Finally!! Some Birding!!

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!