Highlights from the February 7th, 2022 Board of Directors Meeting Rod Wallette, Treasurer, reported that WCF has discontinued the Day of Giving fundraiser, he is seeking bids to renew the FAS insurance policies, and the Montana Audubon Wildlife Grant application will be submitted. Rod also initiated continuing discussion about investments/endowments at WCF, and it was…
Read MoreTag: Osprey
The American Coot
Flathead Valley Bird Report – February 2022
by Dan Casey Rare and Notables – Dec/Jan A “Red” Fox Sparrow and a White-throated Sparrow joined long-staying Brown-headed Cowbird and Lesser Goldfinch as notable birds visiting valley feeders. Up to three Snowy Owls were seen in the Lower Valley near Somers throughout the period, and all five species of falcons were found locally during…
Read MoreBigfork CBC 2021 Results
by Craig Hohenberger The 48th annual Bigfork Christmas Bird Count was held Saturday, December 18th, under cloudy skies and snow throughout the day, with mild SSW winds. Snow depths were about 7 inches at the eastern edges of the count circle and 2-3 inches in the valley; temperatures ranged from 15-26 degrees F. Lakes and…
Read MoreConservation Educator’s Niche – January 2022
by Denny Olson It has been an unforgettable year. The uncertainty of COVID and all of its variants has us all wishing for personal contact, more mobility and that calming feeling of being safe from invisible and unpredictable forces. It doesn’t help that, just when we are seeing a glimmer of light on the horizon,…
Read MoreJanuary 2022 Chirps and Squawks
Highlights from the December 6, 2021 Board of Directors Meeting Rod Wallette, Treasurer, reported that WCF has discontinued the Day of Giving fundraiser, he is seeking bids to renew the FAS insurance policies, and the Montana Audubon Wildlife Grant application will be submitted. Rod also initiated continuing discussion about investments/endowments at WCF, and it was…
Read MoreConservation Educator’s Niche – May 2021
By Denny Olson An enterprising climatologist once calculated the rate of spring’s advance to the north. It averages a half-mile per hour, or twelve miles per day – not supersonic, but not glacial either. In fact, it’s an easy walking speed. The roller-coaster fits and starts of that long transition can be frustrating after a…
Read MoreConservation Educator’s Niche – February 2020
by Denny Olson I decided not to wax philosophical this month, and instead, give you a report on the day-to-day of my Conservation Educator’s life, and what is planned for the near future. After the December Bigfork (with Bridger Donaldson) and Kalispell (with Tom and Cindy Roberts and Mary Auxier) Christmas Bird Counts, and a…
Read MoreConservation Educator’s Niche – September 2019
by Denny Olson Well, we are nearing the end of that chronically over-planned, not-enough-time-in-the-universe-as-we-understand-it, time we call “summer”. And I have to say … it has been fun! Five weeks of teaching senior citizens about birds and life in Glacier, four days of Audubon and Road Scholar grandparents and grandkids with talented FAS volunteers, many…
Read MoreDoug and Don MacCarter receive Conservation Achievement Recognition
Honoring Butch and Buzz, The Osprey Twins by Gael Bissell We were in 9th or 10th grade, says Doug “Butch” MacCarter, the just five-minute older twin brother of Don “Buzz” MacCarter, and we rode our bikes, as we did most every day since Kindergarten, to the rim rocks above Billings.” It was 1958-59. “Our goal…
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