Back to Montana

Fort Peck, MT - I am back in Montana and back to work in the office. My time in Arizona was great and humbling. The bird monitoring course I took was taught by some very good birders - did you hear that chip note? It sounded more cheep than chip so it is species x. I knew about 3 species each morning and the rest were all new. It was quite frustrating but I certainly learned a number of new species and it was really good practice. I would need at least a week in that area to feel even moderately comfortable doing any sort of survey where I would rely on my ability to ID birds by sounds. Other aspects of the course included survey design and data analysis. These sections were excellent and I wish I would have had the instructor for any of my introductory stats courses or even my grad level grad courses. Here are a few more photos from my time in Arizona.


Canyon Towhee


Canyon Towhee

Curve-billed Thrasher


Desert Grassland Whiptail



White-eared Hummingbird (best I could do).



Two-tailed Tiger Swallowtails



Sycamore Bark



Pyrrhuloxia male


Pyrrhuloxia female


California Sister


I can't remember what we wound up calling this one.


Lucifer Hummingbird. This is probably my favorite species of the trip. This was one of those instances when I could have used a bit more light or a tripod or an image stabilized lens. The female was quite pretty too with a really nice buff collar. I wish I could have gotten a photo of her too.