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…
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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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Highlights from February 18th, 2019 Board Meeting Both Hawk Watch and the Education Committee will be wrapping up work and reports for 2018; after which the planning for the 2019 seasons will continue in earnest. Denny Olson, joined by Flathead Land Trust and Montana FWP, is proceeding on work to create Sandhill Crane and Osprey…
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by Dan Casey After more than ten years of experience monitoring fall migration of raptors in the Jewel Basin, we should typically see about 2,600 raptors (mean, 2,598) on about 45 survey days between the end of August and early November. This year we once again conducted 45 surveys, although our average survey length of…
Read Moreby Denny Olson We are about to transition into the traditional winter-spring conservation education schedule – Great Backyard Bird Count with at least two different schools, FVCC Senior Institute Birds of NW Montana for six weeks, four weeks of the Beauty of Birds class for the general public at Flathead High School (Wednesday evenings), Earth…
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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…
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by Marylane Pannell The annual potluck dinner and meeting of the Flathead Audubon Society was held on May 8, 2017 at the Whitefish Community Center. In celebration of Flathead Audubon’s 40th Birthday, Kay Mitchell and Linda Winnie introduced the eleven former FAS Presidents and five former FAS Newsletter Editors who were present at the meeting….
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Ospreys and What They Tell Us About the Environment Presented By Erick Greene The May 8, 2017 Flathead Audubon meeting will have a special program on Ospreys presented by Erick Greene, professor in the Division of Biological Sciences and the Wildlife Biology Program. His program will provide interesting information about these amazing fishing raptors that…
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Riparian Wetlands: Birds and the River Through a grant from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, we have produced an extensive new educational trunk for educators and their students dealing with the importance of wetlands – specifically rivers and their importance to birds. The trunk has a sequential series of (fun!) activities that build on…
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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