by Jim Oates We had good weather for the 30th Annual Ninepipe Count on December 18, with temperatures 27 to 33, calm winds, mostly cloudy skies, and morning flurries. Most still water was frozen. Twenty-five participants counted about 80 species (up a little) and about 12,000 birds (down a little). About 3,000 of those were mostly…
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Conservation Corner – February 2023
by Carole Jorgensen Audubon shared the recent dire study showing that 3 billion birds have declined since 1970, almost 30 percent of the North American bird population (https://science.org/content/article/three-billion-north-american-birds-have-vanished-1970-surveys-show). Some of the reasons given were habitat loss due to development, changing climate and weather patterns, pesticides and even cats, although the reasons are complex and each…
Read MoreThe Great Backyard Bird Count 2023
You Can Be Part of The Team – Every Bird Counts By Darcy Thomas It’s time once again for the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), an inter-organizational effort between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, and Birds Canada who work together to bring the joys of bird watching to the people who love…
Read MoreFebruary 2023 Chirps and Squawks
Highlights from the January 2, 2023 Board of Directors Meeting SAVE THE DATE! Wings Across the Big Sky, the annual Montana birding festival, will be June 9-11, 2023, at the Heritage Inn, Great Falls, MT. The festival is being organized by Montana Audubon and this year’s local host chapter, Upper Missouri Breaks Audubon. Stay tuned…
Read MoreRiver Design Group Awarded Business Conservation Achievement Recognition
by Darcy Thomas River Design Group (RDG), one of the leading river restoration consulting firms in the Intermountain West and Pacific Northwest, was founded in the Flathead Valley in 2003 by four individuals with a passion for rivers. Since the beginning, the company has promoted a healthy work-life balance and maintained a culture deeply rooted…
Read MoreBigfork CBC 2022 Results
by Craig Hohenberger The 49th annual Bigfork Christmas Bird Count was held Saturday, December 17, under cloudy skies and mild SE winds. Temperatures varied from 19 to 28. Snow depths were about 4 to 6 inches in the valley, and at the eastern edges of the count circle there was up to a foot of…
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