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Following a very nice sunrise, walk and a big breakfast, we did a couple of miles across the lower aspect of Mt. Helena. It was the first time being on the trails ‘up there’ in what feels like several months. Some of the trails were clear and dry, some of them had running water, coursing…

The Lab and I had a new experience this morning. While walking up a very slight rise, the fox in the image above spied us and trotted slowly to a fence line. I could see the fox, but the lab could not. As we came over the rise, the fox sat staring at us about…

March was a cold, wet month. While February is the driest month of the year in the Helena Valley, March starts the precip cycle back up. The four-month period from March to June is our wet season. March of 2023 had only 3 days that exceeded the average high temp, but had 22 days that…

Such a nice day afield. By 8am, we had seen both species of deer and a stunning Red Fox. By 3pm we had 27 species of birds and added antelope and prairie dog to the mammal list. The Lab and I headed out to Freezeout Lake early today. In a typical year, this is the…

While today is, astronomically, the last day of Winter, it is, acording to me, the first day of Spring. Let me explain. I have several markers that I use to determine when sping starts. My current progression is three-fold. I begin smelling skunks- that is step one. I begin hearing hearing woodpeckers drumming and calling-…

The college daughters are home from school for a bit which has been really wonderful for all of us. Their Spring break started out with a nice 9-inch snowfall, high winds and National Weather Service warnings about whiteout conditions and unsafe travel. Then it got cold, then it snowed another 5 inches. Springtime in the…

So, a crazy thing happened about two hours ago. I was driving down the street that I live on and four birds flew right in front of my car. They landed in the road and started running so I turned (not the direction that I was planning to go, but hey, these were birds!) to…

I was really happy to see this northern pintail today. I usually only see them in large flocks on much larger bodies of water. This one was alone (as in, he was the only one of his species) on a small pond not too far from home. There were about 80 mallards and about 30…

Technically, February is not over. It’s not even 8pm on Tuesday, Feb 28. However, I am not likely to see any more new species this month since I am inside and working on the computer, it is quite dark out, and the Lab and I have closed out our day with a total of 6.5…

The Lab and I were out in the middle of several hundred acres of open, scrubby land looking for Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, and Lapland Longspurs. In past winters we have been successful at finding all three- in December we were successful. Today- I saw three Horned larks. Two flew away as we approached, but…