International Migratory Bird Day was also Global Big Day this year. So, we took the opportunity to drive to a few good spots around the state and take a few walks to see what we could see. We also decided to see if we could beat our former high number of 79 species seen in a single day. At 7am- we were out the door and headed to Benton Lake NWR. We have had mixed results at Benton in the springtime. One year, we were just a touch too early and saw very little. Other times we have gone a bit too late and been nearly exsanguinated by the insects. We packed up our field kits, spotting scope, and DEET based repellent and hit the road.
We made a few other stops as well- both on the way there and the way back. Chief among them were Lake Helena WMA, and First People’s Buffalo Jump State Park. We brought the Labrador, because a day afield seems somehow “wrong” without a field dog running and sniffing. The weather was perfect for birding and driving (in my opinion) overcast, but not dark; cool, but not cold; slight breeze.
The trip from Helena to Great Falls is beautiful no matter which combination of roads you take. Interstate 15 is an uncommonly scenic Interstate. It has many beautiful stretches in Montana, Idaho, and Utah- it also has some decently boring miles, but we try not to dwell on that. The canyon between Sieben and Wolf Creek is beautiful to see and fun to drive (if you like that sort of thing- and I do). This portion of the road follows the Little Prickly Pear Creek and presents amazing red and green mudstones known locally as Spokane Shale. My go-to source for quick geology info is the Roadside Geology of Montana By Dave Alt and Don Hyndman (there is a newer edition now, but I took Geology classes from Dave and Don and my version was a “textbook” for one of the classes, so I use my old, worn copy.)
The canyon that wends its way along the Missouri River through the Adel Volcanics from Craig to Cascade is also amazing. Dark rock- towering and fractured, with dikes radiating out from small peaks, or leaving laccoliths that form distinct buttes that jut up from the prairie- very charismatic rock formations if you ask me, but what else would you expect from the eroding ruins of a volcano that is sitting on the edge of the prairie?The rock is also somewhat rare- it is called Shonkinite and it is found only in a few places around the world. Rare, but not terrible valuable.
But I digress.
When we arrived at Benton Lake, we found that a few hundred acres of the souther edge of the wildlife management unit had been scorched by a grassland fire. We stopped and walked out along one edge of the burn for a couple of miles and found it to be teeming with life. Hundreds of Franklin’s Gulls, dozens of White-faced Ibis and Curlews, and Willets, and Upland Sandpipers, and ducks galore. There were also Savannah and Grasshopper Sparrows, Chestnut Collared Longspur, American Pipits, Horned Larks and hundreds of individual birds we could not get close enough to ID. We even believe that we had two Whimbrels fly over us bleating out their flute-like repetitious, monotone flight call. In all, we saw thousands of individual birds a scant 2 hours from home- and not another should was anywhere to be seen. It was a little slice of birding heaven
In the end, we made positive ID’s on 88 species and have three listed with an asterisk- that is to say, we believe them to be positively ID’ed, but they should not be in Montana. The Whimbrels at Benton Lake, a Broad-winged Hawk in a tree above the Sun River, and Hudsonian Godwit (slightly smaller and redder front seen hanging out with Willets and Marbled Godwits) are our “provisional” sightings. So, with 85 positive ID’s we beat our previous one-day record, had a terrific day out in nature, and raised the bar a bit.
We are inching towards seeing 100 species in a day.
- AnyList
- Global Big Day 2021
- Magpie- Deck
- Northern Flicker- Deck
- Black-capped Chickadee- Deck
- House Finch- Deck
- American Crow- Deck
- Mountain Chickadee- Deck
- Eurasian Collared Dove- Deck
- American Robin- Deck
- Ring-billed Gull- Northwest Park
- Canada Goose- Northwest Park
- Rock Pigeon- Northwest Park
- Cassin’s Finch- Deck
- Mallard- Fairgrounds
- Wood duck- Fairgrounds
- English sparrow- Fairgrounds
- Common merganser- Fairgrounds
- Hooded merganser- Fairgrounds
- White-crowned sparrow- Fairgrounds
- Red-winged blackbird- Fairgrounds
- European starling- Fairgrounds
- Brewer’s blackbird- Roadside stream
- Cinnamon teal- Roadside stream
- Gadwall- Lake Helena WMA
- Clarks Grebe- Lake Helena WMA
- Eared Grebe- Lake Helena WMA
- Sandhill Crane- Lake Helena WMA
- Northern Shoveler- Lake Helena WMA
- Bufflehead- Lake Helena WMA
- Bald eagle- Lake Helena WMA
- Northern pintail- Lake Helena WMA
- American coot- Lake Helena WMA
- Common raven- Lake Helena WMA
- Lesser scaup- Lake Helena WMA
- American kestrel- I-15 Lincoln Road
- Mountain bluebird- Sieben Area
- Osprey- Missouri River
- American white pelican- Missouri River
- Red-tailed Hawk- Cascade-ish
- Great blue heron- Cascade-ish
- Western meadowlark- Ulm
- Mourning dove- Great Falls
- Merlin- Great Falls
- Broad-winged Hawk*- Great Falls
- Killdeer- Benton Lake
- Yellow headed blackbird- Benton Lake
- White faced ibis- Benton Lake
- Marbled Godwit- Benton Lake
- Franklin’s Gull- Benton Lake
- Brown Headed Cowbird- Benton Lake
- Willet- Benton Lake
- Northern Harrier- Benton Lake
- Long billed curlew- Benton Lake
- Swainsons Hawk- Benton Lake
- Whimbrel*- Benton Lake
- Upland Sandpiper- Benton Lake
- California Gull- Benton Lake
- Short-billed Dowitcher- Benton Lake
- Savannah Sparrow- Benton Lake
- Long-billed dowitcher- Benton Lake
- Lark sparrow- Benton Lake
- Horned Lark- Benton Lake
- American pipit- Benton Lake
- Violet-green swallow- Benton Lake
- Tree swallow- Benton Lake
- Wilson’s phalarope- Benton Lake
- Blue winged teal- Benton Lake
- Canvasback- Benton Lake
- Ring necked duck- Benton Lake
- Ruddy duck- Benton Lake
- Black necked stilt- Benton Lake
- Barn swallow- Benton Lake
- Chestnut-collared longspur- Benton Lake
- Vesper sparrow- Benton Lake
- Grasshopper sparrow- Benton Lake
- Common grackle- Giant Springs
- Ring necked pheasant- First People’s Buffalo Jump
- Burrowing owl- First People’s Buffalo Jump
- Clark’s nutcracker- Mountain Palace
- Turkey vulture- Cascade
- Cliff swallow- Lake Helena Causeway
- Northern rough winged swallow- Lake Helena Causeway
- Red-necked grebe- Lake Helena Causeway
- Western grebe- Lake Helena Causeway
- Pine Siskin- Deck
- Red Crossbill- Deck
- Short-eared Owl- Benton Lake
- Yellow-rumped Warbler- Kmart Ponds
- Lincoln’s Sparrow- Kmart Ponds
Nature, every day. 
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