Winter Birding

Winter Birding

It’s winter, and it’s been quite cold, but the birding has surprisingly good. The lack of leaves on the deciduous trees and bushes helps quite a bit. The warm fall allowed us to have open water will into January and that helped, too.

Some birds are more visible in the Helena area in winter. A handful only show up in the winter. In the cold months, Redpolls, Pine Grosbeaks, and Red Crossbills occasionally visit residential hedgerows and feeders, and other winter visitors like Lapland Longspurs and Snow Buntings can be found in fallow fields in the valley sprinkled in with our resident flocks Horned Larks. Even Grey-crowned Rosy Finches can be found in the hills this time of year. 

March is a feast or famine month for birding. While it does offer the first waves of the migration. It can also be so cold – or perhaps February was so cold – that the potholes and streams lack sufficient open water into April. Late winter cold blasts, like we’ve been having lately, can make March pretty grim from a birding standpoint. But if there is open water, towards the on of March a few early migration ducks, geese, and swans making their way north drop in and recover. 

Other early migrants, like Tree Swallows, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Killdeer also begin trickling in. Finally, a few more hardy species will show up and I know the migration is ‘on’. Meadowlarks, Sandhill Cranes, Pelicans, and Pintails are my sure signs. I also tend to hear a lot more drumming and calling from the Woodpeckers from now on.

The most recent polar surge is now over and temps are expected to reach the low 50’s in a few days. I hope the overnight temps stay cold enough to slow the melt and mitigate the flooding risk in the valley. But I also hope Freezeout and other potholes in my ‘larger’ birding home range open up. I’d like to be surrounded by 20,000 geese and swans again this spring. 

If the weather cooperates, that could happen in fewer than 30 days.

I have hope. 

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