March 2017

On March 13, UMBA was pleased that Kristina Smucker, non-game wildlife biologist from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) made a presentation on central Montana curlew studies. In previous years the public has participated in curlew surveys and YOU can in 2017!
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FWP is looking for citizen scientists like you to conduct surveys for Long-billed Curlews – a shorebird that breeds in prairie grasslands.  Volunteers would choose a route in either the Choteau or Cascade area and  survey the route twice between mid-April and the end of May.

Surveys are conducted in the morning by driving a route and stopping every half mile to spend 5-minutes looking and listening for curlews.  Routes will likely take ~ 2 hours to complete.  For more information email Kristina Smucker at ksmucker@mt.gov or call 454-5876 for more information.

On Feb. 18 Beth Hill and a couple members of our Audubon chapter took to the roads with the object of finding a few eagles. Beth described their success: “We took back roads from Ulm to Cascade on the west side of the interstate, then back to Ulm on the east side.

​We had 1 Rough-legged Hawk, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, 9 immature Bald Eagles, 16 adult Bald Eagles and 2 adult Golden Eagles. The sun peaked behind clouds at the right times to highlight the gold on both eagles – wow!
We also had a fair number of Common Ravens (25), Black-billed Magpies (at least 30), Canada Geese (over 400), 10 Common Mergansers, 10 Common Goldeneyes, a number of Horned Larks, starlings, Rock Pigeons, one Ring-necked Pheasant, a few Pronghorns, over 56 deer and 3 porcupines. The weather couldn’t have been nicer (not much wind and enough warming to create some thermals for soaring eagles).
I’d say we found a few eagles!”