Author: BradinMontana

Over sixty species of birds today. Including two Canada Jays (being unmercifully harassed by a pint-sized Western Tanager), a whole slew of Lincoln’s Sparrows, Red-tailed Hawk, and a beautiful Red-naped Sapsucker that stayed still long enough for me to get an image. Lots of time in the field today. The Priest Pass area was totally…

It’s been a really nice day. We found the Blue-eyed Grass on Mount Helena, we also found a Boisduval’s Blue butterflies- Icaricia icarioides. And then we watched the Strawberry Full Moon rise. This Solstice has been a good one.

Mountain Lady’s Slippers, Scarlet Paintbrush, Hillside Arnica, one of the Fleabanes, and a Scarlet Gaura. We found ourselves on several of Mount Helena’s trails today. We also picked up three new species of butterflies- but the images are pretty subpar. We found – Greenish Blue, an Eastern Tailed Blue, and Western Pygmy Blue. I need…

This was exciting to find. I’ve never been able to capture this swallowtail for a picture. This is the Anise Swallowtail- Papilio zelicaon. He was flying around the top of the world along the Rodney Ridge Trail.

Today, we took a short excursion up to the continental divide. Macdonald, Priest, and Mullan Passes. Picked up nine new flower species for the year. Blue Camas, and a white flowered version, Western Pasqueflower, Long-leaf Evening Primrose, Smallflower Penstemon, Slender Phlox, Streamside Bluebells, Western Meadowrue, and a few that the images were lousy. Still, very…

Silvery Blue (shown), Hoary Comma, California Ringlet, and Painted Lady. Sixteen butterfly species IDed so far. The wind has been making it hard to find many butterflies lately. These finds are from Mount Helena and Mount Ascension. The divide is liekly even windier- I’ll head up there soon, but not today.

This morning is off to a very nice start.  SMR, the Lab and I did a beautiful 60 minutes across the face of Mount Helena- lots of birds, flowers, peace and quiet, a couple of neighbors out early walking on the hill. Great way to start June.  I’ve been trying to get a decent image…

By finding this lovely flower, I have 56 flowering species in May, and 90 for the 2024 Wildflowering Season. Not a bad bit of wildflowering!  I have put in 137 miles of hiking across the hills in the Helena Valley in May- not too shabby all things considered. So that puts me at 346 miles…

The Scratchgravels continue coming to life as Spring unfolds slowly across the area. I’ve been waiting for the Rock and Canyon Wrens to return and today, I was able to find a lovely Little Rock Wren singing its lungs out. Lark Sparrow are everywhere along the Tumbleweed Trail and the Bitterroots are starting to open.…

Lovely early morning walk up to Wakina Sky. Happy birthday to my best friend and spouse, SMR! We found/heard/saw eighteen species of birds and twenty-two species of wildflowers- including this lovely Hairy Clematis, or Sugar Bowl. It was a terrific way to start the day.