Author: BradinMontana
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Owl Remember This for a Long Time
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…
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Summer’s Last Hurrah
On this, the last Sunday of Summer, The Middle Daughter (TMD) and I had a mission. We needed to drive to the geographical center of Montana and pick up an injured crow and bring him back to Helena for rehab. The weather looked good and we got an early start. After a short look at…
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World Shorebird Day
Today was World Shorebird Day. When most people think about Montana, or even think about birds in Montana, they do not likely think about shorebirds in Montana. But, in fact, Montana has a nice variety of shorebirds throughout the breeding and migration seasons. So, at 7am, the middle daughter (TMD) and I joined a crew…
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August Update
August is not a huge month for seeing new species – of anything, really. Even so, I added two new year-birds, one of which was also a life bird: an Ash-throated Flycatcher, marking only the 18th reported sighting in Montana. The second was a Cooper’s Hawk that was haunting our yard and feeders for a…
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Rare Bird, Indeed!
I picked up a new lifer this morning following a 4.8-mile walk up to the Helena Ridge trail. The image is of an Ash-throated Flycatcher, which really ought to be a state or two south of us – they spend most of their time in the Southwest. It turns out this is only the 18th…
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Bats and Rattlesnakes
Other than the tens of thousands of bats, we had the canyon to ourselves. Just The Middle Daughter (TMD) and I, plus our 55 new friends. Among the group were a bat specialist, the captain of the Sacajawea II, an FWP non-game biologist, a former state legislator, and a few dozen other folks simply hoping…
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Moonworts and More
This summer has been busy. We’ve made nature trips to the Yaak, Seeley/Swan, skirted the Scapegoat Wilderness north of Lincoln, Yellowstone NP, the Oregon Coast, and today we went into the hills above and to the south of Georgetown Lake. This summer has been about getting out a bit farther afield. Montana has so much…
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Smoky Skies and Species of Concern
Today, the air quality at home was pretty rough – 159 AQI when I woke up at 5:30am. By 7:30, I was up in the hills hoping for a little cleaner air, and looking for birds and flowering plants. As the smoke started to thicken up there too, I decided to break for the plains…
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July Update
We’ve done several terrific bio-blitzes this month. Our first was a quick day trip to the fringes of Lewis and Clark County on July 4th to find a Lark Bunting. Then, July 10th to Yaak to explore fens where we hoped to see sundews; July 18th to the southern edge of the Scapegoat Wilderness up…
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The English Sundew Experience
We left Helena at noon on Friday, needing to be back by 7:00 PM Saturday. Thirty-one hours was our entire time allotment. In the end, it took us a hair over 32. But in that window, we managed to find 12 to 14 new plant species for the year (ID’ing is ongoing), most of which…