This fall’s migration is well underway, but it’s time to recap some of this spring and summer’s noteworthy birds.
For seven days an Indigo Bunting lingered in Kristina Price’s yard, south of Belgrade. This cooperative bird was seen by many people as it foraged in the driveway and yard. This bird which first arrived on April 23rd, was not only far west of its typical range, but quite early for this species, which would not be expected to arrive until about a month later.
Even less likely to stray beyond far eastern Montana than Indigo Buntings, Dickcissels are a rare find so far west, with only a handful of records for the southwestern part of the state. On June 22nd Anne Tucker first saw a Dickcissel in the last remaining clump of choke cherries in an area being developed south of Montana State University. Most surprising, was that this bird was territorial and continued singing at this isolated perch till at least July 14th.
A very late migrating Prairie Warbler, was seen June 24th in Emigrant by Keith Maley. Prairie Warblers breeding range only extends into the lower Midwest, so this wandering individual was a thousand miles beyond its usual range. So, it makes sense that Prairie Warblers have only been reported six times before in Montana.
This past spring and summer’s field trip participants got to experience a wide variety of habitats on trips from ranchlands in Madison County to the prairies of Sweet Grass County, and many other bird-rich locations in between. The Shields Valley tour tallied an amazing 95 bird species, including a Broad-winged Hawk. Maybe the most stunning bird of the season was an American Robin seen on the Jackson Creek trip. Not just any robin, but a nearly pure white leucistic bird.
Birds weren’t the only animals to entertain trip participants. While exploring the state land on the Sweet Grass Prairie trip, several animals associated with the prairie made an appearance, including a black-tailed jackrabbit, badger, and a pronghorn with two new fawns. The folks on the Mission Creek trip got to see three separate black bears in the foothills below the Absaroka Mountains. And finally, those of us who were on the Beaver Ponds trip to Yellowstone got to watch a river otter at close range, while it hunted in the sedges along the edge of one of the ponds.
A huge thank you to all of our wonderful trip leaders, who make all of these trips possible!
