A Light Touch of Boreal Birds

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!!!

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

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

Gulls in the light, and a 700 clubber

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.

From Sunup to Sundown, Always Birding

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!!

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

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!!