by Alex Crowley (age 12) Chicken? Duck? Nope! It’s the American Coot, one of the coolest birds you can see here in Northwest Montana! The American Coot, or Fulica americana, can be found along the banks of our slow rivers and on the edges of our lakes and ponds. You may even see one on…
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Black Swift
Ring-billed Gull
Boreal Chickadee
by Denny Olson I have to admit that a good part of my attraction to tree-line in Northwest Montana — aside from pikas in the talus, whitebark pines, nutcrackers and rosy finches — is the 50-50 chance of a conversation with Boreal Chickadees. They are relatively tame and curious after the breeding season when they…
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The Elegant Black Scoter
by Darcy Thomas There are some birds we expect to see in certain locations and the Black Scoter (Melanitta americana) is one of those birds. It is, after all, a sea duck so one would expect to see them in open salt water. I viewed scoters many times along the Washington Coast and Puget Sound…
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Sandhill Crane
by Margaret Parodi Sandhill Cranes are truly magnificent birds and are usually seen in large, awe-inspiring flocks. They have a very distinctive loud, rattling bugle-like call that is memorable and are also known for their ritualistic dancing and leaping displays during the courtship and mating season. Sandhill cranes have been around for a long time…
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American Pipit
by Darcy Thomas My first introduction to the American Pipit Anthus rubescens was in the Skagit valley in Washington state where I saw a small flock foraging for insects in the winter. They were a rather nondescript brown bird that I did not notice at first glance as they blended in so well to the…
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Varied Thrush
by Pam Willison Haunting, quavering, buzzy, isolated and resonant, lacking melody and fluidity, and musical but dissonant. The Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius) provides a challenge for those who seek to describe the song. Possibly the best description is polyphonous: 2 or 3 notes sounded simultaneously resulting in a sound that sometimes seems harmonious, and sometimes…
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Townsend’s Big-eared Bat
by Lewis Young One look at an individual of this species and it’s easy to see where part of the name comes from. The ears are nearly 1 ½ inches long. Townsend’s comes from being named in honor of naturalist Charles H. Townsend even though it was first described in 1837 by William Cooper. Besides…
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Clark’s Nutcracker
by Margaret Parodi A recent sighting of a flock of Clark’s Nutcrackers in my neighborhood in Bigfork sparked my renewed interest in this bird; the flash of the white and black tail feathers caught my eye. They were feeding in trees and on the ground in a stand of Ponderosa Pines and were going after…
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