The Middle Daughter (TMD) and I took our annual Mid-May Bioblitz today. We tend to do a few blitzes every year, but May is usually a standout because it coincides with a strong surge in species due to the spring migration. This year was the earliest we’ve done the First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park, Benton Lake and Freezout Lake Wildlife Refuge loop. With the mild winter, we hoped it would be successful and by most reckonings, it was.
At the end of the day, we spent over 10 hours traveling 297 miles, walked a couple of miles, stood on the shores of several bodies of water and managed to see or hear over 80 species of birds, a couple of new flowers, twelve new year birds and find a new Life Bird.
The lifer was a Red-necked Phalarope (see below). Phalaropes are small (7 to 9 inch) frenetic water birds. They spin is circles and tend to shy away from people. In addition, Red-necked Phalaropes are much less common in Montana than their cousins, the Wilson’s Phalaropes.
We were able to get one decent picture that helped us get a positive ID on three individuals (see image below). Other highlights include finding our first Burrowing Owl of the season, seeing Terns, being surrounded by Chestnut Collared Longspurs in an expanse of grassland and standing for a long time on the shore of a prairie pothole while a symphony of sounds filled the air- Curlews, Willets, Marbled Godwits, Black-necked Stilts, White-faced Ibis (pictured above), sparrows, ducks, and the comical croaking commentary of the Yellow-headed Blackbirds.
Today was a day I will treasure for a long time to come.
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