Highlights from March 5, 2018 Board Meeting A spreadsheet for grants has been created to better track our grant requests and success. We did not receive the Forest Service Citizen Science grant. We will be participating in the Whitefish Community Foundation fund raiser this year. Road Scholar could use a few more volunteers this summer….
Read MoreHighlights from February 5, 2018 Board Meeting A Grants Committee has been formed with Rod Wallette, Mike Fanning, Gail Linne and Gael Bissell as members. A letter was sent to our Congressional members in support of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The education bird trunks have been relocated to Lone Pine State Park. The keynote…
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Kari Gabriel, Montana Bird Lady The Montana Bird Lady, Kari Gabriel, will be the featured speaker at the Monday, February 12 meeting, 7-9 PM at the Gateway West Community Room, US Highway 2 West, Kalispell. Kari Gabriel has been working as a raptor educator, trainer and rehabilitator since 1991, following a life-long dream of working…
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by Dan Casey The 10th annual hawk migration survey at the Jewel Basin got off to a roaring start; we recorded birds at record rates from late August through Sept. 22nd. But just as we hit our usual peak season, the snows started to fall. As much as we welcomed the early season snow following…
Read MoreHighlights from September, 2017 Board Meeting Learned that the June Birdathon netted us more than we had earlier expected Appointed 4 committee chairs as 1-year directors Received a resignation from the Board from Paula Smith Named Jan Metzmaker as Publicity Chair Heard a list of programs for the new program year and suggested additional possibilities…
Read MoreHighlights from February 2017 Board Meeting The February Board Meeting was cancelled due to the major snow storm. Two items were circulated via email for discussion after the cancellation. What action if any should be taken to get the landfill reopened to birders? To what extent should meeting notices for other non-profits be included in…
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by Brian Williams The Ninepipes Christmas Bird Count was held on Sunday, 18 December 2016. Sixteen observers braved the single-digit weather and treacherous roads to count birds. The deep cold made open water scarce and held our total species down a bit from 5 and 10 year averages, but we found some excellent birds. Short-eared…
Read Moreby Pete Fisher The 18th annual Kalispell Christmas Bird Count (CBC) was held on January 1, 2017. Twenty-eight intrepid field observers braved wind and drifting snow to count 75 species of bird. Four feeder watchers contributed data as well. Major highlights were an Iceland Gull at the Flathead Dump and a Northern Saw-whet Owl at…
Read MoreAs 2016 comes to an end, Flathead Audubon volunteers and our funding partners have conducted nine years of season-long hawk migration surveys at the Jewel Basin Hawk Watch. After recording 60 birds over four surveys during the last week of August, we conducted 22 surveys in September, including a six-day stretch (Sept 25-30) where 1,129…
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By Dan Casey This fall season marks the 9th year of full-time surveys at the Jewel Basin Hawk Watch, and the second year with Flathead Audubon as the primary sponsor of the effort. Thursday, Oct. 13th marked the 31st survey of the 2016 season, bringing us to 2,417 birds counted. We were on a record…
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