Red-throated Loon

Yesterday I received a report of an immature Red-throated Loon at Lake Elmo State Park, which is just a few minutes away from my house. I headed out to see what I could find and had a great morning birding around the lake. It included good looks at the Red-throated Loon.

 Most of the time he was towards the middle of the lake, but late in the day when I returned he was foraging close to shore. This is the 16th recorded observation of this species in Montana.

There were quite a few Yellow-rumped Warblers around the lake too.

World Shorebird Day

Last Saturday (September 6th) was the first annual World Shorebird Day.  That, along with a recent email describing the shorebirds found during a recent visit by another Montana birder (thanks Ed), finally got me to prioritize some time to get to Spidel Waterfowl Management Area near Broadview, MT.  It is a rather shallow water body and it often doesn't have much if any water in it, but this spring it filled up good and summer rains have kept the water levels fairly high with enough exposed shoreline to continue to be attractive to migrating shorebirds. I had hoped to get to Spidel much sooner than this, but life conspired against me for planned outings for much of the summer. This time I made it work and it was well worth it. The wetland area sits to the east of the access road so afternoons are best for viewing.  The weather Saturday was gorgeous too. No wind, sunny, and pleasant temps. We arrived late in the afternoon and had great light and there were lots of birds. Most of the birds were molting waterfowl sitting on the far side of the lake, but there were scattered bunches of small sandpipers and American Avocets along the near shoreline.

There were also mixed flocks of a variety of other shorebirds, including Baird's Sandpipers, Stilt Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Greater Yellowlegs.

Even the Killdeer were photogenic in the golden evening light.

We weren't the only ones there looking for shorebirds.

This Peregrine Falcon was chasing shorebirds at the far end of the lake and generally causing a ruckus wherever he was including a few passes at a Northern Harrier passing through. There were also a few California Gulls hanging around and as the sun set a large number of Franklin's Gulls flew in to the lake from the south.

It was great to finally get out and look at (and photograph) some wildlife.

Eastern Montana Birding Tour - Naturalist Journeys

If anyone is interested in joining Woody Wheeler and me for a week long birding and nature tour through some of my favorite places in Eastern Montana check out this opportunity here. If you would to go directly to the report of our trip last year click here.

We had a great time last year with a bunch of great folks and I am looking forward to doing it again this year. We have lined up a few new treats this year for our guests including a couple of home cooked meals delivered in the middle of some great birding. I really enjoy showing other interested people my favorite corner of the world which includes great birds, interesting history (prehistoric on up), grassland ecology research and management, and even some discussions on pertinent literature relating to the places we visit. Come join us.

Grouse Days

Early last week I took a few days off and headed north to spend a couple of mornings on a Sharp-tailed Grouse and Greater Sage-Grouse lek after the weather looked like it was going to cooperate and there would be a few days without snow, wind, and clouds.
My first morning was great. I set my blind up on my favorite sharp-tail lek the night before and shortly after climbing into the blind I had a number of males displaying around me. The rapid-fire thumping foot stomps of the displaying birds sounded like distant machine gun fire. The percussions were combined with cooing and chuckling as the birds jostled with each other in the dark. As dawn flowed towards me I could slowly discern the shapes of the birds and the sounds from the darkness merged with their dancing bodies.

Sunrise reflected in the eye.

From this point until the sun actually appeared above the horizon is the most difficult for the photographer, but often the most enjoyable for the biologist. There is usually a lot of action on the leks between dawn and sunrise as the females arrive and the males kick displaying into high gear, but not enough light to make good photos. This morning was no different, but thankfully the female sharptails keep arriving after the sun appeared behind me so the photographer was as happy as the biologist.

I find displaying sharptails to be more entertaining than sage-grouse with their more vigorous displays and frequent jumping fights providing lots of action. One fight this morning was memorable as both birds kept at it for at least 5 minutes. They were on the edge of my field of view from the blind opening and the fight was mostly auditory for me, but the intensity was still evident in the sharp thwacks of wing strikes and bird growls that occurred around me. At one point they fought all the way around my blind.

That evening I headed west and set up on one of my favorite Greater Sage-Grouse leks that in the past has had about 20 males on it. This is gumbo clay country and the spring snows had saturated the landscape. There wasn't much of a footprint of bird activity on the lek, but I thought that it probably was because the frozen ground and recent snows had erased signs of more action.

The next morning I trekked to the lek shortly after the nearly full pumpkin moon slipped below the western horizon, but before dawn had reached the eastern sky. I could hear a couple of birds displaying nearby shortly after I arrived and soon I could hear the more wingbeats settling into the sage around me. However, when it became light enough to see the birds on the lek I realized the the amount of bird sign I had noticed the night before really was indicative of the number of birds on the lek. There were only 7 males displaying in front of me. Even though there were just a few birds, they were right where I wanted them and the light was looking promising for the photographer. As the photographer waited, the biologist enjoyed watching as two females wandered towards the dominant male and then fought with each other for position in front of him. I also noticed that the male displaying just to my right has lost most of his tail feathers and his displays had a very unbalanced appearance. In short order the winning female was bred and then the other female as well. They then wandered off into the sagebrush away from the lek... and six of the males walked their dancing after them and disappeared over the edge of the rise the lek was located on just as the sun was breaching the sky and the light was getting good. Of course the one remaining male was the half plumaged bird. I managed to get a few photos of him in the early light, but just as the sun rose and lit him well, something spooked another bird behind him and out of my sight and the entire group flushed and flew away over a distant ridge and like that the biologist and the photographer were done for the day with the biologist certainly getting the most out of the morning.

The forecast for that night and the next morning, the last of my trip, was high winds, snow, and overcast so I decided not to try my luck at the sharptail lek again. I could have dealt with the wind and snow, but when it was supposed to be combined with overcast skies, it just didn't seem like it would be worth it. Wrong. The next morning was a bit breezy and it had snowed, but it was clear and the sunrise on the new dusting of snow was wonderful. Dang.