Aug 21 – I’ve often wondered where the Hummingbirds that we get come from? It’s not like we’re right next to the mountains. There aren’t many flowers this time of year out in the prairies, Asters maybe. Don’t Hummingbirds have to eat about every 15 minutes, they eat small bugs and I’m sure there are plenty of those. It would be interesting to find out how the migrating Hummingbirds get here in Great Falls, growing up in Fort Benton we had them there as well in fall migration. Do they follow the Missouri River, there are surely more flowers there, and if so where do they leave it and head South? Migration is amazing. Hmm! – Richard Mousel
Yes, I wonder the same things….. All the range maps seem to show we are on the very, very edge of migration range for rufous hummers. Do a few get lost, blown off course? Or maybe it is mostly juveniles getting a little confused on their first southward migration. I would think the river would be an attractive safe haven for them if they get off track….Steve Leathe
Aug 19 – Had a major BBC (Backyard Bird Congregation) this morning. The volunteer sunflowers were allowed to go wild this year and they are bird magnets. Makes me wonder what would happen if we planted the whole backyard to sunflowers….
It is almost impossible to count but prob had as many as 10 bc chickadees at one time hopping and flying all around. I like to think that 7 of em were the brood that fledged from one of our birdhouses at the end of June. Also had a dozen or more house finches and then 30+ house sparrows descended on the lawn trying to figure out what all the commotion was about. Fortunately, they are stupid when it comes to processing sunflowers. The just kind of sit around looking dumb while they watch the chicks and finches clean em up.
All this congregation of birds seemed to attract others. Had a vibrant male goldfinch show up for a while, a chipping sparrow (I think…) and even 2-3 warblers, which are very rare in our garden. Pretty sure they were yellow warblers as could see the faint red breast streaks still on some of them. But also saw one LGW (little green warbler) that could have been a juvenile Wilson’s. A pair of downy woodpecker stopped by to watch and pecked on the house for a couple minutes and left. I expected to see one of the local Coopers hawks make a pass or two but that didn’t happen.
A major highlight happened just before dark last nite when a hummer (prob a rufous) showed up and spent about 10 minutes slurping up sugar water at one of the feeders. Seemed like it was filling its tank after a long flight from up north. I have only seen two other hummers here all summer (one on Aug 6 and another on Aug 9) but they just did fly-bys and did not visit the feeders. Unfortunately the hummer did not show up again this morning.
All of this makes me think fall migration is underway,,, it sure feels like mid-Sept here this morning…. – Steve Leathe
Aug 19 – No Hummingbirds here yet this year. I checked my garden diary and in the last 5 years I’ve had them as late as September 8th, so there is still time. Keeping my fingers crossed. My Salvia hanging baskets are looking nice, I’ve been chasing the House finches away. – Richard Mousel
Aug 16 – Saw two of the juvenile Swainson’s hawks sitting on fence posts – one on each side of neighbor’s gate – heads thrown back and wings out from body – don’t know if they were sun worshipping or trying to cool down. they are so identical they didn’t look real sitting there and I did not have camera handy 🙁
Not sure what the northern flickers out here are up to – they’re in and out of the kestrel nesting box planning for next year? surely it is too late to nest this year but this is the first time the starlings weren’t in the box. – Bev Axelsen
Aug 14 – the whole family is out on the utility poles this afternoon – four of them! one is definitely feasting on a snake
Aug 14 – I was a little surprised to see a young looking tundra swan this morning at the bottom of Sacajawea Island (off West Bank Park). I was looking at some of the inlets at small ducks that were some flavor of teal when a head popped up out of the thick grass. It was white with a dark bill from what I could see with 7X binos and 120 plus yards away. I continued looking at the area in hopes it would pick up its head again – this time looking through my camera – bingo. A shot or two. I continued to wait until all the Franklin’s Gulls started shouting “eagle!! eagle!! eagle!!” and 450 took off. That got the head up for plenty of shots. I could see a yellow patch on the bill when I enlarged it, one shot it was looking at the camera and I could see the straight line between the eyes as well. It had some gray on the neck making me think – juvenile. A little early for a swan.
Aug 14 – The osprey kids at Garden Home Park decided today they would try flying. With little practice (jumping up and down and helicoptering over the nest) they were off and flying from power pole to nest to power pole. In 8-10 days they will be experts. Yesterday they were still just doing a little bit of flapping. – Beth Hill
Aug 9 – We seem to have lots of hungry little birds, I’m having to fill the bird feeders every day. I use Nutrasaff in two modified Perky-Pet upside down feeders. That’s a lot of native birds hanging upside down feeding. The Chickadees and Nuthatch seem to especially like the peanuts as well. The birds polish off the ripe sunflower heads in short order. If you haven’t been feeding during the summer now might be a good time to start up again and help the little birds fatten up a little bit for the winter. – Richard Mousel
Aug 6 – I found one West Bank Park box (#12 – behind the water treatment plant) that had a pair of swallows circling around it this morning. I kept watching to see if there was more than one pair. After a bit I decided that I should look in the box because they were sure acting like they had little ones inside. Sure enough there were 4 (maybe 5) that looked like the picture that Richard shared. A second brood. – Beth Hill
Aug 6 – The last of the Tree Swallows have fledged at Highland Cemetery. I took this picture several days ago. – Richard Mousel
