A Message from SAS President, Chris Nixon
With the birds all flocking southward, it is again time for us as a group to flock back together. Join us for the first membership meeting and speaker presentation of the 2024/2025 season as Patrick Cross informs about the conservation efforts by MDT.
Consider joining in on one of the two fall migration field trips (pg. 6), Book Club meetings, and other activities listed in these pages.
Now…. don’t go thinking nothing was happening with SAS over the summer break. SAS received approval from the Montana Natural History Center and provided the first ever Wetland Master Naturalist Course in the State of Montana (see article page 9). This program was largely designed by SAS Board Member Frank Marchak and led by several experts in the area. The endeavor was SO SUCCESSFUL, that SAS has now been asked to facilitate and provide the general Master Naturalist Course for the region. That is starting this month and is being taught by Cedar Mathers-Winn.
Of course, the Busy Beavers were busy as, well, beavers…. all summer long. Tons of projects were accomplished at the IAWP. Many of our two-legged beavers also helped with the 3rd annual BioBlitz at the IAWP.
IAWP Trivia nights continued at Lockhorn Cider House all summer. Don’t miss the next one on grassland ecology, including Burrowing Owls.
Bluebirds, Kestrels, and even Saw-whet Owls were banded by our banding teams. Be sure and read the encouraging articles on how the banding season went. Burdock was removed from trails again this year. The success of these efforts is evident with the decline in burdock removed each year.
A BIG THANK YOU to all of you who participated in all SAS and IAWP activities…. way too many to mention.
And, I hope all of you who are creating native plant habitat for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife in your home landscapes are seeing success and enjoying the benefit of your efforts.
Last week I stumbled across a new YouTube channel “A Garden for Birds” created and hosted by an avid long term gardener now turned enthusiastic native plant gardener www.youtube.com/@gardenforbirds The content is some of the most creative and entertaining I have ever seen on this topic. She only has 39 short videos at this point. Even though she lives in the east and thus the content is eastern based, the videos are so good, they are more than worth binge watching. Be forewarned…. if you are not yet gardening with native plants…. watching these short videos could ultimately cause you to get your hands dirty. My hands and nails are a mess…. but….I have some beautiful butterflies and blossoms to show for it!
