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?