By John Parker
This fall, there have been relatively few rare or uncommon birds to report. The primary reason is because of the fairly benign weather this year, with few major systems moving through or stalling over the region. Who complains about the beautiful weather? Well, birders who are looking for birds displaced by storms.
Regardless of what the weather is, most birds migrate anyway. If you are fortunate, on a beautiful autumn day you can still find some great birds. Such was the case for Jim Manning on October 14th, when he found five Surf Scoters on Harrison Reservoir. In most years a few of these pelagic ducks move through southwest Montana in small numbers, but finding five together is exceptional.
Shorebirds moved through the region steadily from July through September without any great surprises. American Golden Plover are not seen annually in our area, and always in small numbers. The only American Golden Plover seen this fall was found at Harrison Reservoir on September 14 by Vic Fesolowitz. On that same trip Vic also saw a Sabine’s Gull at the lake. Nine days later Dalton Spencer counted five Sabine’s Gulls at Harrison Reservoir.
September 22 was one of the stormier days of the early fall, so Andrew Guttenberg made the trip over to Harrison hoping for something different. It proved to be a good decision, as Andrew arrived at the lake, he shortly spotted two Parasitic Jaegers. A life bird no less! As a bonus there were three Sabine’s Gulls there.
Two rare warblers were discovered in Bozeman during this fall’s migration. The first was a Cape May Warbler seen by John Parker as it was flycatching over the East Gallatin River in the woods east of Glen Lake, on September 9th. The second warbler was a Black-throated Blue Warbler found by Robin Wolcott in Graf Park on October 4th.
Black-throated Blue Warbler, Graf Park by Ed Harper
The Cape May Warbler was a first for southwest Montana and the Black-throated Blue was only the second seen in this corner of the state. Luckily, the Black-throated Blue Warbler remained in a small patch of woods next to the trail for one more day enabling many local birders close looks at this stunning male warbler, with his black mask, midnight blue back, offset by the ivory white belly. It should be noted that both of these warblers were observed eating berries, which they will sometimes do during migration to supplement their normally insectivorous diet. Not as unusual as the above warblers, but still a nice find for this far west was the Blackpoll Warbler Harold Ziolkowski had in his Belgrade yard on September 14th.
Great Egret by Don Profota
Early this summer, but still in the late spring migration period, two other striking birds made an appearance locally. Only occasionally seen in this area, the Great Egret discovered at the Cherry River fishing access site in Bozeman on June 12, is always an impressive bird to see up close in breeding plumage.
Lastly, but certainly not least was another first for southwestern Montana. During a period of unsettled weather on June 5th Kevin Cox was amazed to see a brilliant male Scarlet Tanager off of Graf Street in south Bozeman.
