Continuing a tradition started by the family of the late Rod Ash in 2006, Flathead Audubon, partnering with Lone Pine State Park will expand on our big public event of the year starting with bird hikes at 7:30 AM, and exhibits, booths and programs beginning at 9:30 AM. USFS, Glacier NPS, MTFWP, Audubon, and many other organizations will be there with fun activities. Fancy Face face painting will be there to turn you and your kids into “raptors” for the day. Benny’s Hot Dogs will have lunch available. The Montana Bird Lady will be there with her live Rough-legged Hawk, Prairie Falcon, and a tiny new Saw-whet Owl!
This year’s program lineup promises to be very “edutaining”. Amy Seaman, Montana Audubon Conservation Program Manager, has been stalking the mysterious Black Swift this summer in the Glacier National Park backcountry, where she and her crew discovered five new nesting areas to bring the total to eleven – the densest concentration of these rare birds in the country. She will share her adventures with stories and visuals. Dr. Creagh Bruener, a systems ecologist with the University of Montana, will share some of her research on stress and it’s effect on birds, especially as it concerns life in a changing climate.
Professor Avian Guano, Bir.D., (looking suspiciously like Denny Olson, Flathead Audubon Conservation Educator) will take a humorous sidelong look at “Bird Brains: Avian Intelligence Re-defined”. Are we really at the top of the evolutionary tree? And Kari Gabriel will bring her live birds and show and tell on the natural history of birds of prey.
Our afternoon session will be a two-hour training for new Hawk Watch volunteers. If you want to help us watch and count birds of prey from a ridge-top at eye-level this fall (it is spectacular!), join us for a new video and internet training session from 2:00 to 4:00 PM.
Last year we had 350 people show up and participate. Come early if you are a glutton for knowledge and fun! by Denny Olson
[…] Then, on Saturday, September 16, we will be back into the saddle again at the eleventh annual Birds of Prey Festival at Lone Pine State Park – bigger and better than ever! (See the details about the Birds of Prey Festival here.) […]