Day 164: June 12 – Heading off to Glacier

Sunny, calm and warm

       After a cool start at 5:30 once again this morning, we starting making tracks north towards our eventual destination, Glacier National Park.  We birded along Birch Creek Road early on the ride and found a number of new trip birds.  First, we had fine looks at a Ferruginous Hawk sitting in the middle of a field.  We soon noticed that the field was peppered with ground squirrel burrows and that a good many of the rodents were up and about.  This is prime feeding time for the hawks and we found several more Ferruginous as well as Red-tailed hawks carefully checking out the bill of fare below them.

       We were here on the grassland habitat looking for those Montana birds that thrive in such a setting.  One of our target birds was the McCown’s longspur.  While searching for this bird we came across a number of Horned larks and eventually heard the longspur in the distance.  With some patience, the target revealed itself at some distance and we did manage to get it in the scope for some definitive looks.

       Our first Long-billed curlew was discovered in the high grass on the opposite side of Birch Creek Road, and while not a year-bird was a major score for this trip.  We did not realize at the time that we would find several more of its kind later in the day.  Northern harrier, Burrowing owl, and Marbled godwit were the other major finds at this location.

       From here, it was onto I-15 North and a couple of hours drive north until we turned back onto the “blue highways” and passed through miles and miles of prairie surrounded by mountain ridges on each side.  We stopped briefly at Bean Lake, but with little to show for our efforts continued on to Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area.  Here, we picked up our first target species for this region and our second longspur, the Chestnut-collared longspur (left) as well as excellent sightings of the Swainson’s hawk (below).

       Freezout Lake provided us with many a fine bird as we found several new species to add to the list including Black-necked stilts,  White-faced ibis,  and Clark’s grebe.  American avocets, Redheads, a plethora of Wilson’s phalaropes, Black terns, and Cinnamon teal were also plentiful.

       We lodged this evening in the village of Choteau.  Once again, guides Terry and John delivered on their promises of great birds and great landscapes.  Tomorrow, it’s off to our second major National Park, Glacier….yet another check on the bucket list for the Bakers.