2018

26 volunteers counted 50 species (total 23,683 birds) on count day with an additional 2 species during count week. The windy and warm weather were factors in the lower count numbers. When the river is partly frozen, duck species bunch together in open areas which means easier counting. The gusty winds Great Falls had over several days can result in birds holding tight rather than flying in the wind. However, bird feeder watchers may not notice a difference in their numbers as feeders are usually placed in somewhat protected areas. On the annual Christmas Bird Count Day, we wish folks with feeders would consider reporting their findings to us or perhaps allow us to observe their feeder that day.

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Christmas Bird Count 2018Read More »

UMBA booked the Judith Ranger Station June 29, 2018 for an overnight field trip.

The ranger station and surrounding area is special to UMBA as Jean Setter, UMBA founding member, lived nearby on her parent’s homestead.  Jean walked over to the ranger station for piano lessons and was a key reference to restore the ranger station and get in placed on the National Register.

While the weather was cool driving in and we experienced a couple of rain showers, the birds and the wildflowers were showy and abundant.
We spotted:
Swainson’s Hawk
Gold Finch
Bluebird
Cedar Waxwing
Spotted Sandpiper
Red Wing Blackbird
Eastern Kingbird
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Snipe
Barn Swallow
Tree Swallow
Red Tail Hawk
Western Tanager
Night Hawk

We walked up north to Jean Setter’s homestead and enjoyed the sounds of 15 horses on a pack ride.
A June trip is sure to have plenty of wildflowers, with the hillsides pink with color!
We took a hike up Hay Canyon and enjoyed the shady flowers including clematis and columbine.

​The Judith Basin in June is special and we hope to visit again.

Thirteen lucky individuals participated in this year’s Raptor class, eager to improve their hawk and eagle identification skills. About 1/3 of the group was taking the class for their second time because they enjoyed the first round so much, and we quickly discovered we were in for a real treat. Attendees from as far as Seattle and Billings gathered at FWP in Great Falls Friday night for a slideshow presentation and Saturday field trip. Our enthusiastic guide Steve Hoffman, the Bozeman-based former director of Montana Audubon and walking encyclopedia of hawk and eagle knowledge, dazzled us “fledglings” with many wonderful photographs and helpful ID tips.
After two hours of drinking from Steve’s fire hose, we knew our dihedral (upward angled wings from horizontal, Golden Eagles have a little bit of it especially at the wing tips while Bald’s wings stay flat in flight) from our diurnal (active during the day, opposite of nocturnal) and a veritable feast of diagnostic hawk characteristics. We also learned many interesting facts about the various raptor migration patterns, habitat needs, and survival strategies. Who knew male Northern Harriers are polygynous -as in polygamy- they mate with multiple females and they hunt for and provide food to their multiple ladies! Also, even though Shrikes (Northern in MT in winter, Loggerhead in MT in Summer) kill and eat meat they are not part of the raptor family. Raptors, it turns out, are distinguished from all other birds by their powerful talon tipped feet. Also fascinating were the human impacts on raptor habitat from oil and gas development and emerging conservation efforts in Mexico and South America.
The class spent Saturday on the pastoral back roads south of Great Falls, looping from Eden bridge and lunch on the banks of the Smith River, to Cascade and Ulm. With the short grass prairie in its vivid “full green” our group marveled at sightings of Osprey with fish, Swainson’s and Cooper’s hawks, Kestrel, well over a dozen Bald and Golden eagles, Short eared owls, and even side by side male and female Northern Harriers. Curlews, Sandhill cranes, and Snipes graced our presence; yes, snipes exist and are super cute! Mother Nature also provided stunning views of the largest and rarest hawk in North America, the magnificent Ferruginous. For ID think light/light/light: light head, light chest/body, light tail with rusty red top of wings.* There is a dark morph as well but less than 10% of the population.
A few of the many additional sightings included “all the Teals”, Lark buntings, Upland sandpiper, Phalaropes, Godwit, Sandhill Cranes, Turkeys, Redheads, Pintail, Gadwall, Turkey Vultures, Yellow Warbler, and Black Angus beef on the hoof. This driving loop really showcases the stunning bird and raptor habitat that is our central MT backyard.
We would like to acknowledge Beth Hill and Candace Beery for making this class happen, and for providing close up views with Beth’s new spotting scope. Thanks also to Montana FWP for their continued support of UMBA allowing us the use of their facility. Finally, a huge thank you to Steve Hoffman for coming up to Great Falls for the weekend to help us learn our raptors, and for his lifetime commitment to our feather friends.   – UMBA Raptor Class of 2018
Lastly, Drew Marsh is leading a group trip to the Duck Pass – Golden Eagle Migration Survey (GEMS) observation site 20 miles West of White Sulfur in the Big Belt Mountains in early October. Surveyors count 2,000-3,000 golden eagles each Fall, with peak single day counts of 200-300! Stay tuned to UMBA for more details coming out in August.
P.S. Steve Hoffman now owns/leads birding tours throughout Central and South America year round. Check out upcoming trips at https://merlinbirding.com. I can’t think of a better guide for the international trip of a lifetime!

The monthly program this month will be Monday, February 12th at 7 pm in the conference room at FWP on Giant Springs Road.  The program is free and open to the public.  Who would have thought a hawkwatch could be in Cut Bank, Montana?  Well, come find out.

One blustery spring day in 2016, Kate Atkins walked out of the grocery store in Cut Bank and noticed a Red-tailed Hawk cruising north over the parking lot – followed by another, and another, and another. In a mere 20 minutes, 17 Red-tails had streamed overhead. Due to that fateful grocery run, the Cut Bank Hawkwatch has been casually counted by raptor biologists living in the area during the fall of 2016, spring 2017, and again in the fall of 2017 – and the raptor research community has taken notice. The location is unconventional, the species are varied and heavily weighted to the plains raptors we all know well along the Rocky Mountain Front. Kate Atkins and Tom Magarian are pursuing a relationship with Hawkwatch International to hire a counter for the fall of 2018, and they need our help. On February 12, they’ll present on the unique aspects of the watch, and what the future may hold. Kate and Tom are biologists living in Cut Bank, employed by the wind farms, have shown what a varied bird community surrounds Cut Bank, if they aren’t working observing birds they are observing birds on their time off (or fishing – you can do both at the same time).

On a sunny & windy January day, we looked for wintering raptors between Cascade and Great Falls. Winter is a great time to search as the trees have no leaves, making it easier to spot birds on tree limbs. We spotted: 3 Prairie Falcons, 3 Golden Eagles, 1 Red-Tailed Hawk, 3 Roughleg Hawks, 6 Bald Eagles, 1 juvenile Goshawk, numerous Ravens & Magpies, 250 Common Goldeneye, deer and antelope, and 1 raccoon in a tree cavity. It was a fun morning! Two sightings were particularly memorable—a golden eagle perched on a dirt pile, hunkered down from the wind, but scouting for food, and another Golden Eagle perched in a favorite tree with the sunlight just right to bring out the golden feathers–beautiful.
We wondered if the raccoon will be evicted when the Great Horned Owls return.