by Gael Bissell In place of our traditional September one-day Birds of Prey Festival at Lone Pine, we will offer a week-long celebration of birds of prey with cool opportunities for you and your family to see and learn more about these incredible flying predators. We actually begin focusing on birds of prey in late August,…
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Birds of Prey in Flight
Mini-course September 18 & 19, 2020 Take a socially distanced Birds of Prey in Flight mini-course taught by Flathead Audubon Conservation Educator Denny Olson September 18 and 19 at Lone Pine State Park. On Friday afternoon, September 18, 2 – 4 PM, we will get some practice and tips on in-flight ID of raptors with…
Read MoreFlathead Valley Bird Report – September 2020
by Joshua Covill Rare and Notables – Summer 2020 RECAP 07/02 – A HUDSONIAN GODWIT was found in the West Valley Ponds (Tom F. & Matt B.) 07/05 – A YELLOW-BILLED LOON (immature) was found on Dickey Lake (Nikki M.) The loon has been present everyday (day of writing 08/18) and will likely be around…
Read MoreColorful Bands in the Flathead
by Linda Winnie No – this is not about a local rock concert. It is about recent observations in the Valley of birds wearing colored neck collars inscribed with big letters and numbers that can be read from a distance. In general, it is geese and swans that are banded with colored collars. Swans are…
Read MoreMigration Miracles
by Kathy Ross Feathers, hollow bones, no more than air cloaked in brilliant hues. Our neotropical birds migrate at speeds up 100 mph, at elevations as high as 15,000 feet, for up to 8 hours at a stretch or some never stopping for thousands of miles. To top off this feat, they know their way…
Read MoreCash Reward! for Observations of Montana’s Loons – Banded and Unbanded
by Linda Winnie The Montana Loon Society is offering cash prizes for 2020 observations of unique banded loons or confirmed unbanded breeding loons! This contest is generously funded by the Montana Loon Society. Two $100 awards will be decided by a random drawing from all individuals who submitted at least one observation. To encourage early…
Read MoreFlathead Valley Bird Report – May 2020
by Joshua Covill Rare and Notables – April 2020 03/12 – Golden Eagle flying over near Bigfork (Craig H.) 03/15 – Northern Goshawk seen around Apgar in Glacier NP (Dan D.) 03/22 – 5 Rusty Blackbirds visiting the feeders at a private residence near Creston (Pete F.) 03/23 – Mew Gull seen on…
Read More2020 Spring Birding Extravaganza in Central Montana!
Join us for a four day, three night birding blitz to central Montana, May 22-25, 2020. We’ll be visiting some of the premier birding hotspots in central Montana including Bowdoin and Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuges, Tiber Reservoir, Giant Falls, Freezout Lake, plus many “specialty” locations known through the birding community. We hope to see…
Read More2020 Freezout Lake and the Great Snow Geese Migration
There is nothing like Snow Geese and the Rocky Mountains at the same time and place. The place is Freezout Lake WMA near Choteau; the time is the annual Flathead Audubon Society field trip to Freezout. The Snow Geese are moving from their wintering grounds to their arctic nesting areas along with thousands of other…
Read MoreFlathead Valley Bird Report – March 2020
by Joshua Covill Rare and Notables – February 2020 01/20 – Rusty Blackbird feeding in the cow pasture on Fox Farm Road (Cory D.) 01/20 – Northern Saw-whet Owl heard tooting from private residence south of Col. Falls (Chris H.) 01/24 – Iceland Gull (Thayer’s subspecies) spotted at the Flathead Co Landfill (Zack S.) 01/30…
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