Unexpected Bird

A couple of weeks ago I was at Pompey's Pillar National National Monument for work. As we left the monument I noticed what appeared to be a Western Kingbird perched on a wire above the entrance.The bird was perched above and just forward of the vehicle so I was looking at the bird straight up it's tail.  I almost just left the ID at that, thinking that it would turn out to be a Western Kingbird anyway. Although it had been quite warm through the fall I knew that most if not all of the kingbirds had already departed for points further south and the possibility of the bird being something else was increased.

The photo above shows what my initial view of the bird looked like although it was even more silhouetted against the light sky.



















I decided I just had to check and turned the vehicle around at the approach to the highway and I was immediately glad I made that decision. Even without my binoculars I knew that I was looking at a pretty rare bird for Montana. The profile was distinctive - a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. I told my coworkers that this was a pretty rare species for MT and later, after some research, I figured it was probably the 16th observation of this species in MT. However it wasn't the first time I had seen this species in MT - I was 10 years old when my Dad found the first one for MT and it still remember that bird. I have been looking for another in MT ever since, figuring that it would be a bird that I could recognize pretty easily driving down the highway.

I didn't have my camera with me, but one of my coworkers did have her point-and-shoot so she took a couple of photos at my urging.

In the photo above (by Karen Prentice) you can see the flycatcher perched on the wire in the upper left side of the photo.

We returned to Billings and I grabbed my camera and I returned to the monument hoping to find the bird again. I initially could not find it, but just as I was getting ready to head back to town and work I found the bird perched in the shadow of a powerpole across the highway to the south. I was able to get a few photos as the bird as it foraged back and forth from this perch. 
























I am still not sure of the age and sex of this bird. My best guess is that it is an immature female based on the length of the tail feathers and the pale base of the bill. Comments regarding this conclusion are welcome.















The bird apparently stuck around for at least a few days and it looks like a number of other birders from around the area were able to relocate it.  The last photos I took were of the bird stretching its wing and tail.

Big Old Birds

This morning I took the boys to the airport to see three WWII vintage airplanes - a B-17, a B-24, and a P-51 Mustang. The planes were in Billings as part of the Collings Foundation's Wings of Freedom tour. Information on the history of these particular airplanes can be found on the foundation's website; the B-17 here, the P-51 here. The B-24 link doesn't work right now, but I have a photo below of a placard that was next to the airplane.

This is the B-17.

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The B-24 was laid up with some engine work, but we were still able to walk through.

The P-51

We were able to walk through both bombers, although a more apt term would be a crawl through. There wasn't a lot of space on those planes. It was pretty amazing to see these planes up close.

Pine Butte Birding Workshop

Earlier this June I was fortunate to be asked to help lead a birding workshop at the Pine Butte Guest Ranch. I had lead this workshop about 6 years ago and was honored to be asked back again. I really enjoy this part of Montana and the wide variety of birds to be found near the ranch. The staff and guests were top notch last time and they were again this time too.

It rained for most of my drive from Billings to the ranch and when I got to the ranch there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground.The snow soon disappeared and the weather improved each day I was there. The new snow sure made the Rocky Mountain Front spectacular.

Our first morning was a trip to the Pine Butte Swamp which is actually a fen. The photo above show the fen in the foreground with the Front behind. We climbed to the top of Pine Butte, which is surrounded by the fen. From the top we managed to find a moose with a calf foraging below us. We also found a small group of elk and one more moose, but not bears were observed directly. We did find a nice grizzly bear track in the mud along the trail though.

 An old Limber Pine.

We found this Cecropia Moth along the trail to the top of the butte.

The next morning we headed to a property along the Teton River and we birded in the dense riparian area. We found the few Northern Waterthrushes singing and foraging along a small pond.

I watched this waterthrush pick a dragonfly larvae out of the water.  We observed a good variety of birds in this area and then, just as we were finishing up and thinking about lunch, the skies broke open and we were hit with a mid-day deluge. It rained heavy for about a half an hour as we moved towards the grassland area to the south. By the time we got there, the storm had blown past and the day returned to being very nice.

We were entertained by a Golden Eagle the soared over us while we were having lunch and waiting for the road to dry out a bit.

After lunch we were rewarded with a great afternoon of birding in the grasslands east of the ranch.

One of the reasons I really like birding in this area is the variety of habitats near the ranch. East of the mountains there are some great fescue grasslands which harbor bird more typical of eastern Montana like Chestnut-collared Longspurs, McCown's Longspurs, and Sprague's Pipit.

Here we all are looking for Sprague's Pipit.

And here is the pipit we found. We were also treated to some great views of McCown's Longspurs that afternoon as well.

That afternoon David Sibley and Keith Hansen arrived to assume leadership of the workshop and I had the pleasure of working with both of these great guys.

The next day we headed to Freezeout Wildlife Management Area (WMA) a bit east of the ranch. This WMA is home to a wide variety of waterbirds and shorebirds and we were able to observe a great many of them.

These American Avocets were displaying before and after a copulation.
Back at the ranch, this Red-naped Sapsucker continued to excavate a cavity he was working on during the week.

The next morning we stayed at the ranch and hiked up to a ridgeline above the ranch. It was a great morning with some wonderful birds, including a Magnolia Warbler - a rather rare warbler this far west in Montana. I particularly enjoyed this morning. Not just because of the great company birding, but because the birds we observed were such typical western Montana birds that I haven't been able to watch for quite a while and they always bring back memories of my time spent in the Montana mountains.

These include the Gray Jay

and the Calliope Hummingbird. This species was one of the first "western" birds I remember finding when I went to college in Missoula and when I lived in Bozeman we had many of these at my feeders. I miss seeing them on a regular basis.

I also got to see some flowers I haven't seen for a while too including the Arrowleaf Balsamroot

and this Calypso Orchid.

Immediately after getting back to the ranch after this walk I had to hit the road and get back to Billings. Along the way home I stopped one last time at Freezeout WMA to see what I could find and found large numbers of Wilson's Phalaropes and a few  Willets.

This was the view from my porch one morning. I hope I get invited back to do this workshop again. I had a great time working with staff naturalists Jeff Wohl and Nikki Mann for the first couple of days and then tagging along with David and Kieth for another couple of days. The guests for this workshop were also a wonderful bunch to be with. I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did. One of the guests, Derek Rodgers from New York, also has a great blog and you can read more about the trip from Derek's point of view here.