Day 163: June 11th – Centennial Valley

Sunny, warming, and calm

       If I were to go into detail about today’s travels and findings, I would still be writing this blog late into the early morning hours of tomorrow.  We had such great experiences involving the wildlife, the geology, the history, and the landscape that to try and cover it all at this time would never do it justice.  So, I have opted to simply display images of the top birding finds of the day (at least in my mind). 

       We departed from Yellowstone early this morning, headed out to the hamlet of West Yellowstone, and on to Henry’s Lake.  This area is the most remote of the Montana National Wildlife Refuges, and our travels this morning would take us over dirt roads for the next 65 miles!  Our first great check off the list came in the form of the Red-necked grebe.  It’s not like we have not had looks at this bird in the past, but this one was so close, I felt I could reach out and grab it to make sure I had a good pose from the bird.  Not necessary.  The bird swam by in close proximity, and …….well, I’ll let the image tell the story.

       We move up the ridge towards Red Rock Pass with birds all along the way.  Let me plug our guides, the folks from Field Guides (Terry and John) one more time.  They really did their homework.  They obviously spent an inordinate amount of time tracking down and targeting these locations, for when they said we should get this or that bird at the next location, bingo….there it was.  And we’re not talking your everyday run-of-the-mill species here either!  Example, one of the next species was the Dusky flycatcher.  We never find this species in the east, and now, as a new life bird, we were presented with a fine view of said species.  These guys are great!

Dusky flycatcher

       As we drove on, we found a Wilson’s phalarope plying the waters in a drainage ditch, right next to the road.  We all stayed patiently in our vehicles, using the vans as mobile blinds.  We all got great views and photos.

Wilson's phalarope

       Next up, the MacGillivray’s, a western warbler the Sibley field guide refers to as uncommon.  Still, as we ate our picnic lunch, we were treated to great views of this elusive skulker. 

       Our next quarry was the Sage sparrow.  It is estimated that in the state of Montana, there are around 12 pairs of these sparrows.  Terry and John knew exactly where to find them and find them we did.  The photo is not the greatest.  After all, the bird was at quite a distance.  Through the scopes we did get great looks, and this added one more check to the life-list.

       Finally, we managed to find the Gray flycatcher…..again, not a bird we would ever see were it not for our able guides. 

Gray flycatcher

       Tomorrow, we continue our journey through Montana as we head further north towards our final destination of Glacier National Park.  More is still to come.