbara Cozzens, of The Nature Conservancy, invited me to lead a birding trip in Lewistown on June 11th, and of course, I was honored to!

My mom and I arrived on the 9th to take Thursday and scout the area for the trip. We saw some good birds along Spring Creek like Willow Flycatcher, Red-naped Sapsucker and Veery but money drove us to spend the majority of the day in town, walking around and looking at the town.

Barbara met us for dinner with a few other TNC workers and we had a great time talking all about TNC and birds and all sorts of things. The weather was great that day and we had high hope for the following day.

Of course, it was cloudy and rainy.....who'da thunk it...

We made the best of the weather and pressed on.
Our first stop was at the local fish hatchery, which was actually an incredibly birdy spot!!
We had amazing abouts of Western Wood-Pewees, and good numbers of Yellow, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Brown-headed Cowbirds, and the pewees were the most approachable birds for photos, but I didn't even manage a shot of the pewees.

They don't call it a fish hatchery for nothin'!!

We did get some good surprise birds such as a very obliging male Spotted Towhee, and a not so obliging Clay-colored Sparrow. An Osprey flew over, which no one had ever seen an Osprey in Lewistown before. Mountain Bluebirds, and this fellow also let us take a look at them...

We all soon got chilled and moved on to a cafe for some warm drinks and planned our next move.

We moved on to where my mom and I had the Veery the day before and attempted to have everyone get looks at it, but thrushes are hard to work with sometimes.

We took a nice trail along Spring Creek and got some more birds for the trip like Common Yellowthroat and Black-headed Grosbeak

Lady Slippers - almost got more attention them the majority of the birds!

We ended the official trip at some ponds north of town with Blue-winged Teal and American Avocet the main birds. Also, we ended the trip with about 50 birds exactly! not bad for a half-day trip in 7 mile circle!

From there my mom and I left for home, 6 1/2 hours away!

On the way, I talked my mom into make a stop at Freezout Lake, and here, I got a number of yearbirds such as Willet, Common and Forster's Tern.

Killdeer posing nicely at Freezout

A ULTRA cool shot of an American Avocet at Freezout

The North end of Freezout itself!

California Gull - one of the many birds that breed in large numbers at Freezout Lake. Among them are Franklin's Gull, White-faced Ibis, Black-necked Stilt, and MANY duck species. I unfortunately missed Ibis and Black-crowned Heron, though those birds require I little bit more time to find then I had that day.

On the way between Freezout and Browning, I spotted this beautiful bird!!

A Red-winged WHITEbird!! A leucistic Red-winged Blackbird! What a treat!! Leucistic means that the birds pigment cells are a bit screwy or nonfunctional, resulting in a white and tan bird!

- The Rocky Mountain Front!!!

I Have Finally Returned!!

2010-05-11T11:23:00.003-06:00

I could spend all day making lame excuses for not birding in the last month and a half, but the ultimate reasons are I am just a tad lazy and have had a lack of gas money.

I have been lucky enough to run into new yearbirds in my everyday events like work and school, even with out birding, I have seen maybe 20+ yearbirds!!

APRIL: In the first week of April I saw: Tree Swallow, Turkey Vulture, Pine Siskin, Northern Saw-Whet Owl, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and American Three-toed Woodpecker.

MAY: From about the last week of April to now, I have been seeing more and more birds!
Yearbirds include: Yellow-rumped Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, American Dipper, Osprey, Cooper's Hawk, Winter Wren, Belted Kingfisher, American Pipit, American Avocet, Long-billed Curlew, Rufous Hummingbird, Vaux's Swift, and Violet-green Swallow.

I saw the avocets, curlew, and Orange-crowned in Hungry Horse, about 10 minutes away, up in the "canyon" towards Glacier Park. Eurasian Collared Doves have now infiltrated Columbia Falls, and even Hungry Horse!!

I hope to take pictures and do more birding soon!!!

Very Full Weekend of Birding

2010-03-15T19:58:00.008-06:00

Spring is essentially here in the Flathead Valley!!

The American Robins have arrived in full force lately, and I had a chance to get a shot of on before work.

SATURDAY: The Flathead Audubon was holding an all day trip to the Mission Valley, and I tagged along for the adventure...more like co-lead the trip!

Before I meant with the fellow trip-folk, I check Chruch Slough and saw several Eurasian Wigeon, and many REDHEADS (yearbird #1 for the day). Dan Casey had a Snow Goose down here, so that was my main target before embarking to the Mission Valley. I did not get it at Church Slough but rather just south of there in the fields with Canada's.

SNOW GOOSE - yearbird #2

We meet, then left for the Mission. On the way down, we saw a single CLARK'S NUTCRACKER (#3) fly in front of us, and a Northern Shrike on a wire

The going was slow once we got down there. Plenty of Red-tailed Hawks and Rough-legged Hawks around, along with Great Horned Owls, and various waterfowl species.

We have been seeing these birds, but nothing really "springy" or small like a Bluebird or Meadowlark or anything! I was looking forward to the small birds that you just randomly run across...that is what makes birding really fun! Finally, though, we did find some small interesting birds

WESTERN MEADOWLARK - #4

Cool bird.... we found a pair of them and they were singing. Neat stuff!

It was weird, I was kinda in a haze for the beginning of the trip, but after those Meadowlarks it was like I woke up and loosened up. The birds and overall feel of the day increased and the sun even came out!!!!

Noticing my almost total lack of bird photos for the day, I decided I must take shots of the group to sort of "spruce up" this blog post.

This is our vehicle, with its inhabitants pointing and poseing just for my blog!

Also, you can tell if my blog post is lacking with bird shots by a photo of my scope

In some of the pothole marshes in the Mission Valley we had a smattering of CANVASBACKS (yearbird #5)

Like I said there was a lot of Great Horned Owls seen on this trip and this one was about the

only one that was photographable.

So, for the final chapter in this days' story:

The sun was getting low, we went to a certain road where Short-eared Owls were to be semi-regular. We waited and waited, and while waiting some more, a flock of about 30 Snow Geese flew over us!!

So as some of our group left, they spotted a SHORT-EARED OWL! (#6) we quickly ran down and found in total about 4 owls! What a show! One even displayed somewhat!

^a view of the Mission Mountains^

I ended the day with 6 new yearbirds, bringing me to 83 for the year!

SUNDAY: After church, I decided to look for some first-of-the-year bluebirds

I checked the area around my place, and around Creston.....nothin'

The usual birds were around, Montford Rd pond was still frozen.

At Church Slough, things picked up. I saw at least 5 male Eurasian Wigeon!!!! They are such cool looking birds.

I did see a Tundra Swan with a neck collar reading U511. Cool stuff!

I ended the weekend with 83 species for the year...a good start

Assembling the Masses

2010-03-10T21:18:00.005-07:00

This is a look at Church Slough. Maybe the best spring waterfowl hotspot in the whole county! That is a big area by the way, not like all the small counties in California or something. You can actually fit the WHOLE state of Rhode Island in the Columbia Falls School District.

Wow, getting off topic. Well, I was saying Church Slough is a great hotspot for spring waterfowl. At this point it is still mostly frozen, but when the ice continues to melt.... much more will happen.

I started the day (Saturday the 6th) driving to Dan Casey's house in Somers. We looked over the waterfowl on the north shore of Flathead Lake and right off I got several year birds!

Trumpeter Swan
Red-breasted Merganser
Northern Pintail
Barrow's Goldeneye
Killdeer
Eurasian Wigeon
Lesser Scaup

Suprisingly, there was a large flock of almost 12 Red-breasted Mergansers on the lake! That is actually quite interesting. Almost more so then the Eurasian Wigeon! We get small numbers of them every March, as well as Cackling Geese. My first wave of migrant waterfowl as been spotted!

Next we went to Church Slough, and as mentioned above, was still very icy. There was, however, a variaty of birds to be seen.

Northern Harrier
American Wigeon
Greater Scaup

-made up the yearbirds, but the most interesting to me and Dan was an adult THAYER'S GULL. I have only seen these at the landfill, but this bird was flying around the frozen slough!

My scope looking over the birds at Church Slough

A pair of the many Canada Geese in the area!

This Red-winged Blackbird was at splitpond, on the way to Church Slough

After saying good-day to Dan at Church Slough, I went and wondered up around Creston, and didn't have any luck with Swallows or Bluebirds...can't say I was expecting them though, they are still a few days out.

I did get a shot of this nice male SONG SPARROW singing on territory.

Just a few Canada Geese on a pond off of Montford Road

Next was the county landfill just to see what gulls were in the area.

I got this shot of a COMMON RAVEN siting on the edge of the mud-ridge.

All that was about was MANY many California Gulls, and a handful of Herring Gulls... not even any Ring-billeds!

Updates since Saturday:

March 10th - Besides it being Andrew Guttenberg's birthday, I got another yearbird this morning on my way to school! I got great looks at a female VARIED THRUSH!!!!! What a pretty bird!!!

up-coming: Saturday, the 13th I am co-leading a trip to the Mission Valley! That should be a mega bird-filled trip! Many new and exciting things!

up-coming: Saturday-Sunday, March 27-28 - FREEZOUT LAKE! The huge mass of white geese (Snow and Ross's Geese) will be substantial, and so will the other waterfowl and field birds! Amazing trip! Watch for my post!

So, as of now, I am at 77 for the year - 10 from Saturday and then the Varied Thrush today

Finally!! Some Birding!!

2010-02-15T13:06:00.005-07:00

Feb. 13 I did some 'round valley birding in attempts to find some yearbirds I have missed. This time of year is tough, nothing new, and not much here in the first place. Once March arrives, there will be a flush of waterfowl so big it will fill the sloughs and fields full! It looks we are headed that way.......

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!

I guess we skipped February, and went straight into March!

2010-01-18T14:18:00.006-07:00

Today, for the first time in my life, you got Martin Luther King Jr Day off of school! With this extra day, I went out birding for the first time in a while to track down some yearbirds.

The last week has been really warm, and everything is melting. The fields are filled with mud and water and hundreds of waterfowl have collected in these fields, just like what happens in March with the migration!! Most if the fields that aren't full of water, are only 10-20% covered with snow, just as in March. I even caught myself looking for the first swallows and bluebirds!!!! They don't arrive until mid-March!! This weather could have fooled me!

I headed south, almost to Bigfork and turned onto Riverside Rd. Off of Riverside Rd. is Ranchette Rd. or something like that. There is a boat ramp on the Flathead River here, and that was my first designated stop - in search of Red-breasted Mergansers.

The ice at the waters edge was very attractive today, and I got a few shots of it.

The "steps" descending into the abyss . . . .

On the river, was about 15 Common Goldeneyes, 6 Common Mergansers, 6 Mallards, and about 4oo RING-NECKED DUCKS!!!! They aren't uncommon or anything, but the first Yearbird for the day! Also, I have never seen so many Ring-necked Ducks in one spot at one time. It was pretty cool. Also around was a Northern Flicker that seemed to be a "red-shafted" but with yellow-orange feathers, not the more true orange of the ever-present "red-shafted"s. It still had a red mustache, but its wing and tail feather color was off. Maybe a hybrid backcross with a "red"? On my way out, I ran into a flock of chickadees with some GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS with them. Not a bad bird to find, and another yearbird! I missed Red-breasted Merganser on the river :( Maybe next time.

Further down Riverside Rd, I found a WILSON'S SNIPE on a creek! Not the place I would expect one. Slower, more boggy stuff is where I would think this guy would have been. Another Yearbird.

On the big "feed lot" off of Egan Slough Rd, I had a group of BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS, really common in summer, but mostly gone in winter. Some always hang out with the cows though. Yearbird number 4 for the day.

That was about the extent of the birding I did today. Not much, but some good birds. Hundreds of Mallards and Canada Geese in various fields around the area. No bluebirds yet!

4 yearbirds brings me to 60 for the year. Tied with Dan Casey

Drawing of the Day

2010-01-10T20:28:00.003-07:00

This is not a daily thing, but I will try to crank out a piece every month.

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)

Kalispell Christmas Bird Count

2010-01-03T22:17:00.004-07:00

Today was the Kalispell Christmas Bird Count, and the last on of the count season for me. This time I got to do my own section again, and my mom joined me also.

Breakfast at Finnegan's Restaurant was great, and lots of people showed along with Byron and Maggie Butler from Bozeman. Shane Hatfield and I unofficially split the area, my mom and I did the north end while he started at the south end of our section of Evergreen.

After breakfast my mom and I drove north to the top of our section, and on the way I was NOT watching the road while driving but I DID spot a large flock of something flying around the north end of the Kalispell international airport. I stopped and scanned with the scope. SUSPICIONS CONFIRMED! There was a flock of something way the heck over there! They did look VERY much like Snow Buntings but closer inspection should reveal maybe another species in the mix. We drove to a road that got much closer and WHOA! My first look at perched SNOW BUNTINGS!!!!!! All others were flying! They were still quite far but I got to see the great color and detailed wing and face patterns! Fantastic!!!!!

After that, my mom and I check all the spots, working south meticulously, finding every bird possible. We got a few American Goldfinches, Harlan's Hawk, Bald Eagles, Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees.

We even came to a Great Blue Heron along a little bayou. On Bayou Rd, we had a Merlin attacking a large flock of House Finches and the like.

Feeders are always a good find while on a CBC. People feed birds, more birds see birds feeding, they come, and so on. At this on house, I got 2 year birds at the feeders, Hairy and Pileated Woodpecker!

About halfway down our area, we ran into Shane, discussed the birds so far, and went south the the bottom of our area to work our way up through Evergreen to see if we could find something that Shane might have missed.

At the very southeastern corner of our area, is a RV park along the Flathead River, and here I got some great shots of a Mountain Chickadee as/after is was bathing in a puddle on a large rock.

Now this bird was puzzling, and quite interesting. This is the only photo I got. I was hoping it was as tame as the Mountain and would bath with my taking pictures but soon as the shutter went off so did the bird. I have read that some Black-capped Chickadees have a little white eyebrow, but I have also seen photos of hybrid birds. Body color and shape isn't right at all for Mountain or even half, so I am going with an odd Black-capped, though the flanks are a bit duller then the surrounding birds. Please, if you have any comments, share!

We then drove up and down every road in our section of Evergreen. Here in town there is a bunch of birds, I mean LOTS! We were looking for some good birds Shane missed, but instead found some he missed that we weren't really looking for. We had just one Song Sparrow, one White-breasted Nuthatch, and 7 Wild Turkeys in Evergreen. We saw about 10 Wood Ducks along Spring Creek but Shane had 15 in that same location so we went with his number.

After nit-picking Evergreen we went back north to work our way down one more time to look for owls, and I found a male American kestrel off of the highway! Another yearbird, along with WB Nuthatch, and Snow Bunting.

I grabbed this one semi-good-enough-to-be-called-crummy digiscoped shot of one of the 2 "normal" Red-tailed Hawks in our section.

We ended the day with 42 species for our area, I saw 40 and Shane had a Sharp-shinned Hawk and 3 Red-winged Blackbirds. I got 5 more Yearbirds to get me to 56 for the year! (I forgot to mention Hooded Merganser and American Coot from Jan, 1st)

Snow Buntings were the best bird, and my favorite too! You know, I have read that in Europe and the USA and places, Airports are great birding locations....... well now I can agree with my own personal sighting!

New Years Birding!!!

2010-01-01T20:43:00.006-07:00

The new year is always fun for birders. Old birds yesterday are now "new" birds today and whole new lists are starting. Fun stuff!

For the 3rd year in a row, Dan Casey and I birded the valley starting our year lists. My first bird of the year 2010 was Great Horned Owl at about 1:20 am! I got the rest as I drove to Dan's house in the morning. My 2nd bird for 2010 was Red-tailed Hawk, 3rd was Rough-legged Hawk, and 4th was Bald Eagle. Now that is a way to start off the year!

As I pulled up to Dan's house, a Sharp-shinned Hawk flew over, another good bird! We got into the car, and started making to rounds through the lower valley. Got the usual suspects of Harlan's Hawk, European Starling, Black-capped Chickadee, Bohemain Waxwing and whatnot.

At Wiley Dike, we can to a large flock of Canada Geese, and Dan said "Let's just look over these birds to see if there is another species." I kid you not, almost as soon as I start scanning I find a much smaller goose, with a brown neck and no white cheek-patch.

This GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was an amazing find, and showed us some good views, but the digiscoping distance and lighting was less then favorable. A fantastic bird to get on January 1st.

After the goose walked over a little rise in the field and disappeared, we went on. Dan had seen a Prairie Falcon down here before, and I was asking him about it, and thus we ran across one!!!! Another great bird for the valley.

Our only Northern Shrike of the day was very cooperative in letting me try to digiscope it. Of course, winter in Montana doesn't allow more then the allotted 8 or 10 days of sunny days (good photography weather) so that is what I am blaming the not-so-good photo quality.

It's hard to recount all the birds and all the spots we visited today, it was pretty fast paced. It's easier to remember the finer details if I have a picture, but I will try to tell about the day.

In Kalispell we had a possible "Prairie" Merlin, and a flock of about 4,000 Bohemian Waxwings! That was a sight! Also in Evergreen we had a few Wood Ducks, always a good bird.

On our way to the landfill, we came across a really birdy spot with House Finches, Chickadees, Cedar Waxwings and one Bohemain, Mourning Doves, Dark-eyed Juncos, Song Sparrow, Downy Woodpecker, and Evening Grosbeaks! The grosbeaks were the best birds at that spot, as they are declining in the area, and all over! I managed a digiscoped picture of a Mourning Dove and a ...... uh....regular? shot of a Cedar Waxwing.

We checked the landfill, and there was only a few hundred gulls, of the Herring and Ring-billed species. Not much this year in the way of gulls.

After a delicious and fattening meal from the golden arches we checked an almost always ice free, snipey, killdeery spot and found a Green-winged Teal. Another good waterfowl species (Horned Grebe on Flathead Lake, and Gadwall in the lower valley). Also at this spot in the west valley, we found a flock of 22 Eurasian-collared Doves!! The most I have seen in one spot! This last summer was a big year for the ECDOs. They certainly have reproduced and been successful this year.

On the way back to Dan's, I nabbed this shot of a Harlan's Hawk.

Leaving Somers on my way home, at the usual Somers location for Collared-Doves, I counted at least 21 birds on the telephone wires and in the trees!!! Now this location usually just has maybe 6!! This is crazy how many ECDOs are appearing in the valley!

I ended the day with 51 species! A good start to a hopefully great year!

A full day of birding Flathead Valley

2009-12-29T17:10:00.003-07:00

I was getting tired of the usual route I have taken the last few times I went out birding, so this time I changed it up a bit, and staying out in the field for almost 7 hours! I planned a route that would have all the brushy, riparian stuffs and still have large amounts of field to maximize the possibility of Snow Buntings and such.

I went south from my house, wandering through the agricultural fields, and seeing almost nothing. I did, however, find a Harlan's and a normal Red-tailed Hawk, many Common Ravens and a Bald Eagle.

The birds didn't start to pick up until I was almost in Evergreen, a "growth" off of the much larger Kalispell. I had a Belted Kingfisher over the Flathead River, and even another Harlan's Hawk along the river. I worked my way to the Treasure Lane access to Owen Sowerwine Natural Area, a huge tract of land along the Flathead River inside Kalispell. A great area for birds, Dan Casey and I even had a Rose-breasted Grosbeak there in the summer of 08'.

There definitely is a lot of Chickadees there, like lots.

After the Ninepipes and Bigfork CBC, with a Yellow-shafted Flicker each, I have become a little paranoid about Northern Flickers. I stopped for almost all of them today, seeing if they were yellows or not. Owen Sowerwine had lots of flickers, even a Pileated Woodpecker and a Brown Creeper. As I hiked along the trail, deeper into the Natural Area, more and more Bohemian Waxwings kept flying over me coming from one area.

Maybe 300 waxwings were feeding on all the highbush Cranberry and Mountain Ash deep in the woods and groups were leaving, many many at a time. Also, with the waxwings, were 3 American Robins! Pretty good birds for the dead of winter!

At this one persons' birdfeeders near the OSNA access, was about 15 Mourning Doves, and a bunch of House Finches. As I watched, a freakishly fast bird zipped in and spooked all the birds. It was light colored Merlin! That is always cool to see. The explosion of birds had revealed a single American Goldfinch. The only one for the day!

Next, I walked this trail near Woodland Park, and here I hoped to find a Song Sparrow but after a decent walk, I came up empty for Song Sparrow. I did manage to get 2 Blue Jays, and one Dark-eyed Junco. The only sparrow of the whole day (House Sparrows aren't sparrows).

I depart Kalispell and drive south-ish to the lower valley. I eat lunch, 3 different kinds of sandwiches, and find a nice flock of PERCHED Bohemian and Cedar Waxwings. Now, the lighting was terrible, but I got to really test out the Nikon Coolpix 990 and digiscope the birds.

At this little spot I also got a Downy Woodpecker.

Farther down the road, I found more Harlan's Hawks, and more Rough-legged Hawks.

This is about the best shot I have so far of Harlan's.

After missing Snow Buntings in the lower valley, I tried to pick up a few more species in Somers Bay of Flathead Lake..... That didn't as well as I thought. Only a mess of Common Goldeneyes.

I drove through the north end of Somers looking for the day's Eurasian Collared-Doves to no avail. Not even a House Sparrow.

(I am running out of transition words) I drove home through the Ag Fields south of Hwy 35 which is south of my house. Here, I got on of the cooliest birds I know of; NORTHERN SHRIKE!!! Also, more hawks.... a few Rough-leggeds and a Harlan's.

I love driving up really slowly, with my camera out my window, and coming to a stop right under the power pole the hawk is perched, and snapping away, then it flies!!!

Along this weird, wet swampy roadside ditch 5 feet wide, I had another Belted Kingfisher. I was hoping to find a snipe here......it looked really snipey.

Finally, driving past another large house in the middle of nowhere, I spot maybe 4 Eurasian Collared-Doves!!! They totaled about 6 maybe 7 somewhere in the spruce tree. I managed to get a very.... edited digiscoped shot of one bird.

Totalled 33 species for today's efforts, with good ones such as Belted Kingfisher, Pileated Woodpecker, Merlin, Eurasian Collared Dove, Northern Shrike and Red-winged Blackbird.

5 Harlan's Hawks and 3 normal Red-tailed Hawks....... that is more Harlan's to "normys" then I have ever seen.

One full year with my Canon 10D SLR!!!

2009-12-25T17:17:00.019-07:00

This is a random, and maybe slightly repetative collection of my best, coolest, and clearest shots of birds I have taken in the first year of owning my Canon 10D camera. Some are great shots for artistic value, or best of that species. ENJOY!!!

First QUICK test of my new digiscoping setup

2009-12-23T21:50:00.003-07:00

Yesterday, I went out to try my new digiscoping setup, but there was NO gulls, NO GULLS at he landfill! I was quite annoyed as the sun came out and was shinning bright! I left and looked for a Harlan's Hawk (Red-tailed Hawk subspecies) and found one, but all the raptors I saw were very skiddish and presented no good photos. Later, at home, I figured out that my memory card that came with the camera is "broken" as in it wont allow you to reviece the photos from it. So, I got a new one, and was ready for gulls for the next day.

Today, in between Christmas shopping, I went to the dump and the sun was shinning and there was GULLS! great! And, as I pulled in, I saw Dan Casey already there and scoping out the gulls. Granted there was not that many birds, or much variety, but there was sure oppertunity for digiscoping. So I got out of my van, and went for my scope and....................where is my scope???? I can't believe I forgot my scope at home! "ha ha um...Dan, may I use your scope to take a few shots?"

Maybe tomorrow everything will aline...

This is the ridge where some of the gulls where roosting, and the next 2 shots are of birds on the top of the ridge.

Not to bad shots of Herring Gulls

See you tomorrow!

My new Nikon Coolpix 990

2009-12-21T23:25:00.002-07:00

I have rapidly discovered I needed a digiscoping camera to photograph more distant birds then my DSLR can handle. With the assistance of Dan Casey, and his camera/scope setup, I got my own camera!!

Notice the odd, greenish thing on the lens, that is the home-made adapter from a spice shaker lid. It fits PERFECTLY into the eyepiece of my scope!

I am planning to go and "break it in" tomorrow with gulls and other birds! Look for that post later!!!

Bigork and Ninepipes Christmas Bird Counts!

2009-12-21T16:38:00.008-07:00

Saturday was the Bigfork CBC, and this year, due to a low turnout I was in charge of my own section of the count circle!!! This year was the first year I have a drivers license, so basically the first year I even could do my own area.

The mother of my lovely girlfriend, and great family friend, Rikki Perkins came with me to survey my section. Thank you to Rikki for tallying up the birds through out the day.

To me totally honest, the day was slow.... quite slow. We had a almost wholly forested area, and only had 27 species, with 272 individual birds. Our best bird was one WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL, the only one for the whole count, and a flock of about 50 COMMON REDPOLLS!!! This, to me, was the best part of the day, with a YELLOW-shafted Flicker!!!! What a great bird! Not a separate species, but a cool, and sporadic bird in western MT. The most numerous bird was Wild Turkey with 53.

I thought this was cool, my black lab is named Blackie, so this was quite cool. Down this little side road was where we got our first CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES.

Birds weren't the only wildlife around. We saw a few White-tailed Deer walking through the woods. A foggy, rainy, slow day, but with some good birds.

_____________________________________________________________________

Sunday was the Ninepipes Christmas Bird Count. Ninepipes NWR is a FANTASTIC spot for birds in the winter, or any season. Every time I visit this area, I see more great birds! It is a mix of agricultural farmlands and pothole prairie grassland riddled with the pothole ponds.

Last year I got my lifer RUSTY BLACKBIRD down here, but we didn't turn out any lifers this year. I thank Dan Casey for having me come along and help with his area if the count.

Again, today was raining constantly throughout the day, and with spotty fog all over. It made for an interesting and quite fun day. This count was a MILLION times faster paced then the count before. So many birds, and so much birding. I love this count.

We walked a few shelterbelts, and I got this shot at the second belt we walked. I call it "Watcher in the Mist"

These are a few shots of the area we birded in the morning. a view of one of the shelterbelts we walked..... Me looking for Snow Buntings in between belts..... A few of the Mission Mountains from the Mission Valley (ninepipes and surrounding area).

In the belts, we had a few GREAT HORNED OWLS, AMERICAN ROBINS, and one LONG-EARED OWL. The only Long-eared we had.

We encountered small flocks of AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS, one NORTHERN SHRIKE, MERLIN, and 3 AMERICAN KESTRELS.

One of the cool things, was we had 5 "HARLAN'S" Red-tailed Hawks. There was a whole article on them in the January 2009 issue of Birding Magazine. I got a few pictures of 2 birds, but only these of one individual were good enough to publicize.

The tail pattern is similar to Figure 3 in the article, but has more distinct banding looking like maybe a bleached Figure 9.

Also we saw 14, count it 14 Great Horned Owls! That is the most I have seen in one day ever!!

Along Post Creek, a very birdy area, (many rare birds have been discovered there) we had a few birds, not any rarities or odd bird species, but we did have a YELLOW-shafted Flicker!! Dan got to observe the black whisker mark and all! That makes one for each day! Also, we had a MARSH WREN, a good bird for winter.

Dan Casey looking at 2 NORTHERN HARRIERS and a field full of Ring-necked Pheasants. We had almost 200 pheasants that day and like 79 Black-billed Magpies. A good day of birding, and fun at that!

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2009-12-15T22:26:00.002-07:00

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Some Recent Bird Art

2009-12-13T20:41:00.005-07:00

Here is some of my recent artwork from the last few days..........

BEARDED MOUNTAINEER - high altitude hummingbird totally endemic to Peru

SOUTH POLAR SKUA

BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER

5 of my many favorite birds from Kenya, Africa.....

GOLDEN-WINGED SUNBIRD

JAMESON'S WATTLE-EYE

WHITE-HEADED BUFFALO WEAVER

DUSKY CRESTED FLYCATCHER

BLUE SWALLOW

Beginning of Winter Birds

2009-12-06T13:14:00.006-07:00

Saturday, I went out for another round trip of birding. It felt like a good day from the start, we had crazy weather and snow so somethings had to be moving about.

First, I wandered around Columbia Falls to see if the waxwings/grosbeaks had maybe started to trickle in.... they haven't started yet. I did see many Rock Pigeons.....

Next stop was the county landfill, of course!! The mandatory stop for birding in the winter, you can't bird a day in the valley without stopping there. But the one thing about landfills isn't the smell, it's too darn cold to smell anything. It's that the area keeps changing. They have to keep burying the garbage and to the gull-viewing areas and the gull roosting sites keep changing. Sometimes they work together and they roost in good areas, but like now, they "gull" area isn't quite optimal for viewing form the non-restricted areas. This makes for the inconsistent viewing of the gulls, and a real rarity could slip through. I did get to see some gulls.

There were more Herring Gulls, (above photo) and less California Gulls and still MANY Ring-billed Gulls. Also, had a few Mew Gulls. I am sure this is a first-year Mew, but am not sure.

Ring billed Gull (above)

Common Raven tracks (below)

Young Herring Gull (above)

After viewing the gulls I was about to leave, but this gull caught my eye. Very Mew Gull like, but had a light-ish eye and blue-green legs and bill!! I first thought maybe a Mew x Ring-billed hybrid, but some quick research in "Gulls of the Americas" found that 2nd-cycle nonbreeding plumage Mew Gulls look just like this one. But that doesn't explain the light eye. It wasn't like really light, but a lot more then a normal Mew but still hard to see in my photos....

After my gull fun, I wandered down the west valley (again) and this time came across a nice flock of Bohemian and Cedar Waxwings

I like this shot of the 2 species right near each other. A great education shot on identifying the 2.

Next was the lower valley, just north of Flathead Lake. The clouds over the lake were quite interesting....This is looking south to the lake.

Not much down here, but a number of Rough-legged Hawks. Got some great shots of one perched, then of a second bird as it took off! Enjoy!

Well, death can't be all bad.......

2009-12-01T14:55:00.008-07:00

Sunday (the 29th) was the last day of the Montana Big Game hunting season, and my family needed some food in the freeze.....so my mom (who had never shot anything save 4 pigs at the butchers) and I went out hunting Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

FRIDAY: We traveled an hour maybe and hour and a half south of here to an area called "the Swan" where deer abound! Out here, I saw a few Gray Jays, and a few Bald Eagles along with 2 Ruffed Grouse (shortly only one - one got away). I know I am a birder, but holding a very elusive, very beautiful bird is an amazing experiance. Now, I yelled for my mom to stop the truck and I got out and to aim, and cleanly "harvested" one of the Ruffed Grouse. This was acually one of the cleanest kills I have made on a grouse. I haven't accidentally shot them in areas that make them suffer too much, but this time it didn't even twitch! Just fell over! I use a .177 caliber Crosman StromXT air-rifle. This is a very powerful, clean, and quiet gun great for small game.

So enough with that talk, here are my phone pictures of my grouse

Shortly after that exciting encounter, I spotted a male White-tailed Deer, and . . . . well . . . .

My first buck!!!! WOO HOO!! What a great experiance!! That concluded the amazing day!

SATURDAY: Actually not much to report on the bird, or hunting front. I actually woke up like around noon

SUNDAY: I got up early, before light, and drove to a friends house, and he took my out to an area we had gracious permission to hunt. This was a large tract of great, large old trees and cool meadows. As the sun slowly rose over this area, we sat and called to try to attrack some deer. In this great forest, I heard a lot fo birds! Many, many Evening Grosbeaks, and even a very vocal PINE GROSBEAK!! That could be a start to the influx of grosbeaks like we had last year.

Also, a large flock of White-winged Crossbills were feeding in all the spruce and fir trees. Very cool!! I heard what I thought were Common Redpolls also, but couldn't totally confirm that for sure.

While walking around, I got a doe Whitetail with my B-tag. More food. I would post a photo but it was taken after field-dressing the deer, very very bloody.

After lunch, my mom and I went to Kokanee Bend on the Flathead River just near our house south of Columbia Falls. This area is full of deer, and birds. Many Townsend's Solitares, and a flock of Bohemian Waxwings flew over. Woodpeckers! There were woodpeckers everywhere you turn! Mostly Downy and Hairy, but Northern Flickers and Pileated Woodpeckers were also numerous! Among them, we saw many flocks of Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees with a few Brown Creepers mixed in.

No more deer, but a good . . . . . great day!

Happy Thanksgiving by the way!

Josh

Mew Gulls

2009-11-25T17:14:00.005-07:00

Flathead Lake, MT

Today, Thanksgiving Eve, I wandered around the valley birding. Remember the Mew Gulls I found the other weekend at the landfill? They are still there, and then some. Dan Casey counted 4 Mew Gulls at a time. Today, right away with out even a hard search, I found 2 Mews. I got close enough that I can phonedigiscope some semi-Internet worthy shots of one of the Mew Gulls.

At the main area, there was hundreds of gulls!! Mostly Ring-billeds as usual, but many Herring and at least 2 adult Thayer's and a few California Gulls. I did not find a Glaucous Gull, but I did find a Herring that REALLY fit the bill for a European Herring Gull! Like identical to one of the birds in "Gulls of the Americas". I could not grab any photos of this bird.

One of the Ring-billed found a huge chunk of misc. biological matter in the garbage, and was trying to scarf it down. I got these shot of his failed attempt. Enjoy!

The Ring-billeds weren't that shy, and some walked closer to me then where they landed.

But then flew!

I wandered down the "west valley", but there was not much to report from here except a few American Pipits on Church Rd.

I went to Foy Lake again to check on the Scoters and there they were. 2 White-winged Scoters! That is pretty cool! Here is a phonedigiscope shot of the female. Also, I had a few Townsend's Solitares and a few Eared Grebes on the lake.

On Foy Lake Road, on my way to Flathead Lake, an AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER flew across the road! That is only the second time I have ever seen one. I love those birds.

The sun came out and the water was still on Flathead Lake today. I could see REALLY far out onto the lake with my scope under these conditions. There was a few Common Loons, Red-necked Grebes, and Horned Grebes. Along on of the roads over looking Somers Bay I had a small flock of Bohemian Waxwings fly over! FIRST OF THE SEASON!

I went back home via the "lower valley" and got this shot of a Rough-legged Hawk

At Church Slough, viewed from the new fishing access, there was a large number of Swans, mostly Tundra Swans, but I did find at least 6 Trumpeter Swans. Also, quite a few Ring-necked Ducks and a few Greater Scaup.

Good Birding

Josh

Birding the coast near TACOMA, WA.!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-23T20:07:00.012-07:00

I love my mother. First, she is very supportive of my passion for birds and birding, and secondly she has a "job" that seems to have meetings and conferences in very, very birdy spots. She once took a ministry trip to Peru and Israel. Unfortunately, I wasn't old enough to tag along, and ever since I was, she hasn't gone on any great adventures. She has, although, been invited and traveled in the country. This November, she had a gig in Tacoma!! What a birdy area!! Next summer we might go to eastern Oklahoma, and again to Puget Sound!

The 20th, 21st, and 22nd my family and I would be driving to, hanging around and driving back from TACOMA, WA!!! Luckily her deal was a women's thing, so my dad, little sister, and I had a whole day to "wander" around.

We arrived at Dave and Diane Norman's house ( the very kind folks, and friends of moms, that we stayed with) after dark, so the morning was when I would see Tacoma for the first time.

The first Washington bird that I would not see in MT was an ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD!!! Yearbird!! I was informed that Bushtits frequent their feeders, but we had other birds to see, and couldn't wait for the Bushtits to show.

Our first stop was the Des Moines Marina, and fishing pier. The sound area is COVERED with Glaucous-winged Gulls. That was a very cool thing. I had only seen one before this.

The next few shots are of the various ages of gull present.
^^ Third cycle Glaucous-winged Gull

^^ Head shot of a first-year bird

^^ Wing tip study shot

^^ wing pattern shot. Great stuff, these birds.

Also, there was one Glaucous winged X Western Gull hybrid. Not the DARK EYE, LIGHT back, and FADED-like wingtips.

I was really hoping to see a Black Scoter at this spot, as in the Birdfinders guide to Washington noted that this spot was great for scoters. It was!! There was a large flock of SURF SCOTERS!! This was great! I had only seen one juvenile last year, and now I got to see adult males!! Next to the Surfs, were 3 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS!!! Again, this was GREAT to see the males!! I absolutely love those marvelous birds. I got this crummy shot with my phone's camera through my spotting scope.

^ male White-winged Scoter

The pier extends out a ways past the rocky levy, or what ever you call that thing ( we have very few oceans in MT, and thus my ocean-life vocab is a bit lacking) so, I could view the group of cormorants roosting on the back side. Scanning, they all seemed to by Double-crested, but one bird pulled his head out from under his wing and, sure enough, he had a DARK bill, and a creamy throat patch!! WOO HOO!! A BRANDT'S CORMORANT!!!!! The first lifer for the trip!! I could not get a good enough phonedigiscope shot, so I drew a quick field sketch of the head region. Very cool!! I love getting new birds! Not for the one digit on the tally, but for the intimate moment my mind is racing and gathering all the first-hand knowledge possible from this encounter. There is something magical about getting a lifer. Finally, all you read is put to the test, and you can finally judge which field guide paintings most accurately depict this bird. I LIVE for those moments, where you can match what you have seen in books to the real thing, and sometimes, it is a great surprise. When I got my lifer Northern Gannet, I was shocked!! I didn't realize how massive those birds are!!! I cherish those moments.

After my sister and dad had their fill of "seagulls and water" (which didn't take long) I was ushered to the car, and we zoomed off to the next stop along the sound.

Saltwater State Park: temperate, and magic rainforest meets the sound. Cool stuff. In the brush and forest, I searched for Golden-crowned Sparrows, but didn't find any. I did, however, get some AMAZING looks at Winter Wrens. Good Stuff.

On the water, there was the usual. Well technically, I can't say that. I have no idea was the usual is. They were just the same species I saw at the last stop, and seem common. Nothing wrong with those species, but I could see the same mix back home (save the 2 common scoters). Just before we left, 2 ladies carrying binoculars and a scope walked up. This might not totally point to birders, but when I saw they investigated an odd Song Sparrow song, I felt I must introduce myself. They were very kind, and we talked local birds as we scanned the water.

^^ I got this shot of a crow after meeting the two ladies. It was a "northwestern" crow, but I am not sure whether to count it as a separate species. Sibley indicates Am. Crows in that area sound deeper and hoarser then eastern ones, getting dangerously similar to the Northwestern, thus brushing up against the question, should it be a separate species? I will create poll for my blog, and I will go with the majority vote.

Again, I was about to depart the locals, when I spotted a small bird buzzing off the waters surface. Thinking it was a Bufflehead, I drew my binoculars and saw that I was wrong. AN ALCID!! I quickly got on it with my scope as one of the gals says there is an alcid flying left to right. Through my scope I could easily tell it was a PIGEON GUILLEMOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another lifer!!! This is fantastic!!! I was thinking I wouldn't get an alcid (birder slang short for the family Alcidae - containing Puffins, Auklets, Murres, Murrelets and Guillemonts)

^^Field sketch of a nonbreeding bird, same as we saw

Our next stop was Point Brown's Lighthouse, nearing the Port of Tacoma, and Commencement Bay. This place was pretty bare, not even scoters. The only interesting bird was an especially interesting bird in my mind. A lifer in fact!!!!!! A PELAGIC CORMORANT!!! This was cool. This bird was close, and I got to view the details of its head and bill that made it what it was. Here is a sloppy picture, again with my phone, and a sketch following it of the bill and head. The bird I saw was an immature bird.

I was being rushed once again, I long for the day I can travel interstate with my own schedule.

The last stop was my most anticipated. The pullouts along Marine View Drive, over looking the log booms in Commencement Bay.

The first new animal was a small group of NORTHERN SEA LIONS hauled out on a buoy!! Much cooler then some of the birds, as the sea lion can't be blown off course in migration and end up in MT like the scoters ( I have seen the 2 common ones on the same lake here)

At the first stop, viewing the main log booms there was HARBOR SEAL hauled out on the logs!!!!!! Even cooler then the Sea Lions!!! I can;t express how amazing these animals are!!

Back to the birds: I scanned the logs leading up to the main area filled with birds. Along the smaller logs, I found a BLACK TURNSTONE!!!!!!!!! This, along with Golden-crowned Sparrow was my most wanted bird for the trip. I got another crummy phone photo.

On the main part, many more Harbor Seals were hauled out, and HUNDREDS of gulls were roosting along with a few Double-crested and Brandt's Cormorants. (I did indulge in gawking at the Brandt's again, such cool birds) The gulls were mostly Mew and Bonaparte's Gulls. We rarely ever get Mew Gulls, so this aspect was also very cool!!

At the next long boom, which was much closer, there was MANY more Harbor Seals, and almost NO birds. My sister, dad and I got to look at the seals through the scope until we had our fill. I got some semi decent shots of them, along with another Black Turnstone!!! In all, I saw maybe 6 Black Turnstones!!! A total blessing in my book.

At this pull-out, I heard a chickadee-like call note. It sounded sharper, and less varying. I turned, and saw a BUSHTIT just feet from me!!! Great looks at another lifer!!!!!!! I ran to get my camera, and nabbed a shot before it disappeared across the street and up the hill.

This was the last pure birding stop of the day. We visited the Point Defiance Zoo/Aquarium and I got my lifer Pacific Octopus!! Very amazing! No new birds around Point Defiance Park and 5 mile drive, although it was getting very dark and late. Our hosts were totally delighted to see and hear about my adventures that night.

We were to leave in the morning, and thus I only had on more chance to get my lifer Golden-crowned Sparrow. I NEEDED that bird. I love sparrows and that was my last Zonotrichia ( a group of similar and large American sparrows) to get.

That morning it was raining off and on (a surprise for western WA, not!). I could not travel by car so walking around the neighborhood was my last hope. Luckily they live in a VERY birdy area south of Tacoma called Parkland. Not even one block away, I heard some sparrow chirps. In the coarse of my investigation, I discovered a BEWICK'S WREN in the same tree!!!!!!!! LIFER!! For some reason, no matter what new area I go to, I always get at least one unexpected lifer. Last July in New Hampshire it was White-winged Scoter, now this. Of course I knew it was a possibility, but it wasn't very common, and I didn't visit any "suitable" habitat.

Just minutes after seeing the wren, I finally located the mysterious sparrows. GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 first-year birds just sitting in the open for minutes on end, letting me examine them intricately!!!!! Mission a success!!!!!! Now, I can leave Washington, for now. I will be back. . . . . .

We went through Seattle on our way home. ^Seattle Space Needle.

Something about birding the coast. . . . . . . it is mystical to me. I can feel the fact that most coasts have a higher chance of holding a mega-rarity or an intercontinental rarity more common then a mega. I am not sure, but I know I want to live on/near the coast. Doesn't really matter what coast, just some coastline.

Gulls in Montana

2009-11-14T17:02:00.005-07:00

Today (Saturday) was the first "big" snow of the season. We had about 3 or 4 inches everywhere, to bad it didn't stay long. Now just the always shady spots have snow. With the great snow, I just HAD to go out and see what birds were stirring in the snow. Turns out that the snow was extremely localized and 5 miles from my house had no snow and no where else had snow either.

I went to the Landfill as usual this time of the year, and there was HUNDREDS of gulls present. A good portion of the gulls where down on the water of the rain ponds that hold the toxic water from the seepage of water thru the mound of garbage. Scoping them out, there was mostly Ring-billed Gulls, with a few Californias. Scanning, I found a MEW GULL out in the open!! That wasn't hard at all!! Just sitting there. That was a yearbird for me. Just as I was about to leave, a SECOND Mew Gull walks into view!! 2 birds!! WOO HOO!!!

After getting my fill of those birds, I checked the other sections of the roosting birds on the active dumping area and the roosting area. Here, the numbers of California Gulls have dropped and the number of Herring Gulls has increased. The usual movement of birds this time of year. The first-year GLAUCOUS GULL was still there, and a few first-year THAYER'S GULL as well. I did, however, find two adult THAYER'S GULLS. For some reason, adults are less common then the first-years, or they just slip under the radar most of the time.

Ring-billed Gull in flight

Here is a shot I took of a group of gulls and until I scared a few away, I didn't realize one add ball bird. This is actually one of the last shot I took of the group, it took me a while to notice the other gull in the group, must have been hidden by the 4 or so Ringbilleds that left. Can you pick out the other bird with out scrolling down for the answer?

This can be a quick, easy quiz. Just look at the basic parts of gulls. I think of gulls as mix and match birds with a certain code. They all have wings, tails, legs, eyes, bills, wingtips, and backs. But each species has a different code of those parts. There are light wings and dark wings, light eyes and dark eyes, light backs and dark backs, yellow legs and pink legs. A certain code or order of these variables equals one species, or at least a few similar species, then you need to use other, more detailed marks.

Here is a cropped image, does this help?

Light eyes and one dark eyed bird. There is the first hint. All have black "rings", but one doesn't. There is the next hint. Darker back then the rest. These, and a few other marks cropped off in this image equal MEW GULL. A third bird! That is a good day if you ask me.

Ring-billed Gull profile shot

Leaving the dump cold and hands totally numb, I wondered the usual route through the "west valley". Not much to report, but in the pond off of Church Rd, there are still hundreds of Mallards.

I checked Foy Lake again, and the WHITE-WINGED SCOTER was still present at the north end of the lake. More and more Common and Barrow's Goldeneye keep showing up, there must have been almost 50 - 60 birds all together.

I then headed to Flathead Lake, and scanned Somers Bay in the hope of finding a Pacific Loon, but dipped on that. There was one WESTERN GREBE, one RED-NECKED GREBE and one COMMON LOON.

Dan invited me to his house for a bit in Somers, and we talked birds, and scanned more of the lake to find a raft of coots and REALLY distant gulls. We ended up watching a trio of BALD EAGLES play fight around.

I am taking a short trip to TACOMA, WASHINGTON this coming weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!! This will be amazing!!! I will have birding time, and plan on going to many of the local hotspots, but always would love some more help. If anyone has any advice about shore and seabirds in that area or the "coastal" land birds like Golden-crowned Sparrow, please feel free to email me at birdbrainjwc@yahoo.com

Good Luck Birding

Josh

Same route as last week, but a GREAT surprise!

2009-11-08T16:06:00.003-07:00

This time I was alone, but still got some great birds!!

This Saturday(7th) I went to the landfill, and checked on the gulls. No new arrivals, the same first-year GLAUCOUS GULL, and a few young THAYER'S GULLS, but nothing new.

In the west valley, I saw a few ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, but no shrike. At the house above the ponds on Church Rd, a group of about 10 GRAY PARTRIDGE ran across the road put on a great show in the person's front yard. The birds were shortly joined by a pair of EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES. These birds are becoming increasingly common in this part of MT, as the first one got here only a few years ago.

The pond still had the number of MALLARDS and PINTAIL, but no other ducks, and no swans, but about 100 CANADA GEESE joined them. At least one looked like it could be a larger subspecies of CACKLING GOOSE, but just hard to tell, you know?....

This time I checked Foy Lake. Good idea. The first bird on the lake was quite far, but just checking through the binoculars revealed the shape of a duck, maybe a scoter species. For some very odd reason, that is all I had to do, and I KNEW it was a scoter. just some how, I KNEW it was a scoter just by a very crappy long distance view through the binoculars.
I grabbed my scope out of the van, and was ready to reveal the species. It was dark black/brown with some white washy areas on the face. Well, that sure helps.... All scoters look like that is some plumage or another. But the shape of the head dismissed Black. Then the bird stretched and flapped its wings. WHITE! It was a WHITE-WINGED SCOTER!!!! WOO HOO!! STATE BIRD!!! This beautiful Female White-winged Scoter cautiously swam closer and closer, and soon was close enough to get a photo using the built in camera on my new cell phone through the scope. What would that be called? . . . digicellscoping? celldigiscoping? cellular digiscoping?

A great day of local "patch" birding

Josh

A little valley birding

2009-11-02T14:57:00.009-07:00

It has been awhile since I have gone birding, just plain birding, and Sunday I got to do just that.

Dan Casey and I met at the county landfill (gull haven) to see what was up. Now is about the start of the "gull season" when more and more odd gulls show up at our county landfill. Today there where maybe 1,000 birds!!! The first bird that wasn't of the very common usual 3 species (ring-billed, Herring, California) was a juvenile GLAUCOUS GULL. This was a classic and beautiful first-year bird.

All photos are Dan Casey's. I try not to take credit for others' work.

For some odd reason, it is always hideously cold at the dump, maybe 10 to 20 degrees colder then the rest of the valley depending on the windchill. We looked over the rest of the gulls, and the only other odd balls, were a few juvenile/first-year THAYER'S GULLS. These are more common then the Glaucous but still a very uncommon bird for the entire state.

After The gulls, I wandered down the "west valley" of the Flathead Valley and saw a few open country, winter birds such as a few ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, and a NORTHERN SHRIKE - my favorite of the two NA shrikes. The larger pond along Church Road was FULL of birds!! There must have been 300-500 MALLARDS, 50 NORTHERN PINTAIL, 2 BLUE-WINGED TEAL, 2 NORTHERN SHOVELER, and 1 GREEN-WINGED TEAL. Also, there was 2 small flocks of TUNDRA SWANS.

I was then going to check Foy Lake for some kind of seaduck, as it is one of the most reliable spots in the county for LTDuck or scoters, but Dan Casey was just there after we checked the dump, and said there was almost no action. I will check it next week.

Great to be birding again!!!!

Josh

Back into Birding

2009-10-20T20:04:00.002-06:00

I apologize for disappearing for quite some time, busy me had no time to do much. Here is a quick rundown of what I have seen and then a description of my latest and only birding outing in the past month or so.

Glacier NP/ late Sept. - Winter Wren, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Red-naped Sapsucker.

Eastern Lincoln County MT/ Early to mid Oct. - Ruffed Grouse, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, White-crowned Sparrow, Golden Eagle, and I heared a BOREAL OWL! crazy cool, but couldn't get a look at it. bummer.......

This is the weedy fence in my neighbors yard that held one of two White-crowned Sparrows today. Sad only two, this yard use to be hoping with all kinds of birds, but I guess its just getting late in the season. I will keep checking in on it.

Birding today (Tuesday) for the first time in a while, I only had about 45 minutes in between school and my job. I checked my neighbors yard, and the ONLY birds there were 2 White-crowned Sparrows.

Next I checked a great area along a road into town, and there were several American Robins, Black-capped Chickadees, and Cedar Waxwings. Also one Song Sparrow and one Pileated Woodpecker. I know, not much, but its just fine for 45 minutes and only 6 miles of driving after school. Check in this weekend, I hope to make up for lost time, and bird the whole valley for a day.

White-crowned Sparrows back in motion

2009-09-12T12:08:00.002-06:00

This morning, I check the migration in progress at my neighbors vegetable garden. It was a little slow on variety, only one warbler (Orange-crowned) but the first flock of White-crowned Sparrows has arrived. About a half-dozen birds, mostly adults of the "Gambel's" race, the taiga subspecies that just passes through here, on their way north or south.

It's quite interesting to look at all the different subspecies of various birds in the area. With the amazing Pine Grosbeak invasion we had last winter, I had the chance to get well accustom to the bird, and even look at which subspecies we had. Also, take a look at the subspecies of American Robins. There is about 7 or so distinct subspecies, and they, like all birds, stray from home every now and then. I have found a few Pacific robins here this spring.

Neighbors Corn Photo Essay Thing

2009-09-06T13:48:00.006-06:00

Birding the local Patch - the passerine migration begins

2009-09-06T13:19:00.004-06:00

Last year, from now until November, I birded my neighbors vegetable garden. There yard is the BEST magnet for migrating songbirds I have EVER seen! 9 species of warblers and 11 species of sparrows in one season in one place, and all three Zonotrichria sparrows (white-crowned, white-throated, Harris's) in one binocular view! The migration has just started and only a few migrants are trickling through.

Only Savannah, and Chipping Sparrows were here, but I did have the first large sparrow of the season. Either Song, Fox, or a zonotrichia sparrow. I know that is a wide range of suspects, but all I saw was a flash of a large, dark sparrow drop into the acre of corn, and one chip note.

4 warblers today, MacGillivray's, Wislon's, Orange-crowned, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Also a family of Lazuli Buntings, and Blue Jays were about. A few odd, or uncommons today; Red-naped Sapsucker, Pileated Woodpecker and Cooper's Hawk. Nice finds.

I snapped a few pictures, but I know that later in the season when the birds pick up, I will get some more, and better shots.

Pine Siskin in the corn
Really cool clouds today

Savannah Sparrow in the corn

First day of the HAWKWATCH

2009-08-31T16:30:00.008-06:00

September and much of October is hawkwatching season here int the Flathead. Dan and Susannah Casey found this site in 2007, and in 2008 we started to extensively watching the site, and counting hawks. August 30th this year was the first day data from the site was collected. I think in all we got like 30 birds, and most where Cooper's Hawks. A few Golden Eagles, Sharp-shinned Hawks, Red-taileds, and a Harrier made up the rest.

Last year I came up 8 or so times, and was up for the biggest day last year, 163 birds in a day. That was fantastic!!! I have been looking forward to the hawkwatch since the last time I was up last year. Now I just need to get back up there again!

View from half way up the trail to the ridge or so. Nice to look out over the valley floor.

On the way up, we ran into several Dusky Grouse, including this young bird

View from atop the ridge, now just a quarter mile walk along the ridge top to the left to reach the site

At the site, there were 3 more Dusky Grouse, and they posed nicely, and I managed to get a few nice shots.

View looking north, the direction you should look to spot hawks comming down the ridge.

Again, like in Logan Pass, there was a Golden-mantled Ground-Squirrel running around the site.

Common Raven

Looking back southwest along the ridge we came.

Birding lacking on the birds, but large on the mammals. . . .

2009-08-31T16:27:00.010-06:00

Honestly it has been so long since this trip, I can't remember exactly when it was, but my family and I went up to Logan Pass, in Glasier National Park, which is only 30 minutes or so from my house by car. I was hoping to see some good birds, and I did get to see a few American Pipits, White-crowned Sparrows, and 2 Gray-crowned Rosefinches. The most common lifeform at Logan Pass continues to be mammailian.

Family of Mountain Goats are onmipresent, and very tame.

Columbian Ground-Squirrel; very common around Flathead Valley, and in the high alpine areas the rim the valley.

View from the top of the Logan Pass boardwalk/trail. . . . . gorgeous, eh?

45 degree turn to the right form the last picture.

Next three shots are of my 2 favorite rodent alive in MT. The first I have only seen once, and coinsidentaly, I saw it at the same place. My first favorite rodent is the Pika, my second is this litttle cutie, the Golden-mantled Ground-Squirrel.

One big billy Mountain Goat

In the visitor center, I got a lifer! White-tailed Ptarmigan!!! To bad it was taxidermied.

On our way home, on the east side of the park, we came across this chocolate- Black Bear!! Woo hoo!!!

The end!!

Back in the Big Sky Country

2009-08-16T17:35:00.003-06:00

Being back in Montana is bittersweet, as I had to say good bye to the wonders of the Eastern Seaboard, but in return I get to see familiar faces, and birds.

My first serious birding outing wasn't much but my next two where seriously amazing.

SATURDAY:
Dan Casey and I scouted around for shorebird stops for the nest days local Audubon fieldtrip he is leading. August is shorebird time in Montana, and we hoped to see at least 15 species scouting.
First stop was the landfill, or Flathead Gullery, not for shorebirds obviously but just to see was gulls we could find. There weren't many.

Next stop was a couple of ponds in the "west valley" portion of the Flathead Valley. Not many shorebirds, but a few Least Sandpipers, and a few Baird's Sandpipers. We did find about 75 Sandhill Cranes in the plowed fields.

On our way to the "Lower Valley" I saw a driveway in the west valley lined with MANY Thistles and with many birds eating the thistles. The birds there were mostly Yellow-headed Blackbirds, but we did have one Lincoln's Sparrow and 3 Rufous Hummingbirds.

Also, now is the time the "berry"ing bushes should start to be gathering some major attention from the migrant songbirds. Along this one Chokecherry hedge in the lower valley we had both Chipping and Clay-colored Sparrows, Gray Catbird, MacGillivray's and Yellow Warbler. Not many, but its a start. As we were looking at these birds, I noticed a large, black storm-petrel sized bird in the sky. OH MIGOSH! AHH A SWACK BLIFT........ a BLACK SWIFT!!!! Turns out there was at least 5 birds! WOO HOO!! first yearbird of the day! These birds gave a great show!

At Split pond there weren't many shorebirds, only new ones were a few Long-billed Dowitchers, Red-necked Phalaropes and a pair of Pectoral Sandpipers

Goose meadows pond had a few more birds. A group of Least's, Semipalmated and Baird's Sandpipers, as well as one Semipalmated Plover. Also got my first-of-year Western Sandpiper there.

The park-n-Ride near Somers had the greatest number of birds. This area has two separate ponds, but one has dried up in the center to make 3 ponds.

Birds:
Least Sandpiper
Semipalmated
Baird's
Western
Spotted
Solitary
Stilt

Killdeer
Semipalmated Plover

Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs

Wilson's Snipe

To view one area of the ponds, it requires a little stroll on a bike path through some really nice songbird habitat.
Spotted Towhee, Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, Willow Flycatcher, and Bullock's Oriole were the good songbirds seen.

SUNDAY:
Dan lead the shorebird field trip, and we saw some good birds.
We didn't do any of the west valley, just the lower valley.

We started at the Park-n-Ride, and saw all the same, but missed Snipe and Stilt Sandpiper.

At the berry shrub covered area, we ran into a small flock of moving migrants.
Yellow, Orange-crowned, Townsend's and Wilson's Warbler were the main birds we got to see. Western Tanager, Western Wood-Pewee, Willow Flycatcher, and Calliope Hummingbird were the other highlights.

Shorebirds still the same, if not a little lesser from the day before, but the other birds put on a show. At Splitpond there were as many as 10 Eurasian Collared-Doves in the nearby trees, and a juvenile Sora made a brief but leisurely appearance.

At Willey Dike, another pond worth checking, we had a pair of Wood Ducks, and believe it or not, a LEWIS'S WOODPECKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WWOOOWW!!!! That was my first Lewis's Woodpecker in years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OHMIGOSH! It posed for wonderful looks in the scope atop a dead limb of a tree.

So all in all, a wonderful trip. great looks at great birds, shorebird or no.

I am hoping to make a road trip to Elliston for the well photographed BAND-TAILED PIGEON!!!!

Wednesday and Thursday report

2009-08-01T18:34:00.003-06:00

WEDNESDAY:

Got up early and headed to Hampton Harbor to look for the reported Little Gull, Black-headed Gull, Sabine's Gull, and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. It was just after high tide so there was no birds in the harbor. We went across the bridge to Hampton Beach State Park, and found hundreds of gulls roosting in the parking lot and lawn. A couple Bonaparte's Gulls gave me a scare, looking like a Black-headed and Little Gull, but all ended up being Bonie's.

After the water level dropped some, we checked the harbor once more, and the shorebirds have arrived. There were 2 Black-bellied Plovers, and a few Ruddy Turnstones, and one Sanderling!! The Sanderling was a yearbird, and a cool bird all around.

THURSDAY:

My aunt Penny and I signed up for the Granite State Whalewatching trip in the morning, and were very intrigued by the weather. It was warm, but extremely foggy, and cloudy with spots of rain. It was one of those mornings you wake up and go outside and the air is heavy with the sense of rare birds. You can just tell that the weather has brought in something odd, but you don't know where or when it will show up.

After we got on the boat and made our way out the harbor, an Arctic Tern passed by; a great yearbird.

The first shearwater (and actually second and third) I saw was a Cory's Shearwater, which I thought was odd. I counted about 9 or 10 throughout the day. On the way to the whale feeding grounds, I saw a few groups of Jaegers off in the distance, to far to ID, but counted at least 12 or 13.

In the whale/bird feeding grounds, we saw Sooty and Greater Shearwaters but in less numbers then Tuesday. The Wilson's Storm-Petrels like tripled in number though. All in all, I would guess over 1,200 birds!! In the mass, I noticed a storm-petrel that flew more like a nighthawk, or tern. Now that was a dead giveaway before looking at fieldmarks.... LEACH'S STORM-PETREL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was close to the boat, but made its way farther out in a matter of minutes. That was the first lifer of the day, and one of the few "odd" birds that showed up. The others so far were the numbers of Jaegers.

I was on one side of the boat, and one of the crew over the intercom said "For all of you birders, there is a Northen Fulmar at 11 o'clock". I was over there before she finished the sentence!! A NORTHERN FULMAR!!! It was a little distant, but was swimming towards the boat!! It came within 40 yards if the boat!! That was amazing!!!

That was about the highlight of the trip, those two lifers. From there, it was more of the usual which was always amazing, as just 2 days before, they were lifers, and who knows when I will see those birds again.

Wednesday and Thursday photos from New Hampshire!

2009-08-01T13:06:00.010-06:00

WEDNESDAY:

Here is a series of shots of the several Bonaparte's Gulls that were roosting in the parking area of the state park.

This is two of the many Great Black-backed Gulls in the parking lot.

THURSDAY:

I was lucky enough to be able to go on a second whale watching trip with Granite State Whalewatching. The weather in the morning was eerie. You know that feeling of rare or odd birds showing up. That feel, that essence in the air of odd birds, when you step outside and know something good was going to be found. That morning was one of those mornings.

Great Black-backed Gull

We came across many, many "rafts" of Wilson's S-P roosting on the water, and this one time, they were all feeding.

Cory's Shearwater

Northern Gannet

Fin Whales

Greater Shearwater

Humpback Whales. The whale at right is a female named Quote for the white scaring on her dorsal fin area.

One of two of the odd birds that showed up!!!!! NORTHERN FULMAR!!! Woohoo!!! The Leach's Storm-Petrel didn't pose for a photo, barely got close looks at it!

Common Tern

Herring Gull in Rye Harbor.

The next two photos are of a young Great Black-backed Gull in Maine that just sat there, letting me get an up-close and personal shot.

First Few Days in NEW HAMPSHIRE!

2009-07-28T20:25:00.010-06:00

Here is a rundown of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday ((following post - scroll down - contains the internet worthy photos of the three days)):

I arrived midnight Saturday/Sunday, and got up early Sunday to look around. The first "eastern" bird I saw was a few Eastern Bluebirds! That was cool! Then a few Northern Cardinals. That was it until we got to the beach. Great Black-backed Gulls are definitely different from the Herring Gulls, and Ring-billeds I am used to back home.

I got my lifer Common Eider on the first day!!! The Eiders are soo cool!!!
We then went off to Newport, Rhode Island for some family stuff, and picked up the birding again the next day.

Monday morning I got some tips on where to go, and got my lifer Saltmarsh Sparrow behind "Little Jack's" restaurant in Hampton! That was amazing! One bird actually perched semi-concealed, and I got to look at it through my scope.

Then, at Hampton Harbor I ran into a birder, and she helped me generously in finding my lifer Roseate Tern and Least Tern, even though it was crummy looks, it still was looks. Also she found me my lifer Short-billed Dowitcher. Also we got my first-of-the-year Ruddy Turnstone.
Actually I had a lot of yearbrds. At the same place there was a Fish Crow hanging around, and flying over the cities were Chimney Swifts. On the flats there were many Semipalmated Sandpipers, and a few Semipalmated Plovers. Back in North Hampton, I had an adult Broad-winged Hawk give me a great close, slow flyby, my best looks at a BWHA ever! Also saw a few Northern Mockingbirds.

Now, up near Portsmouth, we came across a couple of Mute Swans, which I found out was countable, so that makes another lifer for the trip!

Tuesday: Got up early and headed off for Rye Harbor, the site of my absolute favorite thing in New Hampshire, the Granite State Whalewatching tour! We departed at roughly 8:30 eastern standard time, and that is when it all began....
My first lifer was also the most common pelagic bird, and also one of my most favorite pelagic birds, a WILSON'S STORM-PETREL!!! They were everywhere, and also tagged along behind the boat in some numbers. This gave me a great oppertunity to study there shape, and behavior, as the next time I see one maybe 10 years from now. Shortly after my first Willie-storm (for short) I saw an oddly shaped bird flying in the distance. Its course was going to intersecct ours and we would be much closerto it then. I raised my binoculars, and SUPRISE! A NORTHERN GANNET!! Turns out, there were many many gannets to be found. One of the suprising things was I had no idea the size of the bird. I guess I never really looked in the book, and my preconceved notion was a small bird. Gannets are massive!! After we have travelled a ways from the Isles of Shoals (about 6 miles of the coast), so about 10 to 14 miles out, I spotted a bird zipping across the water with quick wingbeats. A SOOTY SHEARWATER!!!!!!!!!!! WOO HOO! My first Shearwater!!
From then one, the birds never let up action untill we departed the whale feeding grounds for harbor. My first GREATER SHEARWATER was shortly after the Sooty, and WOW!! Way more beautiful then the books portay! Once to the feeding grounds, we saw Minke, Humpack, and Fin whales, and while everyone was watching whales, I was looking for lifers. I spotted a Jaeger!!! My first Jaeger!! With my first Jaeger came my first time dealing with ID'ing a Jaeger. Luckaly, this bird cam in fairlyclose enough to give away its ID as a PARASITIC JAEGER, and I managed to nab a record shot. WOO HOO! My first Jaeger!! Then came the span of no new birds untill we left, then we ran across a new Shearwater only 4 or 5 times. A yellow-billed, white-bellied, tan brown-backed CORY'S SHEARWATER!!!!! I was beginning to doubt we would find one untill we eventually did. Totally amazing!!! Now, I thought to myself, the boat trip was complete, but I was slightly wrong. As we pulled into Rye Harbor, my aunt Penny spotted a duck. I thought oh another Common eider, but something had me raise my binoculars, and BAM! It was a full breeding plumaged male WHITE-WINGED SCOTER!!! Right in close!!!!! That was totally unexpected!! What a way to end the birding day!! 7 lifers, bringing me to 335 for the ABA area.

A few good pictures!!

2009-07-28T19:52:00.008-06:00

Green Heron!! WOO HOO!! We don't get many of these in Montana, actually I don't know of any records. This was a really dark day hence the crummy photo.

Northern Cardinal!!

This Herring Gull was very cooperative at North Hampton Beach, New Hampshire.

Ring-billed Gull

COMMON EIDER! My first lifer of the trip! number 323 for the ABA area.

I didn't grab any photos of any other of my lifers untill the boat trip. No photos of the Terns, or the Saltmarsh Sparrow.

GREATER SHEARWATER!!!!!! HOLY CRAP!

I love Storm-Petrels!! There was hundreds of these Willie Storms (Wilson's Storm-Petrels) all over! It was so cool! I am glad that a Storm-Petrel was my first pelagic bird EVER!

Foot-pattering!

SOOTY SHEARWATER!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!

When everyone was freaking out about the Humpback Whales, I saw two Jaegers, and got a positive ID on one, a Parasitic Jaeger!!! My first Jaeger of the three!

Humpbacks feeding!

Northern Gannets were common but scattered throughout the boat tour. That was one of the 7 lifers I got today.

CORY'S SHEARWATER!!!!!!! Appearantly they are very uncommon in New Hampshire waters, but this year they have had several every signal outing! I saw 4 to 5 today!!

Another shot of the Cory's Shearwater!

Pins indicate where costumers are from in a lobster shop in Rye, New Hampshire. Looks like a few NW Montanans!

Hermit Crab!!! WOO HOO!! We don't get many of these in Montana, just one or two a year, mostly around water treatment plants during fall migration.

Great Falls MT Birding Festival, and Saturdays fieldtrip

2009-06-15T15:40:00.008-06:00

The Montana Bird Festival is an annual conference, with many field trips, banquets and speakers. This years festival was in Great Falls, and the keynote speaker was David Allen Sibley. Most of the field trips where grassland, and marsh oriented, and that was a plus for me because I was after the prairie birds.

Friday, after a very funny speaker, and dinner, I met up with Andrew Guttenberg, and we went to where we were staying and crash for the night, ready for the awesome birding that awaits.

Saturdays field trip was suppossed to be a great trip lead by John Carlson, but it ended up being lead through inches of SNOW!! We still saw a few birds, and it was great birding with John again, but we could have definitely done without the snow.

We saw a few McCown's Longspurs and quite a few Long-billed Curlew. We got Yellow Warbler, and Gray Catbird too, in the snow.

Long-billed Curlew

Andrew Guttenberg

We came to a lake, and found that alot of swallows were feeding on bugs just above the water, and getting quick drinks. I took many shots, but only one or two came out, but just barely.

All field trips got back to the hotel in time for David Sibley's talk on making a guide, and his life; and his book signing. Andrew and I were lucky enough to be David Sibley's assistants for the night. We had reserved seats by him at the lunch before he spoke.

That was really great to meet him, and get my book signed.

After the lunch and speech, Andrew, his mom, two of there friends, and I went down to Giant Springs State Park, home to the shortest river on record in the world. It is just about 50 yards long. It is the Roe River.

Right near the park, a Swainson's Hawk was hanging still in the wind 17 feet above us. I did however turn the photo, because it was actually facing down and it didn't quite look natural.

A small creek at Giant Springs.

Just like at the lake, there was a bunch of swallows flying around just above the water, and only a few shots came out......

Look for Sunday's Field Trip report next!!

Sunday fieldtrip - Grassland expedition

2009-06-15T10:48:00.008-06:00

The weather on Sunday started out to be 10 times better than Saturday, but rapid grew to 100 times better.

Our first stop was this overlook of the Missouri River. We have seen the usually birds on the way up. Here, we could see pelicans, and cormorants in the river. While looking for birds, I heard an odd trill-song. Not a sparrow......then what? It hit me like a rock. A ROCK WREN!!!! This was the best bird for me of the day! After locating it by sound, it popped up 50 yards from where we were standing, and I ran for the scope in the car. That was THE best look I have had at a ROWR (Rock Wren).

This is us looking at the ROWR. Typical that the beginners where wondering what the big white birds in the river were, and not interesting in a "little brown job". Half of us were very excited about the wren.

After the ROWR spot, we headed for a little spot along a different river, 30 minutes farther down the road. Along the road Andrew and I spotted several Lark Sparrows along the fences, but didn't get to stop and get some good looks at them. I got my year Lark Sparrow just 2 days earlier, in the same way, on the fence along a highway. I was itching for looks, and when we stopped at the river, Andrew and I walked up the road to a nice little field with many Lark Sparrows, and I got AMAZING looks at these amazing sparrows. I even got a semi-decent shot of one.

After looking at the Lark Sparrows, we headed off to a very cool grassland area. Just getting out of the car, we had McCown's, and Chestnut-collared Longspurs, Horned Larks, Baird's and Grasshopper Sparrows, and Sprague's Pipit. We got looks at the Grasshopper but not the Baird's. We got good looks at Chestnut-collared, but not McCown's (that will come later) and never got better looks at Sprague's Pipit then a small bird in the sky singing. I managed to nab a photo of Western, and Eastern Kingbirds sitting right next to each other.

After all the amazing looks at AMAZING birds we started heading back. Got looks at Loggerhead Shrike, and we ran into this little patch of cover, we found several non-vocal Empidonax Flycatchers, and one had several color-lacking feathers on its head, and rump. It actually made it look really cool. We hesitantly IDed this bird as an Alder Flycatcher, and at least one more Willow, and Least Flycatcher.

One the way out of this area in the middle of nowhere, and to Big Sandy, we drove by a neat little wetland. American Avocets and Wilson's Phalaropes where the only semi-shy birds, the rest were totally shy. I did manage to get the best looks at Wilson's Phalaropes that I have ever had. There was one female that let me get really close, and then a male that made a brief appearance. I have very happy with these shots, and I hope you enjoy them.

We ended the day with 93 species, and I ended the trip with 118 species. I got to 202 on my yearlist for MT with this weekend.

My yearbirds for today were: Loggerhead Shrike, Rock Wren, Grasshopper Sparrow, Ferruginous Hawk, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Baird's Sparrow, Sprague's Pipit, Burrowing Owl, Upland Sandpiper, Brewer's Sparrow, and Eared Grebe.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

2009-06-12T11:36:00.004-06:00

I say Yellow-headed "Blackbird", and not bird"S" because this was one of the hundreds in the valley and on of the 20 or so on Splitpond. This male put on show for me and my camera. These birds are certainly my favorite blackbirds. I love their "song" and they way the look. Just gorgeous....

Marsh Birds

2009-06-12T11:23:00.004-06:00

These are some good shots I got on the 25th of May, about a month from the last post about swallows, and pipits. I really need to keep this this updated! haha....

Rufous Hummingbird

2009-06-12T11:13:00.003-06:00

We have many rufous hummers here, but this one possed for some photos one day. This is just a photo post, no story.

Pipits and Swallows

2009-04-29T15:06:00.003-06:00

These Tree Swallows were very cooperative last Saturday. Suprisingly, (besides small amouts of Violet-greens) they are the only swallow here yet. Usually, they show up a few weeks before the rest start to show up, but they have been here for a full MONTH and no other swallow species or more numbers of Violet-green Swallows have shown up!!

Last Friday at work, I was fortunate enough to have my camera, AND get really close to multipule American Pipits feeding in the soccer fields. Notice the variations in the three individuals. I guess they are of different subspecies, migrating to their breeding grounds.

First set of new photos

2009-04-29T14:01:00.004-06:00

Believe it or not, this is a Red Ants' nest on the 4th of April!! That is mucho early for bugs!

Blog Update and news

2009-04-29T13:30:00.002-06:00

I have not fallen of the face of the earth, in case you were wondering. I have been very overrun by school, and after-school job, and homework; so I am reforming my blog to be less words(time consuming) and more photos (one photo could take hundreds of words to explain it)of what I have been seeing lately, and what birds are arriving and departing. I will still give places and funny incidents and what not, but not in a long story-like description of my birding outings, but show my photos, and give a few sentences.

Next post I will add my most recent photos of the new spring arrivals!!

More on Red Crossbills

2009-02-24T19:38:00.007-07:00

While being sick and at home from school, I get bored. I found out that my feeders where very attractive to the local Red Crossbills. This morning I had about 30 birds!! I was about to get cabin fever, when I grabbed my camera, and sat near my feeders, photographing the crossbills. Today, they came much closer, and I managed to get some great shots. Also, I got PINE SISKIN as a new year bird!!! It was up in the trees as the 30 Crossbills fed. Number 81 for 2009!

Enjoy!

This was an interesting bird. Note the buffy wingbars. Not even "regualr" juvenile Red Crossbills have wingbars.

(above) This is the second record I have for House Sparrow for my feeders!!! Quite exciting if you ask me! They are very uncommon in my yard, hence the second ever record!!

(above) This is an interesting bird. All red with a light cheeks.

Red Crossbills

2009-02-23T18:30:00.005-07:00

Sunday, I had the morning to photography the many Red Crossbills that come to my feeders. They are fairly skittish, but a bit tame too. I would have gotten close, thus better pictures, if my blind had not fallen and broke in a nasty winter storm we had a month ago. I hope you like the photos I obtained!!

(below) this little gal did a total shakedown, then sat with a headache! What cute birds!

(below) This is my favorite bird at my feeders. This juvenile Crossbill has the streaking of its first year, but also it's beginning to molt new, first winter feathers, which are the yellowish colored patches. What a gorgeous bird.

Gulls in the light, and a 700 clubber

2009-02-23T16:41:00.012-07:00

I was privileged to bird with Bob Stites from Portland saturday, along with my mentor/best friend Dan Casey.

The first spot we hit was the landfill, or Gullery. Bob got to see the Iceland Gull last Monday, and was a lifer for him, and later I found out his ABA list is over 700!! Through out the day, he told me stories of birding in Arizona, Alaska, and California and the whole time, I was planning trips off to these famous places. With the sun bright and shinning, without a cloud is the sky, we hopped for good photo opts at the landfill. Arriving, we saw many birds, and picked through the birds, and found 2 first year Glaucous Gulls, and a Thayer's Gull. The Iceland was not seen...yet. We drove to a new vantage point, but there were no gulls to be seen. We hung out a while as the birds slowly filtered our way, to a more photography-friendly area. Finally the Iceland Gull showed up, and along with the 3 Gaucous Gulls, showed very well. I was hoping to get at least one year bird at the dump, and with Dans help on persistent searching, California Gull was my new year bird, and now I am at 81 for ABA for 2009.

(above 2 photos) One of the 3 Gaucous Gulls present. They have been sun-bleached and now are very white.

(above 2 photos) The Iceland Gull that Pete Smith and I originally discovered in early December, and still present!!! Fantastic!!!!

(above 3 photos) Glaucous Gulls

(above) my record shot of the California Gull. They aren't terribly common in the dead of winter, but as march gets nearer, we get hundreds.

(above) Record shot of the small Thayer's Gull that has been present for some time now. Notice the light wingtips, and bicolored panelling in the primaries.

Also, a large flock of Wild Turkeys joined the gull and starlings at the dump, and this big tom gave me a few good shoots.

We birded down to Evergreen, 7 miles south of the landfill, and looking for White-winged Crossbills, but never saw any. In Evergreen, we got to hear, not see, a Blue Jay proclaiming his territory. They have been advancing westward, and got here a couple decades ago, and now are quite common. The bird we heard actually was in the tree that the first few Jay nests were recorded in so many years ago.

We wandered over to a large cattle/horse feed lot looking for blackbirds, but missed them, all 200+ birds. We stopped at Egan School to see a few beautiful male Pine Grosbeaks, and I snapped a few shots as they let me get quite close. This is one of the better shots I have of male Pine Grosbeaks, even though I took many hundreds this winter.

We then birded down to Bigfork, stopping at a boat launch on the Flathead River, and scopped the many hundred of diving ducks: such as Canvasbacks, Redheads, Common Goldeneye, and Scaup of both species. We tried for flocks of waxwings and grosbeaks in Bigfork, but dipped on those. We next tried for Gray Partridge in the "Lower Valley" just right north of Flathead Lake, and south of Kalispell. We missed Gray Partridge, but did see a really beautiful "Harlan's" Red-tailed Hawk. This birds was very colorful, and without the article in the latest "Birding" magazine, Dan would have thought otherwise about the birds subspecies. Entering Somers, as small shoreline town on Flathead lake (where Dan lives) we got great looks at an Eurasian Collared Dove (below). This bird species lives where its name suggests, and was introduced to Cuba a hundred years ago or more. It has spread greatly, but apparently it has no negative effect on native bird/plant/insect species. Maybe it would tip the predator-prey scale as the small, bird eating hawks eat Collared-Doves as well as the native species.

Valentine's Day Weekend

2009-02-19T09:47:00.006-07:00

I apologize for the delay in posting, somehow the world of school and work gets in the way sometimes.

FRIDAY:

Well, I stayed home from school Friday (the 13th!! Spooky!), and I got to walk around the yard, and my neighbors yard. The sun decided to be out in the open, well... I should say the clouds decided to leave, becuase the sun does the same thing everyday, but it is whether there is clouds in the way. I got to take a few pictures of birds, even though there was a limited amout of birds at my expence.

I got to photograph this beautiful female American Robin despite the most annoying dog on the FACE OF THE PLANET!!! This dog runs up and down the fence barking and yelling and freaking out, even though I was not on his territory. I was at my neighbors with the magic yard, and the dog next door was FREAKING OUT! It scared off the Pine Grosbeaks, and Dark-eyed Juncos that I could have photographed that were hanging out in the trees along the fence.

This is the face of annoyment.... this little bark-infested dog barks at me with the most annoying pitch that no other dog can reach. Sometimes, I hope it gets hit by a car. Its owners even neglect it.

This is the coolest snag I have seen, and it is even in my front yard!! So many birds have nested in it, and I even put up a blind at an eye-level Pygmy Nuthatch nest for David and Andrew, but somehow the young died, and the parents left.

SATURDAY:

Saturday, I went to rollorskate, eat an amazing dinner, and watch a couple movies with my amazing girlfriend, but before I left I walked around the yard, and checked a few areas in Columbia Falls.

I am really lazy right now, and I don't want to type much else about Saturday, so please enjoy the photos.

From Sunup to Sundown, Always Birding

2009-02-08T08:12:00.013-07:00

Waking up Sunday, brought a sigh of relief, as I stared out my window at a beautiful sunrise. I was grateful that the day would be sunny, rather then what it was like Friday, all icy and cloudy, and RAINY!!

Looking out the living room window, I discovered I live in Nepal, at the base of Mt. Everest! Fascinating!! Excuse me a minute, while I go look at some Guldenstadt's Redstarts, and Siberian Accentors!

Mt. Everest, I wish!
Walking by the spooky fog in the forest along my driveway, I headed for my local/secret patch, or called my neighbors yard. I was hoping to find some more birds, then I did Friday. Arriving, I ran into a flock of Pine Grosbeaks! That is cool no matter how often you see them! Luckily I saw the only sparrow in the whole area, a Song Sparrow. I managed to get a few semi-good shots as I chased it around and around the old garage.

This House Sparrow, though not a sparrow at all, but a weaver finch, was cooperative in letting me take a few shots of him.

After the fun I had at my neighbors, my granddad and I went into town to photograph, you guessed it, Pine Grosbeaks, and Waxwings. Our first stop help nothing but multiple American Robins. They seem to be increasing in numbers, as a few filter in from the south. This flock had about 15 birds, but the flock I saw Thursday, at the same spot, held more then 40 birds!

Just a short walk from the robins, was a little flock of Pine Grosbeaks, and like always, they offered some great photo opts.

This bird (above) looks like a first year male, in advanced molt, because it is the right color, but just on its head, and not breast.

On to the next location. Here, we found more Pine Grosbeaks, but none offered great photo opts, so I resorted to chasing White-winged Crossbills (the first seen of the day) into peoples yards. White-winged Crossbills have been decreasing in numbers, as our invasion wears off, so I felt honored and lucky to see and photograph an adult male.

This poor Sharp-shinned Hawk was right in the other side of the street from the Crossbills, and sadly enough was killed that morning, only a few hours earlier. It appears to have been shot, or hit by a car, and the hole in its side was made by magpies and not a projectile, or car. I assume it was killed by some kids or old person, who felt they must protect the flocks of waxwings that were feeding nearby. Vigilante justice isn't always the best.

We ran acrossed a small flock of waxwings, and in fact that was the bulk of the waxwings we saw! The rest 1,000+ must have moved on to greener pastures.

After the wonder through Columbia Falls, we headed over to the site where the road service dumps roadkills, mainly deer and elk. At this secret place, there are maybe 50 crows and ravens, and 7-10 Bald Eagles. It is a suckish place to photograph the birds, because they are so skiddish, so you spook them all, and hope one flies right by you in the sun. I capture this picture of a Common Raven as it flaired and went the other way.

This picture is looking down my driveway

I decided to do a little Bigbying after I got back from birding in town. I grabbed my bike and rode down to the old bridge that is now decommissioned, that crossed the Flathead River. Down by the bank, I found a great little spot for birds, to bad it has no winter birds, but it looks AMAZING for spring migration and breeders! I trompted around down by the river, until I realized that I might of been on private property! It is some beautiful country down by the river.

Leaving, after seening like NO birds, I headed home, and on my way out, along the little dead end road, I ran into a couple Black-capped Chickadees which gave semi-open photo opts. Just beyond that, someone planted bunch if apple trees, and eating those apples, was many Cedar Waxwings and a few American Robins. It looked like a good yard to be search in for Varied Thrush in a month or sooner.

I got home, and found this beauty in my Grandpa's ash tree. A single Townsend's Solitare. The first time I had the chance to photograph one. Then, a dozen Pine Grosbeaks flew in and started chowing down on my grandparents apples. I had to snap a few shots, and post then to prove it. It was getting dark, so the record shot had to be lightened a bit.

Have fun birding!!

Freezing Rain bears NO SCHOOL!!

2009-02-07T08:30:00.004-07:00

This morning I was awoke to my mom telling me to get up for school, but to turn the radio on, as she already heard that many other schools were closed. I got up, and got the radio, and started getting ready, when the radio announced every single school in the valley, some I never heard of. It said that Columbia Falls has not responded yet. Hopes were still high. Five minutes later, the announcer said they have finally heard from Columbia Falls, and they...are...now...offically...CLOSED!! WOO HOO!!! No school!!! - What happened was, it was freezing rain, and it coated the road in about an inch of ice. So, with bad weather, brings no school which gives me a free day to bird, but because of bad weather, my mom wont drive me around, because the schools are closed, because the roads are terrible. That was about how it went.

I got out and walked around the yard, and my local (really local) patch, and saw about no birds, but the ones at my feeders. I did get to take many cool ice-on-stuff pictures.

This is at my local patch, which actually is my neighbors yard. In the spring-summer-fall it is the most amazing place I have birded. There is so many birds there. I actually got a lifer here. Tennessee Warbler last fall. This section of the yard is the sparrow paradise. I have seen Song, Lincoln's, Fox, Chipping, Clay-colored, White-crowned, White-throated, and Harris's Sparrow in there. Right now, nothing is stirring, not even an American Tree Sparrow...or mouse.

Eagles, Eagles and more sparrows??

2009-02-02T18:57:00.008-07:00

Saturday (I know I am always late with my blogposts) Dan Casey and I did a little birding, trying to beat Dan's previous record for the most year birds in the state of MT in the month of January. His record was 78, and I was at 79 with my lifer/yearbird Hoary Redpoll. We now needed to find him one more yearbird.

We started our search at the landfill (Gullery) to find a California Gull or other nice gull to add to our yearlists. Upon arriveing, we found NO gulls, but 50 or so Common Ravens and American Crow, and several Bald Eagles. I photographed the Ravens and Eagles until we spent plenty of time waiting for gulls, as we watched them in the distance, leave a secret hang out, and go to another. Sadly, many of my eagle pictures didn't come out just right, as the settings and shutterspeed was off.

Nest we toured what is locally called the West Valley. It is the western section of the Flathead Valley, and riddled with pot-hole marshes in the nice prairie-farmland kinda habitiat. We crossed a spring, and a pair of Bald Eagles put one a nice show, but the best of my pictures aren't very good. I will show you some. One of the birds had a very interesting molf pattern. You can clearly see the old and new wing feathers. the bird must have undergone many molt cycles, but they were cut short by some trematic event, and later started over again, I am not sure. Any help unterstanding this odd occurance would be greatly appreciated!

He checked all the hotspots, then headed to a stacked-out Harris's Sparrow near my house. It showed up at one of the best feeds in the valley. On our way there, we slowly drove by this stand of trees that might of had White-winged Crossbills in it. I looked foreward, and saw this bird flying towards us. The flight pattern said Flicker, but the colors didn't. As it banked to the left, we both was that it was a YELLOW-SHAFTED Flicker, not RED-shafted! That is was very cool!!!! I have only see one Yellow-shafted in this part of MT and that was at my house last year. To me, that was almost cooler then the Harris's Sparrow we saw at the ladies feeder after the Flicker sighting. I got one shot of the sparrow, but is was very distant.

After an attempt at sneeking up on the sparrow for closer, better pictures, we headed on down the road to the next extremely active feeders. Over there, we saw many Black-capped Chickadees, and a very cool Downy Woodpecker that let me get some great pictures. On the way there we saw a very good looking juvenile Rough-legged Hawk.

The sun came up, and brought with it birds of the north - PART 2

2009-01-26T20:14:00.006-07:00

Today, my mom ans I took advantage of the amazing sunshine, and ventured into town (Columbia Falls) to photograph Pine Grosbeaks and Bohemian Waxwings, and we found quite a few American Robins too. It is always great to view these birds in the blaring sun!!

The sun came up, and brought with it birds of the north

2009-01-26T19:07:00.005-07:00

Sunday, the sun desided to show its self here in Columbia Falls, and the birds are here in large numbers. My dad and I chase Pine Grosbeaks and Waxwings all over town. We saw many hundreds, even a few thousand waxwings, and almots a hundred grosbeaks. We even saw a couple hundred Bohemain Waxwings frenzying in the middle of the road, gobbling up little rocks and snow. It was amazing!!

More on Pine Grosbeaks!!!!

2009-01-24T21:33:00.003-07:00

Today I got some great looks at a fairly large flock of Pine Grosbeaks right in Columbia Falls today around 11:30am mountain time. It was pretty cool, even though they are everywhere!! I can't EVER get enough of those birds. They are my favorite winter finch by far. I don't know how I'll cope with them gone in the following years, if they leave. Also, I saw a Merlin in Kalispell, chaseing the masses of Bohemian Waxwings.