By Gael Bissell Guess which Flathead Valley summer bird (male) is orange and black, has a thick bill, and eats monarch butterflies in the winter but doesn’t get sick? If you still aren’t sure, the next hint is … the male sounds like a loud robin on caffeine. You guessed it right; it’s the Black-headed…
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By Denise Hester “WOW! What is that bird?” These are often the words of amazement uttered by a first-time-from-back-east visitor to the Flathead Valley when they first see a Black-billed Magpie. While it is a large eye-catching black and white bird ( 17 1/2 -22″/44-56 cm) with a dark bill, head, breast, and under parts,…
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By Melissa Sladek From my office window, I see him. His stark contrast with the dark and light greens of the surrounding forest catches my eye. Today, he is busy…I’ve now seen him three times flying back and forth across the road. My coworkers and I started to notice this male western tanager at some…
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By Gail Cleveland During the winter, if you see a large hawk soaring or hovering over grasslands, chances are you have spotted a Rough-legged Hawk. They are the most common winter soaring hawk of the Genus Buteo and the only one that prefers cold climates all year. It nests in the Arctic, mostly in cliffs…
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By Ben Young Nothing says spring like the first flight of northbound Canada Geese. And to me, no bird is more closely aligned with autumn than the Ruffed Grouse. Ruffed Grouse are part of the gallinaceous family of birds. That’s fancy-talk meaning they are similar to chickens. Taxonomists lump them with other grouse, partridge, pheasants,…
Read MoreBy Gael Bissell Each spring, just after the ice melts and the bulk of the Northern Pintails and American Wigeon pass through our waters, I quickly look for the brightly colored Redheads (Aythya americana). I am not sure why I like these particular waterfowl; perhaps it’s because when I see them in the Flathead Valley,…
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By Mary Nelesen The osprey, like several of my friends and neighbors, has gone south for the winter seeking a warmer climate. And like my snow-bird friends, I know the osprey will return in the spring. I became interested in ospreys while watching the webcam at St. Mary’s in Glacier National Park last summer. For…
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By Dennis Hester Who has not seen a Crow? If a person can identify only a few birds, one of them no doubt will be the Crow. It is well known because it is large, black, ubiquitous and noisy. In fact, the American Crow probably ranks with Turdus migratorus and Sturnus vulgaris (American Robin and…
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By Kathy Ross Scanning the marshy flats of the Swan River Refuge in June, an ephemeral flash of luminous, sunlit wings catches the eye and intrigues the sense of wonder. Yes, it is live and it is a bird with a buoyant unique flight pattern of graceful swoops and aerial dives. As the light-colored wings…
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By Jeannie Marcure Because they’ve only heard about it as the object of a practical joke involving a “snipe hunt,” many non-birders think that the snipe is a mythical bird. This rather common prank involves taking a tenderfoot into the woods at night, arming them with a flashlight and a gunny sack and sending them…
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