Day 168: June 16th – Journey’s end

A glorious sunny day in the mid 70’s with calm winds

       What a day on which to wind down our Montana birding experience.  Bright sunny skies, calm winds and beautiful scenery make for a picture perfect climax to a great journey. 

Flathead River

       The first leg of our trek back down to Missoula takes us along one of the largest and one of the cleanest lakes in the United States, Flathead Lake.  We stopped at the research station run by the University of Montana to see what birds were waking up along with us in the early morning.  First sighting was of the Northern flicker.  Normally, we’d think of this as just another bird we see back east, but the race we find in Montana is the “red-shafted” variety and at times the difference is notable.  A last look at the Violet-green swallow and Red-breasted nuthatch (above) along with a myriad of spectacular wild flowers makes this stop worthy of mention.

       From there, we head south along Route 93 through Polson and on down to our last official national refuge, the Ninepipes Wildlife Management Area.  We’ve only had two owl species up till now, those being the Burrowing owl and the cute little Great Horned owl chick, but on this one stretch through the WMA we pick up two more nice sightings.  The first is of the Short-eared owl, the best sightings I’ve had in years.  We were able to spend a good amount of time watching the bird soar, perch on a fencepost, and then take off back into the air as it hunted along the grasslands.

       Several red-tails, a handsome Ring-necked pheasant which was flushed as our vans drove by, Long-billed curlew, Greater yellowlegs, and a Sora which we all heard and several of our party saw. 

        A splendid vantage point of a nesting Great horned owl is the perfect ending to this very productive birding venue. 

        We head over to the National Bison Range where we stop for lunch and try to find the tiny elusive Saw-whet owl which had nested here earlier this year.  To our chagrin (well, it wasn’t all that bad) we never did lay eyes upon the little bird.  We did get some last looks at the Black-billed magpie…..won’t see him back in the northeast!  We thought we heard the owl call as we were preparing to leave the site, but when we located the source of the call, it was a Red-tailed hawk making one of the strangest vocalizations I’ve ever heard this raptor make.

         Last stop of the trip was at Council Grove Park just outside Missoula.  The park marks the site where in days past, local Native Americans would meet for pow-wows.  Today, we were hoping for two more trip birds, one of which would be a lifer for me.  First on tap was the Lewis’s woodpecker.  We hadn’t seen this bird since our New Mexico trip several year’s ago.  But our guides Terry and John know where to look and within minutes of arriving on site, we have the bird.  Distant, yes.  But as they fly overhead in the waning hours of the day, I manage to get a shot good enough to document our sighting, but truthfully not much more.  Our final sighting is the Pygmy nuthatch, my final life-bird of the trip. 

       We end up with a visit to Terry’s Montana home and his incredible little Irish pub which he built in his basement.  You’d swear you back in the green isle when you walk in, and the feeling of friendship and our common bond with all our new birding friends was certainly crystallized by this time together.  A trip we will never forget and may well repeat down the road.  Tomorrow’s blog will include our final talley of the birds we found including the total trip list, how many year birds we picked up, how many new “life birds” were added to our list and how many new “Photo life birds” I managed to capture respectable images of.  Time to pack and head back east. 

Day 167: June 15th – Glacier Park West – Day 2

Sunny, mild, and calm

       It is, without a doubt, the absolutely perfect day to be birding in Glacier.  Brilliant sunshine, comfortable temperatures, and calm winds make for an ideal day to be out searching for our feathered quarry.   We were up and out checking on the West Glacier Park property by 5:30 AM, moving up the “Going to the Sun Highway”.  Our original plan was to travel across the park via this engineering marvel, but Mother Nature put the skids on that plan by blocking the roadway with snow and a thick layer of ice.  And so, we moved on up to the barricade where we had searched for birds late last night.

       We were thrilled to find one of those hoped for but realistically not truly expected targets, the Chestnut-backed chickadee.  We heard it, we searched for it, but the sun was yet to peak over the horizon, making viewing difficult to say the least.  Finally, the skies got brighter, and the bird moved downward with the warmth of the sun.  I managed to get a decent look and a respectable image (meaning I could actually tell what bird it was from the photo!) of this high elevation Glacier Park specialty.

       After breakfast, our leaders changed course due to the closing of the Logan Pass,  and we made tracks for McGee Marsh and the tiny community of Polebridge.  Moving north along Route 2 which would eventually take us to Alberta were we to continue northward, we wound up at yet another entrance into the park.  We headed up to the picnic grounds for lunch and started getting great looks at some really neat birds as soon as we started breaking the food out for our picnic.  The Gray jays were the first to join us as might be expected.

       A surprise visitor to our party was the Cassin’s vireo.  Singing loudly, we thought it would be easy to find the little bugger, but it took quite a bit of time before fellow birder Jan set her eagle eyes upon the prize. 

       Following lunch, we started out of the park and came upon a Townsend’s warbler….heard, but only briefly seen by a few of the group.  A Columbian ground squirrel jumped upon a log to see what all this ruckus was about, and scolded us for our intrusion into his little corner of the world.

       Eventually, we ended up at the Fish Creek Picnic Area before heading back to the lodge.  We were really treated royally by our fine feathered friends when another Townsend’s warbler came in to check us out at close range.

        Then one of my target species for this entire trip, the American dipper, feeding and bathing no more than 5 feet from the bank upon which we stood, was spotted by Sharon.  Our guide Terry told us that this little guy was obviously a young one, just learning to hunt as it hesitated to get into the really torrential rapids as older birds will do. 

       And so, another great day in Montana has come to an end.  Is it possible that tomorrow is already the end of this marvelous journey?  What will the last day bring?

Day 166: June 14th – West Glacier Park

Sunny, mild and windy

       Out at the traditional 5:30 AM to cover area near East Glacier Park before we have to check out of the lodge at 11:00.  Our birding this morning concentrated on the area of St. Mary in the park proper and in the reservation lands adjacent to the park.  Our first sighting got us off to the right start as we found a Townsend’s solitaire perched right along the roadside.

       Above and beyond the birding, the early morning sun cast a golden hue upon the magnificent landscape in what is known as “Alpinglow”.  The snow capped mountains literally jumped out of the surface of the land as a great painting jumps off the canvas (except that this

 was better!)  The amber hues were radiant and were set off by the rich green of the lush vegetation on the mountain.  If you want to experience this, it has to be in the early morning.

       Driving along the reservation roads to our breakfast destination in St. Mary had its own diversions.  Here we are, riding in territory rife with bears and moose and the only caution signs we saw were for Cows on the road.  We did in fact run across a number of horses walking untethered on the roadway, and we did come within a few feet of colliding with a moose.  We did not, however, have any vehicular interaction with any cows along the way.

       Behind the café where we had our breakfast, feeders attracted many species in addition to our cohort of birders.  Evening grosbeaks, Pine siskins, Black-headed grosbeaks, Cowbirds and, our favorite….the Cassin’s finch.

       After dining, we headed back into the park at St. Mary towards Going to the Sun Highway.  We knew the pass was closed due to blockage caused by snow (yup, it is June 14^th), but we also knew that if we got to where the road was barricaded, we would be at an altitude where Boreal chickadees and Gray jays might be found.  We scored on both counts, although the only photo I could grab was one of the jay.    A Mountain chickadee (right) was also on hand and we got a few shots of it as well.

       After checking out of our hotel, it was off to the Western part of Glacier Park.  Along the way, we had stunning scenery to entertain us as well as a few stops which provided birds such as the Olive-sided flycatcher.  The best viewing, however, was of the Mountain goats which skillfully scaled the most precipitous of mountainsides.  How they managed to maneuver over this terrain without tumbling to their doom was amazing.

       We are now at our new lodgings and have already added the violet-green swallow, the Steller’s jay, Hammond’s flycatcher, more Harlequin ducks, Vaux’s and Black swifts, and a Varied thrush to the day’s trip list at our hotel alone.  Tomorrow, we will continue to explore this magical place and let you know how we made out.

Violet-green swallow

        

Day 165: June 13th – Glacier National Park

       Not the best day for birding as the weather is quickly taking a turn for the worse.  We did manage to get an early morning hike up to the Pine Butte overlook which looks out over the Pine Butte Swamp.  The swamp is a prime location for grizzlies and moose.  We hiked up the quarter of a mile trail to the ridge, and with the help of the scope we were able to watch a sow and her cub hunting along the edge of the fen.  While the bear moved in and out of the sage, we watched a moose cow and her calf cautiously skulking along in the swamp, alternately running, stopping and scanning the horizon and then quickly moving on once again.  There was an air of tension among the eight moose we saw while we kept an eye on the bear. 


      After about a half hour of observation, we moved on back to the valley floor and moved on towards Browning.  Along the way, we saw a number of new birds for the trip including a Wilson’s snipe sitting on a fence post and several Bobolinks.


As we travelled along the valley, we passed “Egg Mountain”, site of the discovery of a quantity of dinosaur eggs.  Paleontologist Jack Horner studied this site extensively and postulated that a dinosaur he named Maiasaurus (Good Mother Lizard) laid eggs from which baby dinosaurs hatched and which she cared for as infants.  We visited the rock shop where Horner first stumbled across the first dinosaur eggs collected by the shop’s proprietors.


       Before we ended the day’s journey in Glacier National Park, we passed through the Blackfeet Reservation.  At the entrance to the land of the Blackfeet tribe is a sculpture created by an Native American artist and constructed completely of old car parts.  Quite a piece of art!

       The rains began to fall to the extent that birding was pretty futile and we decided to take a break for lunch.  After eating, the rain abated enough so that we could visit Trick Falls (aka Running Eagle Falls) where we found two American dippers flying back and forth from their nest behind the falls to points further down the river where they were hunting.

       Try as we may, they were too fast for us to capture on film.  We did manage to get pretty nice looks and rainy images of the Swainson’s thrush which was found along the river’s edge.

       Our last major find of the day was a trio of Big Horned Sheep wandering through the Two Medicine Campgrounds of East Glacier Park.  We had nice opportunities to photograph this beautiful mammals. 

       Tomorrow, it’s back out into the park under hopefully more hospitable conditions.           

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.

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.

       

Day 162: June 12th – Mammoth Hot Springs

Chilly (high 40s), overcast, but not as windy

       We’ve got a full plate on tap for today with a lot of miles throughout Yellowstone ahead of us.  We’ll begin with a ride through the Mammoth Hot Springs area in search of early morning grizzlies and wolves.  As we travel up into higher elevations of more than 7200 feet, we encounter snow squalls.  Weird…..almost the middle of June, yet here there is snow on the ground and snow swirling in the air.  Once we are up on the plateau, it’s time to search for these elusive mammals.  Although we fail to find the grizzly today, we do spot three gray wolves on the opposite side of a bog feeding on some dead carcass.  As we watch, the snow begins to intensify as does the wind and we are soon incapable of seeing across the distance separating us from the wolves.

     

       As we travel throughout the park, we continue to have good sightings of bison and an occasional elk.  Once in a great while, we are privileged enough to find a moose as well.

       As we move through the park, we co me upon Hayden Valley and the chance to observe Harlequin ducks rafting the rapids.  I’ve always seen these handsome ducks in the northeast during winter and they are always riding the gentle waves of the Atlantic.  This, however, is completely different.  There were two Harlequins that we watched for close to a half hour.  They would begin upstream, float through the class III rapids,

 emerge out the back end of the torrent and promptly fly up onto a boulder to regroup.  After resting for a bit, they would once again fly upstream, land in the calmer waters and begin to float back into the rapids.  Unbelievable…..I swear they were doing this just for fun!

       Near the Harlequins, we also found an American dipper, standing on a rock along the rapids’ edge, fishing in the eddy by diving into the swift running water and picking aquatic insects off the stream bottom.

       We remounted the vans and moved on along the lakeside drive next to Yellowstone Lake.  Pulling over at one of many roadside vistas, one of our number called out, ”Cinnamon teal!”  A drake and a hen passed by as we quietly stood and shot away.  They were in a grassy stretch of lakeside, but they would occasionally pop out into the open whereupon we got our opportunities the rare Cinnamon teal photo.

       Moving further up along the mountain road, we eventually end up at Yellowstone Lake Overlook.  While up here, we found our first Townsend’s solitaire as well as a Hairy woodpecker.  The winds were pretty forceful and again we had to remind one another that this is indeed June 10 and not January 10^th.  Back to the vans and off to “Old Faithful”. 

       En route to the geyser, we had several more good avian sightings such as the Barrow’s goldeneye and Cinnamon teal.  Even with the overcast skies and shooting through the snow, we manage to get good looks and respectable photos.

       We arrived at “Old Faithful”, the world’s most famous geyser with about 3 minutes to spare before its next eruption.  In a light drizzle, we all got our pix and many of the group had another check on the “bucket list”.  From there it was a brief stop at the “Paint Pots”, a group of hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles.  A half hour and hundreds of photos later, we were back in the vans and on our way back to our quarters at Gardiner. 

       Tomorrow, it’s back on the road as we head north and our eventual destination of Glacier National Park.  Never a dull moment!

    

Day 161: June 9th – Mammals of Lamar Valley

Clearing but chilly with temps in the mid 40s, becoming quite windy

       We tour the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park in search of some of the “charismatic megafauna”, a term referring to large and impressive animals…..honestly, those which often are the main reason a place like Yellowstone is so fully supported by public funding!

       The first and most abundant of the megafauna are of course the bison of Yellowstone.  Wherever we went, we were sure to find the 2000 pound mammals roaming the plains and hillsides of the park.  Young were always found with the adults, portending the successful future of these giants.  The bison were often at close range, making for easy photography, but also reminding us to be careful and not take the apparent disinterest of the bison for granted.  At any moment, they could easily turn and attack……something we certainly wished to avoid.

       We often found the beautiful Pronghorn antelopes grazing in the fields with the bison.  They were wary, for we also saw Grizzly bears roaming on the distant hillsides.  We needed the scopes to get good looks at the bears.  They constantly kept their distance, but the antelope were often in close.

       While the grizzlies were prone to stay far from humans, the Black bears were another story.  On one occasion, we were stuck in our vehicles in what the locals call a “bear-jam” as a Black bear grazed withing 20 yards of the roadway, inviting the interest and hence the slowed traffic of any and all cars passing by. 

       While most of the mammals we saw were of the “mega” variety, we did have some views of smaller but just as charismatic furry warm-blooded creatures.  This Uinta ground squirrel.  This little guy sat perched in twigs, watching us with as much interest as we had in him.   We also had good looks and decent photographs of elk and moose, but we’ll save those for another day.

       Finally, on the mammal stage, we had both Mountain goats and sheep.  It never fails to amaze us as to how these agile quadrupeds can manage to maneuver over the steep terrain of the canyon walls.

       We didn’t completely ignore the birds, today by the way.  We had several really interesting sightings.  In one case, a spectacular Golden eagle was harassed by three ravens bent upon driving the eagle from their territory.  We watched for more than ten minutes as the ravens bombarded the eagle from all angles, whether he was in flight or at “rest” upon the ground.

       Two other fine sightings of the avian kind were of the Lincoln’s sparrow and the Wilson’s warbler. 

       Tomorrow, it will be more about the geology and topography of this fantastic landscape.  It’s up and away at 5:30 once again in the park as we hope to catch still more glimpses and maybe another image of two of the grizzlies, wolves, and elk.  Till then…

Day 160 – June 8th – Off to Yellowstone

Sunny, low 60s and breezy

       It’s up and at ‘em at 5:30 this morning as we meet our  guides, pile into the two vans and head south from Missoula for a 300 mile trip to Yellowstone.  We will stop and bird along the way, but it promises to be a long drive.

       We drive for about an hour and a half before we make our first stop of the day at Warm Springs Wildlife Management Area.  One of the impoundments begins to produce great birds even before we are all out of the vans.  A Barrow’s Goldeneye while too far away to photograph is still brought in close and natural with the help of the scopes.  My first “lifer” of the trip is a great sight.  On the pond along with the goldeneye are Common mergs, Shovelers, Buffleheads,  and a Wilson’s phalerope.  Yellow-headed blackbirds are visable but distant, but guide Terry assures us that we will soon be much closer and photos should not be a problem.  A Black-headed grosbeak is the next “life bird” at this sight and again the scopes bring it into sharp view.

       Moving along the dirt trails of the WMA, we soon come upon two Red-necked grebes which afford us with fine looks. 

       We moved onward to Lewis and Clark Cavern State Park and ascended     Mountain in the hopes of views of the Green-tailed towhee.  While the towhee eluded us, we did manage to get some new life and year birds in the form of Lazuli bunting, a Yellow chat which entertained us with a flight display, and a pair of Rock wrens.

Rock wren

Lazuli bunting

     We stopped at one of the many picnic/scenic view areas where Terry and John said we might pick up still more western specialties.  They were rifht on the money once again as we found the MacGillevray’s warbler and the Mountain chickadee,

       At the summit of the mountain, we immediately found a Dusky flycatcher (yet another lifer), multiple Violet-Green swallows, and the Clark’s nutcracker, a good find for this time of year.  We still had a good many miles to cover, however, and had to move on once again.  Next, it was on to Three Forks, where the Jefferson, Galleton and Madison River converge.  The Spanish Peaks loomed in the distance.

       We polished off the day with a cruise through Paradise Valley and a visit to a friend of Terry’s who has a myriad of feeders……seed, suet, and nectar.  Among the birds we found taking advantage of the generosity of this gentlemen we had Cassin’s finch, Pine siskins, Western tanager, Evening grosbeaks, Black-headed towhees and both Calliope and Rufous hummingbirds.

Evening grosbeaks

Calliope hummingbird

       Fifteen hours and 300 miles after we began the day’s adventure, we are finally back at our home away from home.  Tomorrow, it’s back into the field at 5:30 AM sharp with grizzly bear as the main target early in the morning.  After that, birds, birds, and more birds.  We’ll see you tomorrow.