EAST MEETS WEST By Jeannie Marcure One cold, overcast day last fall when our feeders were mostly filled with the brown and gray winter birds common to the Flathead, we were treated to the arrival of a couple of new birds whose bright feathers and noisy calls were reminiscent of the more tropical birds of…
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Loon
LOOK OUT FOR LOONS! By Linda Winnie This time of year, large numbers of loons are migrating from their summer nesting grounds. You can contribute to our understanding of this phenomenon by watching for these birds and reporting any color-banded loons you see or any large flocks you observe. Sixty-nine loons have been captured and…
Read MorePeeps
THOSE PUZZLING PEEPS By Jeannie Marcure Last July when Bob Lee asked me to write a bird profile on “peeps” for the September newsletter, my first reaction was to wonder why he thought the Pileated Post readers would be interested in an article about the colored, marshmallow chickens that appear in the Valley every Easter!…
Read MoreMountain & Western Bluebirds
HARBINGERS OF SPRING By Jeannie Marcure The arrival of the first bluebirds is a welcome sign that spring has returned to the Flathead. This year that event took place for me on March 13 when a Saturday morning drive on Smith Lake Road provided us with the first bluebird sightings of the season. What birder’s…
Read MoreRedpoll
Hardy Winter Visitors: Redpolls By Karen Nichols Winter visitors to our forests and feeding stations, Common and Hoary Redpolls are among the hardiest of the songbirds. In fact, Audubon’s Encyclopedia of North American Birds says these small finches can survive colder temperatures than any other songbird. Both the Common Redpoll (Carduelis flammea) and the Hoary…
Read MoreRed-breasted, White-breasted, & Pygmy Nuthatches
BIRDS WHO CAN REALLY GET A GRIP! By Jeannie Marcure As members of the bird family SITTIDAE, nuthatches are described by this Greek word as birds that peck at the bark of trees. Additionally, the name nuthatch originated in Europe and refers to the foraging technique in which the birds take a seed, fly to…
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