by Carole Jorgensen On Dec. 14, 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) listed whitebark pine as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). More than 100 species utilize whitebark pine including Hairy Woodpeckers, Cassin’s Finch, Mountain Chickadees, Pine Grosbeaks, bears, and importantly, Clark’s Nutcrackers who are responsible for a majority of…
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by Denny Olson Locally, with the frightening uptick in Delta variant COVID cases, it would be easy to sink into the “not again!” cloistering depression of our past year. If you are tempted to resignedly wallow a bit, here are some alternatives I gleaned from our old FAS phenology calendars. The key, as usual, is…
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by Vlad Kovalenko, Glacier National Park Nest finding is a fun and elusive activity. It is often difficult enough to spot a bird singing in a tree or shrub, let alone to discover where it rears its young. Nesting is a fundamentally critical and fragile part of the life histories of most birds, so it…
Read Moreby Margaret Parodi A recent sighting of a flock of Clark’s Nutcrackers in my neighborhood in Bigfork sparked my renewed interest in this bird; the flash of the white and black tail feathers caught my eye. They were feeding in trees and on the ground in a stand of Ponderosa Pines and were going after…
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by Rob Rich Swan Valley Connections held the Upper Swan Valley Christmas Bird Count on Saturday, December 21. Early morning fog burned off for a clear day of birding, with temperatures in the mid-30s and patchy snow on the ground that had not melted in the mild week leading up to the count. Sixteen birders…
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by Laura Katzman Ten lucky participants enjoyed an amazing tour of spectacular Wild Horse Island led by Doug MacCarter of Flathead Audubon on June 22. We boated to the island and started the tour at Doug’s family cabin on the south central shore of the island. We then hiked to Skeeko Bay learning about the history of…
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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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