By Jeannie Marcure In an effort to improve my birding skills, I’ve recently been trying to learn to identify birds by their calls. For someone lacking musical training or talent, this is a daunting task, so it makes sense that I’d have a special fondness for any bird that makes this job easier by calling…
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By Jeannie Marcure This months’ feature bird might well be described as the “Mighty Mouse” of our local marshes and ponds. My memorable first encounter with this little dynamo occurred one spring day as my husband and I were carrying our kayak through a wet area to reach water. Alerted by a noisy chattering sound,…
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By Linda de Kort Last week, the serviceberry bushes by our home were buzzing with royal activity. Kinglets of both local species were flitting and hovering, gleaning the insects from the leaves of the bush. This gave me a golden and ruby opportunity to compare the field markings of these two diminutive birds. The kinglets…
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By Jeannie Marcure Webster defines a grebe as: “any of a family (Podicipedidae) of swimming and diving birds closely related to loons but having lobed toes.” In western Montana, six species of grebes are found during breeding season: Western, Clark’s, Eared, Horned, Pied-billed, and the topic of this month’s article, the Red-necked. I became familiar…
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By Lewis Young If you have ever watched a large wintertime flock of waxwings around Kalispell and have seen a small dark bird chasing the waxwings and exhibiting an impressive display of speed and agility, then you likely have seen a merlin. Such a sight can be seen with some frequency every winter in Kalispell….
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By Marcy Mahr Like me, you may have had to sit down with a field guide on more than one occasion to sort out the various hawk species that inhabit our area. Particularly challenging is distinguishing the subtle differences in plumages, which are confusingly similar. Birding field guides read, “plumage is extremely variable,… both dark…
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By Mary Nelesen The Clark’s nutcracker, named after the famed Lewis and Clark explorer, Captain William Clark, was mistaken for a woodpecker when first sighted by The Corps of Discovery while they camped with the Shoshone Indians near Idaho’s Lemhi River, on August 22, 1805. This jay-sized gray bird with glossy black wings with a…
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By Linda DeKort The first time I spotted a flock of Evening Grosbeaks at a feeder adjacent to Owen Sowerwine Natural Area, I thought I was witnessing escapees from a tropical bird aviary. The plumage of these stocky robin-sized birds is stunning and unmistakable. The male’s forehead and eyebrows are bright yellow. The crown is…
Read MoreBy Gail Cleveland It is late February; the snow is still covering the backyard with deep, crusty snow. I am looking for a harbinger of spring. The mountain ash berries are nearly gone, eaten by the resident winter flock of Pine grosbeaks and an occasional flock of waxwings. But there are still a few berries…
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