Flathead Audubon’s annual Warbler Days at Tally Lake will be held this year from Friday, May 17, through Sunday, May 19. Join us at the Tally Lake Campground for an extraordinary 3 days of birding and relaxing. This is an ideal time of year to find a wide variety of migrant and resident birds. Most…
Read MorePeeps from the President – May 2024
2024 Long-billed Curlew Surveys part 2
The warm and sunny days of Spring bring us the familiar “cur-leeee” of the Long-Billed Curlew, an icon of America’s prairies. The Long-Billed Curlew depends on Montana’s grasslands for breeding, and continues to decline across its range due to loss of this habitat to development of agriculture and infrastructure. With this decline, more research is…
Read MoreFlathead Valley Bird Report – May 2024
By Dan Casey Rare and Notables – MAR/APR 2024 In typical fashion, late March and early April provided a variety of migrant waterfowl at Flathead Valley hotspots. Eurasian Wigeon were seen at multiple sites, and a hybrid wigeon was photographed at Church Slough. Greater White-fronted Goose and the Siberian form of Tundra Swan made appearances…
Read MoreAmerican White Pelican – Magnificence in Montana
By Darcy Thomas Early June last year in Dupuyer a man approached to ask about Glacier National Park as he was excited about driving over Going to the Sun Road from the east. I informed him the road was not yet fully open. As he expressed his disappointment I sighted three gigantic, gorgeous white birds…
Read MoreMay 2024 Meeting & Potluck – Celebrating the Owen Sowerwine Conservation Easement
Our May potluck and silent auction are some of our favorite events of the year. We enjoy seeing everyone, eating together, and having time to visit before the summer break. Join us on Monday, May 13th, for our celebration of the Owen Sowerwine Conservation Easement. First nominated as a State Natural Area in 1974, and…
Read MoreConservation Educator’s Niche – April 2024
by Denny Olson “The Nature of Cities” In 1900, 14 percent of the U.S. population lived in cities. Now, more than 70 percent (240 million) of the U.S. population live in urban and urbanizing areas (U.S. Census Bureau 2021). Improving the sustainability and livability of cities is a long-term challenge that many cities are beginning…
Read MoreConservation Corner – April 2024
Wildlife Crossings to Reduce Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions by Dee Baginski While highways make traveling easier for humans, they have the opposite effect on animals. Highways can create barriers that separate animals from the resources that they need for survival. Oftentimes they cross our roads and highways to get where they need to go, but sometimes they…
Read MoreSpring 2024 Waterfowl at Church Slough and Lower Valley Wetlands
by Darcy Thomas 15 enthusiastic birders met at Church Slough on March 21 for a wonderful morning of watching waterfowl of all sorts. After an hour at the slough we followed the river, hopped over to Forest Hill Road, and finished up by walking a portion of Sonny Boon Trail. The rain blessedly kept at…
Read MoreNesting Ospreys Near Creston
by Michell De Leon Tyler Oh, how I love Spring! Not only because warmer weather and sunshine are coming, but also because Spring brings migratory birds back to the Flathead Valley. Every year, I wait in anticipation for the Ospreys to return. Ospreys migrate from South America to North America to breed. On April 7,…
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