Hmmm.

A couple of weeks ago I received an invitation to an event in New Orleans celebrating the partnership between TransCanada (a large pipeline company currently working on building a pipeline from the tar sands oil fields in Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast across eastern Montana) and Duck Unlimited.

Yesterday I received this via email.



I wonder why they may have decided that canceling a celebration between a large oil pipeline company and a conservation organization in New Orleans might be the thing to do right now......

Greater Sage-Grouse again

Some more photos from a previous morning on a nearby lek.

Cold Grasshoppers for Breakfast

No not me. But the Long-billed Curlew I watched the other morning was quite adept and flicking them off the ground with tip of their long bill and then catching them in their mouth.





In this photo there is a grasshopper in mid flick, 2/3 of the way toward the tip of the bill.



This photo show a different grasshopper just heading down the hatch.





The Chestnut-collared Longspurs are back and singing now too.



The Horned Larks have lost their exclusive prairie real estate in the last few days.

He's Back!

They hybrid Sharp-tailed Grouse x Greater Sage-Grouse is back again on the lek this spring. My Dad watched him earlier this month and told me he was holding his own with the larger sage-grouse this year, rather than getting run around as I noted last year.
Last weekend I was finally able to go see him for myself and it was quite a change from the previous year. He had his own section of the lek where he displayed and he was able to maintain his position even when challenged. He is at least 3 years old now and it will be interesting to see how many springs we continue to find him here.



He still sounds like a duck with a cold and dances funny.





As I noted last year, this bird has no colored cervical apteria (area without feathers on the neck). Neither the yellow patches in the front like a sage-grouse nor the purple apteria on the side of the neck like a Sharp-tailed Grouse. However, this year I noticed that there was a very slight purple tinge to the skin at the base of the feathers on the side of the neck where the purple apteria is located on a Sharp-tailed Grouse. You can barely see it in the photo above.

Change in Plans

This week I was supposed to be in Alaska teaching a course. Instead I am in Lewistown, MT taking a course on data management. I was supposed to leave last Thursday and spend the weekend in Homer prior to the teaching in Anchorage. I had planned to look for Rock Sandpipers, Steller's Eiders, Kittlitz's Murrelets and the Emperor Goose that has been hanging around the spit. On Tuesday morning I found out the the class had been canceled. My consolation is that the weather was pretty crappy in Homer last weekend and a local field trip on Kachemak Bay did not record a Steller's Eider or Kittlitz's Murrelet.

The good news was that the weather last weekend was great in Montana and I was able to spend another morning at a sage-grouse lek..



and also enjoy a hike with my family.



More photos from the lek to follow.

Mountain Plover

Mountain Plovers have arrived, back again for another year.

Flying Kick - Sharp-tailed Grouse

One more I forgot to include from my previous post.