Yesterday, TMD and I learned about a Yellow-billed Loon over the divide near Anaconda, MT. I’m taking a bit of time off from job number 1 to get some things done around the house before winter sets in, so, we figured we would go over the hill and try to see it. We have seen a Yellow-billed Loon once before – in late-December of 2017. That time, we drove to Great Falls while the temp was hovering around 0°f (-18°c). Today was much nicer weather.
We were out the door at 7:30 this morning. The trip over the divide was lovely- ethereal almost. Low-angle light, intermittent fog, snow-covered trees, very little traffic. We arrived to learn that the loon had taken flight at 7:45 and headed off to parts unknown. We missed it by a little more than an hour.
Not to be deterred, we birded around the Arco Ponds and picked up 32 species – one of which, a Barrow’s Goldeneye, was new for the year. We also had an opportunity to see several more White-throated Sparrows. This bird was new to both our life list’s when we found two in Lewistown last month – so it was fun to see another 6 or so.
The real find of the day came around 1pm when we came upon a Northern Pygmy Owl taking a bath in a puddle along a trail we were on. The owl was amazingly tolerant of us. We watched it bathe and preen for more than 10 minutes. All told, we watched this little beauty for about 20 minutes before two more people came along on the trail and s/he flew off to another tree.
This is the second time I’ve seen a Northern Pygmy Owl in this general area, and I’ve heard them here at least twice over the last couple of fall seasons here as well. It pays to get out and look around!
Between the two of us, we took more than 300 images. Gotta love digital photography!
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