Sept. 28 – Howdy: Just to let everyone know. Beth, Alex and I setup a bird feeder at Giant Springs. We set it up in the lawn next to the bridge. – Richard Mousel
Oct. 1 – The rain had stopped by 6 pm so I ran out to West Bank to see if anything was happening after the 2 inches of rain that we had received (2 inches on my deck). The river was about 2 inches higher than 48 hours ago. At first glance there weren’t many birds. Closer exam revealed hundreds if not thousands of ducks. There were several significant rafts. More than 180 each of Eared Grebes and Coots, over 320 Ruddy Ducks, a group of 50-60 American Avocets standing shoulder to shoulder, 50 Gadwall, 50 Redheads, 25 American Wigeons, 150 or more Northern Shovelers and 20 Ring-necked Ducks. There were also 4 Great Blue Herons standing together at the upper end of one of the small river islands. It is always amazing to see what a good spell of “bad” weather will drop on the river. Yesterday morning as it started to rain there were a number of shovelers and teal and coots but that was about it. – Beth Hill
Oct. 3 – When I left the house today, I saw dozens of ravens down at the corner and when I came home, there were dozens in my pasture. Don’t think I’ve seen a single raven out here before. I was too lazy to walk out to the squirrel feeder in the wet grass and mud early this a.m., so I set a dish of oily sunflower seeds, acorns, grapes, and peanuts out on the deck. There are only shells left! And one grape sitting on the step. The cats went out with me and aren’t back in. I’m hoping the squirrel will get the grape after the cats come back in. I saw pelicans at Freezeout on Wednesday. Saw one Swainson’s Hawk out here but not in the trees where they’ve nested in the past. – Bev Axelson
Oct. 6 – Have our first Lincoln’s Sparrow this morning, we also still have several White-throated Sparrows. – Richard Mousel
Oct. 7 – Harriet Marble and I saw a magnolia warbler yesterday at Giant Springs. – Liz Larcom
Oct. 7 – There is fairly good birding at Giant Springs today, although I didn’t find the Magnolia Warbler. I didn’t really look very hard. There are fair numbers of Yellow-rumped and Orange Crowned Warblers a good bunch of White- throated Sparrows mostly in the first group of bushes next to the walkway. There is also a Hermit Thrush as well. Along with a couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets. I also saw a number of Flickers, Russ Hill said he saw a Yellow-shafted one.
One of the owls is in a Cottonwood along the old road. I filled the bird feeder, didn’t see any activity at it.
Oct. 7 – several comments were made on the Trumpeter Swan that over-summered above the Black Eagle Dam. It started out the spring further up-river near the water treatment plant.
Oct. 7 – There are lots of White-crowned Sparrows in my garden in Ft. Benton eating my volunteer sunflowers. – Wendy Kamm
Oct. 9 – It was a perfect day today so Maria and I decided to check a couple of my Bluebird Trails, we did the Hwy 89 and Logging Creek trails. The trails include about 70 boxes. It appears to have been a pretty good year. The estimated Mountain Bluebirds fledged is 182 and 33 Tree Swallows. These trails contain about half of my Bluebird boxes. By the looks of the posts, I’m going to have to start bringing some new steel posts. – Richard Mousel
Oct. 11 – There is a good Fallout at Giant Springs. – Richard Mousel (lots of warblers, sparrows)
Oct. 11 – Palm Warbler at Giant Springs. It’s been hanging out near the parking lot in the Hawthorne Trees. Richard Mousel
Oct. 11 – Harriet Marble and I had a palm warbler out at Benton Lake yesterday morning, too! (Shelterbelt adjacent to the road stub to HQ.) Other highlights of the day were a white-winged scoter and a Bonaparte’s gull. Water level high and many, many waterfowl and other birds at the lake. – Liz Larcom
Oct. 13 – 3 or more Palm Warblers at Giant Springs this morning. – Richard Mousel
Oct. 19 – Shrike at Giant Springs chasing house finches. – Richard Mousel
Oct. 20 – A quick check from the West Bank side of the river this evening yielded few geese (they left early, probably because all the clouds made it much darker). A pleasant surprise was 2 Common Loons loafing together. Another was a single Sabine’s Gull still in full breeding colors (solidly black head still). I had seen it two days earlier. The Buffleheads seemed to have made themselves at home. A single Common Goldeneye. What will this cold front bring? Beth Hill Oct. 20 – With the latest wonderful fall weather Maria and I decided to check and clean the other half of my Bluebird Trails boxes. One of the highlights was a Northern Shrike. The Riceville Evans trail contains approximately another 75 boxes. The weather cooperated this summer and we had really good numbers of estimated fledglings. The tally is as follows:407 Mountain Bluebirds; 51 Tree Swallows; 16 Mountain Chickadees; 13 House Wrens. – Richard Mousel
Oct. 24 – I traveled the raptor route from Cascade to Ulm and was treated to a 10-minute tussle between a juvy bald eagle and 3 ravens. it appeared that the eagle had something in his claw and the ravens wanted it. Eventually the bald eagle turned the tables and chased off the ravens. 2 photos attached (the birds were so far and so photos not great). Saw 4 other raptors along this route and was only able to get close enough to photograph one. I think he is a roughie, photo attached. (It was – ed.) Lastly, saw 2 meadowlarks, they looked like juveniles. – Jan Wilson
Oct. 24 – It was not very close, but what I saw looked more like a Pacific Loon than a Common Loon at Giant Springs this morning. The bill looked small, the head looked ’rounder’ and the white on the neck was wide and straight edg- es. It just seemed small even far across the river.
We should be getting into fall “loon time”, so keep your eyes open. I’ve seen several already this fall. Otherwise there have been very few water birds the past week around Giant Springs. Today’s Bufflehead count was up to 15. One fly- by Mallard and no Canada Geese while we were there. Seems oddly empty. Beth Hill
Oct. 29 – Giant Springs. The river still has few waterfowl. We did see a single Red-breasted Merganser (female or young male), 25 Buffleheads and 18 American Coot. A flock of 34 Tundra Swans flew overhead just as we arrived. Their “tooting” gave them away. – Beth Hill
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