by Gail Shay Linne, Education Chair Winter is a wonderful time for birding. Part of my morning routine is to enjoy a cup of coffee and watch chickadees, nuthatches, and our resident two bluejays eat seeds and nuts from our feeders. They are followed by a stream of gulls which fly over our property on…
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by Denny Olson I’ve already been gathering research materials for the FAS 2019 Phenology Calendar. Informal discussions with our ad hoc committee are centering around a return to “Birds of Glacier Country” ideas, but I’ve been working on the assumption that we will arrive near that topic with our theme, and I’ll write the monthly/daily…
Read Moreby Gail Shay Linne, Education Chair Jay Sumner presented a program about Peregrine Falcons at the September general Audubon meeting. His three month old Peregrine was the evening’s highlight. Because these falcons were nearly extinct in Montana in the 1940’s and are now slowly making a recovery due to public awareness and education, Peregrines could…
Read Moreby Denny Olson About this time last year, I was bushwhacking through a trail-less part of Audubon’s Owen Sowerwine Natural Area and happened upon a two-inch diameter sapling, rubbed barkless at about knee level. A few cream-colored bark shreds speckled the leaves below – leaves which had fallen just hours before. It was a fresh…
Read MoreThe Secret of Life? by Denny Olson I guess “contrarian” is my nature. When faced with the obvious, I often do a mental about-face and consider the view from the opposite direction. When something specific happens to me, I sometimes pull back and view the experience through a wide-angle lens – how does this relate…
Read Moreby Gail Shay Linne, Education Chair Hello from the Flathead Audubon education committee. Our 2017-18 members include Joe Batts, Linda de Kort, Amy Jacobs, Bob Lopp, Doug MacCarter, Kathy Ross, Rod Wallette, and Gail Shay Linne, chair. In August our committee and President Kay Mitchell, reviewed, revised and agreed to the contents of the 2017-18…
Read Moreby Denny Olson Normally, the Conservation Educator’s role is a bit more laid-back in the summer. The FAS Board suspends its meetings, schools are closed, educational trunks are unavailable during the month of July, and scheduled events wind down after Birdathon, International Migratory Bird Day, Tally Campout and the Montana Audubon Bird Festival. I had…
Read Moreby Denny Olson By the time you read this, Beauty of Birds Class at Flathead High School will be wrapping up, Earth Day Celebration in Whitefish will be over, the Arbor Day Education Day for area 3rd-graders with tree plantings at Kidsport may be done and we will be looking forward to Family Forestry Expo…
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Riparian Wetlands: Birds and the River Through a grant from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, we have produced an extensive new educational trunk for educators and their students dealing with the importance of wetlands – specifically rivers and their importance to birds. The trunk has a sequential series of (fun!) activities that build on…
Read MoreThe Metamorphosis by Denny Olson This particular Northern Rockies winter demanded a bit of patience and self-reliance. Without proper clothing and an interest in snow-dependent pursuits, winters like this one can make edgy shut-ins from normally well-adjusted people. Uncommon cold and waist-deep snow established this winter near the end of the “temperate” spectrum, and turned…
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