Dec. 27 – I was comparing last year and this year’s December numbers.  Once we added Upper HIghwood Creek Rd the time to do the survey jumped from 3.5 hours to 5.5 hours!  Last year on Dec. 11 we saw 17 rough-legged hawks, 1 bald eagle and 2 prairie falcons.  This year, on Dec 23, we saw 2 red-tailed hawks, 1 kestrel, 3 northern harriers, 11 adult and 11 sub-adult bald eagles, 1 golden eagle, 9 rough-legged hawks and 4 prairie falcons. Temperatures were in the 40’s both days.  We did see a shrike both years.

We saw at least one prairie falcon each time in the 2024-25 surveys.  We didn’t see one in our November 2025-26 survey, but 4 were seen on the December survey.

This month on my Broken Spoke walking surveys I have seen bald eagles (adults and sub-adults), northern harriers, rough-legged hawks, American kestrel and sharp-shinned hawk.  Some just once, others multiple times.

Dec. 27 – It’s possible that the cranes we’ve been watching out here are headed south.  We just saw cranes west of here fly from low to rather high, forming into lines and V’s.  They were far enough away that it was hard to count, but we estimate the numbers to be well over 100.  It’s 2 degrees right now with a north wind.

Dec. 23 – Raptor Survey East Highwoods – Every winter raptor survey has something remarkable.  Today it was – several things.
First – remarkable spotting by our crew- Richard, Bill, Bev, Jack and Ava.  I know we have higher totals because of all the eyes.  Many thanks to Lyle for opening up his home (bathroom).  This is a long trip without any conveniences.
The day was mostly cloudy.  The temperatures started in the teens but quickly warmed into 40’s.  The wind was barely noticeable, SW 6-10 mph all day.
Now, for the birds.  Soooooooo many Canada Geese flying around and a few thousand on the ground.  Our numbers may actually be half of what we saw.  What a surprise to see more than 35 Cedar Waxwings (in 2 groups) on Upper HIghwood Creek Rd.  It started with one bird, then a whole bunch started moving around.  We looked hard to find a Bohemian, but all we could see were Cedar.  That was followed shortly by a flock of American Robins.  One of our stops had a couple trees by a large stock pond holding 8 Bald Eagles, there were another 2 out in a field behind the pond.  Only 2 were adults – all the others were sub-adults.  As we counted and re-counted they gradually took off to the east until they were gone.  There were several magpies and ravens with them.  We suspected a hunting kill the got cleaned up.  Prairie Falcons ruled – we saw 4 today. – Beth Hill

https://ebird.org/tripreport/450268

Dec. 19 – Heard from Chris, the manager of Highland Cemetery. The wind last night knocked down the bird snag – Richard Mousel

Dec. 18 – A sharp shinned was feasting on a rock dove this afternoon; by the time I got the camera up he left his meal but posed on neighbor’s fence!

Dec. 20 – Youtube for Birders: I just found this you tube channel.  Bob Duschene has some entertaining and educational shorts about birds and bird watching.  It’s fun.  You can start here: – Beth Hill

7 Things Expert Birders DON’T Tell BEGINNERS.

Dec. 18 – I had a Slate Junco and Downy Woodpecker this morning.  Had a Townsend’s Solitaire and a Robin at Highland Cemetery. A couple of evenings ago I had a Great Horned Owl at my place, today I found one dead on the ground next to my gate, it almost made it to the count. –  Richard Mousel

Dec. 18 – Happy to say that we have Cedar Waxwings for count week, now for Bohemian.  – Richard Mousel

Dec. 15 – Had a small raptor that looked like a merlin land in neighbor’s tree a little while ago.  But, wasn’t 100% sure til I listened to their call on Audubon app.  It was very noisy, which seemed unusual and only stayed around for a few minutes.  I never thought much about different raptor calls as a means to ID but this one was fairly distinctive.  My guess it that it was warning the other raptor(s) in the neighborhood (maybe the one shown below) to stay away.

Then, about 30 min later the bird shown below landed in same spot in same tree, only it was not a falcon.  This is not a great pic as light not good and bird was a bit too far away,,, common problems.  However, very short wings and relatively long tail indicates accipiter.  Then the challenge (for me, at least…) is to determine if it is a Cooper’s or a Sharpshin.  Beth has helped me with that ID problem.  In addition to being smaller than Coopers (which isn’t always easy to tell), she mentioned that Sharps have very skinny legs (almost creepy, I think….) and their dark head cap tends to ‘join up’ with the dark back on Sharpshins.  This bird seems to fit the sharpshin description pretty well.  These raptors were struggling mightily to hold position on the branch in our relentless wind and it must be very tricky for them to catch other birds on the wing in these conditions. – Steve  Leathe

Sounds right, Steve.  The merlin can be pretty noisy and easily identified by Merlin app.  Seeing the non-descript brown, fast bird with pointy wings and rapid wing beat helps.

The little sharpie is going to be seen more often this time of year in thick bushes, lurking for the unwary LBB.  Both can lurk around feeders. –  Beth Hill

Dec. 14  – Saw a male northern harrier flying over adobe creek in fort Shaw today..couple mile north of cascade colony by my house. There has been a nesting pair on that flat for a couple years now.. – Darolyn Holland

Dec. 14 – Winter Raptor Survey North – A superb day for mid-December.  It was partly sunny all day, the temperatures ranged from 48 to 62 degrees and the wind was a steady SW 20-30 mph, mostly 20 mph.  The roads were clear and dry with the exception of the paved segment of Millegan Rd from Eden Bridge to where it changed to gravel.  There was scant snow cover left on the ground after the snow 4 days ago.
It was unusual for us to have so many “unknowns” but I was pretty sure about their ID, except they were sooooo far away (dots) – 2 unknown eagles (wings were very ‘plank’ like, probably bald), 2 unknown raptors coursing over a field like either harriers or roughies (again at a distance with sun glinting off their wings), an unown buteo that was flying with the unknown eagles – distance again.  We saw one perched redtail that was nearly black, the tail was narrowly banded with a red tint.  Geese – thousands the first hour, on the river and flying out to fields.  The biggest surprise was a group of 150 (plus) Sandhill Cranes in a field where we saw 83 in November.  Were they the same ones and more arrived?  Or, was it an entirely new group?  That’s a sight for anytime of the year.  We always have some surprise on our raptor surveys.  Again, thanks to Velda and Bev for driving and spotting.

https://ebird.org/tripreport/443030

Dec. 13 – Great Falls West – raptor survey – Just about a perfect day to be out and about, mostly cloudy to partly sunny, 10-18 degrees with an E 0-4 mph.  There was no snow on the roads, so they were open and dry.  Although the number and species of raptors today wasn’t high we saw some nice birds and nice looks.  4 Prairie Falcons were surprising.  could some have been the same?  They were close enough, but they had different “looks”.  The Merlin could not have been closer and it sat still (picture in eBird report).  And the Horned Larks!!!! Oh my.  400 was probably conservative on one stretch of road – a blizzard of birds.  We stopped several times to look over the bunch hoping to see something other than Horned Larks.  Alas, no Snow Buntings or Lapland Longspurs today.  Thanks to Velda for driving and Richard for being the back seat spotter. – Beth Hill

https://ebird.org/tripreport/441685

Dec. 6 – A ka-jillion Canada geese flew over around 4p.  Maybe the winter hawks are returning as there were two roughlegs near the Rainbow Dam overlooks and also a male harrier.  Haven’t seen a male harrier in quite a while,,,, always females…. – Steve Leathe

Dec. 5 – Spotted at least 4 Cormorants on the river downstream fr Giant Springs and 1/2 dozen or so Hooded Mergansers by the dam and railroad bridge – Renee McKey

Dec. 5 – a rough legged hawk out here the past few days and when I drove towards Highland Cemetery this am. – Bev Axelsen

Dec. 5 – We just had 34 Cranes fly over. – Kitty and Kris Knaphus

Nov 30 – Took a walk at Gt Sp this afternoon.  Lots and lots of buffleheads, goldeneyes, mallards and Canada geese on the water upstream from the hatchery.  Also saw a fairly tame juvenile shrike up fairly close but did not have a camera along, unfortunately / Saw what I think was a female long-tailed duck pretty much all by itself diving repeatedly in some of the open water down by the dam.  Did not have a spotting scope so could not confirm but would like to know if anyone else has seen one there recently. – Steve

Nov 30 – I had heard, somewhere, that collared doves can’t tolerate cold temperatures. We had at least a minus 15 last night. This morning I saw a dead dove in the road and kicked it off to the side and saw another. I started counting at that point and found 15 in a 1/4 mile section of road (lined with spruce trees). They were untouched, like they literally froze and fell out of the trees. A few had moved a couple feet before expiring.  – Beth H

Nov 29 – A flock of 200-300 snow geese just flew over the north side of town.  This weather should bring a few ‘winterhawks’ with it too…..   We had 50-100 finches mobbing the feeder yesterday but not this morning. – Steve L.

Nov 28 – The snow has made it much easier to spot new birds, we have a Junco this morning. – Richard M.

Nov 26 – WRS West: Airport Bench – The first 15 minutes of driving were a little treacherous.  Knowing the forecast was warmer and some sun we kept going expecting the trace of snow pack to melt shortly – it did.  Thanks to Steve for some skilled driving.  Velda and Bev did a great job spotting once again.  Interesting sights – mini-goats wandering around Sun River.  We had several isolated Snow Geese.  A group of 3 in a field made us wonder if they were ill.  When we returned past that same spot 30 minutes later – 7 (SEVEN) Golden Eagles and a big smear of white feathers on the ground.  7 eagles can make short work of a Snow Goose.  One young Bald Eagle – had the “osprey” look – a 2 year old.  The day started out cloudy, ended mostly sunny with temperatures between 35 and 40 degrees.  The wind was nice – SW 5-15 mph all morning. – Beth H.
Trip report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/436115

Nov 25 – WRS South: Cascade – Ulm– What a nice bunch of birds today.  It was interesting that there were only adult bald eagles.  The Prairie Falcon was so hard to see – its back was to us, it blended right in with the top of the power pole – looking like an insulator.  It took off and flew around a bit before landing on another pole.  It was like a lesson identifying a bird by its flight pattern.  It was wonderful to stop and watch a Northern Shrike as it evaded photo capture by flying constantly away from us as we crept down the road.  The biggest surprise was a field full of Sandhill Cranes slowly walking in a southerly direction.  85 cranes!  Once again – thanks to Steve for driving and the spotting of Renee and Richard. – Beth H.
Trip report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/435878

Nov 24 – I’ve doing some last minute gardening and I heard some old familiar bird songs so I went inside and grabbed my phone and turned on Merlin and in seconds Merlin confirmed my suspicion, Redpolls and Goldfinches. I just got finished reading that there will likely be an eruption of finches and indeed it has started. It only took seconds for Merlin to confirm. Probably a good year for Nyjer. – Richard M.

Nov 18 – Spent a couple hours looking for the badger Steve photographed without any luck | sunlight was reflecting on the water; couldn’t ID the ducks that were way out there |  did see coots; some Canada geese | and hundreds and hundreds and likely thousands of swans and cygnets | some solo, some in pairs, some family groups with cygnets, and hundreds on the edges of the water opposite the road | just before sunset more swans arrived in flight followed by more and more – Bev A

Nov 15 – This route has more uncultivated agricultural ground than the 2 routes already completed this month.  Fewer fences and open space for the wind to run free – and it did.  The wind was a pretty steady 20 mph plus to gusts reaching 40 for sure.  Still, we had 11 individual raptors (5 golden eagles was thrilling, several showed off their golden head and nape).  Several ravens performed some strong maneuvers in the wind, their efforts imitated soaring raptor movements.  Sometimes we will find fields full of Canada Geese, but not today.  There were 2 battling headwinds near a reservoir.  It was a little surprising that we saw zero Bald Eagles.  Perhaps on a later survey.  Thanks to Velda for driving and spotters Richard and Bev. – Beth H
Trip report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/432630

Nov 15 – On the raptor tour around the Highwood Mountains – 90 miles and no “pit stops” anywhere. 5 Golden Eagles – some quite distant – others flashed their golden head feathers. – Beth Hill

Nov 12 – Just had a flock of Cedar Waxwings come get a drink from the birdbath, they have been hanging around for at least a couple of weeks feeding on Crabapple and possibly Juniper in the neighbors trees. -Richard M

Nov 8 – Not bad for an early November survey. Not too many birds (numbers). In addition to those listed we had a pair of Bald Eagles soaring over the Manchester Rd area that were observed. One pair was seen on a nest, later we observed a soaring eagle – since it was no more than 2 miles away and we watched it take off and head in the general direction of where we saw the soaring eagle. There was a good chance it was the same bird even though this area can be rich with eagles in January. One unknown buteo was seen on the first stretch of survey, on the return trip of the same stretch of road we had positive ID on a very dark Red-tail Hawk (saw a rusty tail) and a positive on a Rough-legged Hawk (and an American Kestrel) – the unknown buteo was deleted as it was most likely one of the two we saw later in the morning.
A nice sunny day, temperatures ranged from 30-49 degrees with no noticeable wind (SW 5-10 mph). It was fun with Nora driving (thanks!) and Ava and April as back seat spotters (thanks!) – Beth Hill
Trip report:  https://ebird.org/tripreport/430647

Nov 5 – Bev A and Richard M joined me as spotters today for our first winter raptor survey (WRS).  We did the ‘dreaded’ Vaughn-Fairfield route.  It was far from dull.  Although we had only 13 individuals we had 7 species.  3 rough-legged hawks, 2 American kestrels, 2 northern harriers (both males!), 1 adult bald eagle, 1 gorgeous golden eagle, 2 sharp-shinned hawks (!) and 1 great horned owl.  2 of the sharpies were chasing each other around. / Only one other time have we had 7 species (19 individuals).  Quite a few times we had more individuals, but bald eagles accounted for the higher numbers.  And those were 2 years ago, last year the area was almost a desert. / The route was 86 miles and took us 5 hr and 45 minutes to complete.  Trip report link below. Great spotting! – Beth H
Trip report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/429832

Nov 3 – on my way home from the gym about a half hour ago, I spotted a northern harrier atop a utility pole on 33rd Ave S by Highland Cemetery – Bev A

Nov 1 – Was driving through the park about 10:30 and was lucky to find the White-winged Scoters fishing close to the shore. One caught a crayfish, which put up a good fight, but lost. – Jan Wilson

Nov 1 – we must have just missed each other Jan. I took an early drive out on the frontage road past Ulm but hit such dense fog I couldn’t see anything  | went towards the buffalo jump and saw three big coyotes off in the distance  / then along the river near Black Eagle Island and Giant Springs  / came home to find this large raptor in one of our trees – Bev A

Nov 1 – Yesterday I watched one come up with a crayfish and swallowed it – I was surprised the gull that was following did not attempt to grab it. – Beth H

Nov 1. – Oh what a great pic!  Right time, right place…. that is always a great feeling. Photo made me check my bird books/apps as there is no ‘white’ showing on this apparent white-winged scoter.  Lo and behold, there is not a lot of difference between juvenile and female surf scoters and white-wings.  And the Sibley book shows adult female white-wing with no white showing on wing.  Jeez…. reminds me of orange-crowned warblers whose ‘orange crown’ is RARELY seen in the field, according to the Sibley book.  Ugh…. as if bird ID was not already hard enough…..I can’t imagine swallowing those prickly (and bitey…) crawdads whole. | Beth and I were talking about all the birds that eat crawdads down there,,,, gulls by the hundreds all summer then ducks (including even mallards) by the hundreds all fall and winter.  That river/reservoir bottom must be crawling with crawdads…. Steve Leathe

Oct 23 – There were a pair of White-winged Scoters at Giant Springs this morning.  They were floating downriver with a Common Goldeneye for most of the morning.  Nice looking adult markings.  You’ll probably need to look at least half-way or further across the river to see them.  They popped right out when I saw them – something different! The rest of my morning there was pretty ho-hum.  – Beth Hill

Oct 23 – On Saturday, October 18, 9 folks headed up to Lake Francis to see what type of birds were floating around.  We had several new folks join us including a couple of HS students.  We saw a small flock of Snow Geese across the lake, a total of 19 plus Common Loons, only 2 Western Grebes (expected many more), hundreds of American Coot (maybe thousands), 2 Horned Grebes, 2 Pied-billed Grebes and no Eared Grebes (another surprise).  Ducks – lots of ducks, we saw teal, dabblers and some diving ducks (Green-winged, Mallard, Wigeon, Pintail, Redhead to name a few).  4 Bald Eagles, 1 Rough-legged Hawk at the lake.  4 Black-bellied Plovers in their non-breeding plumage (2 pairs) and 5 White-winged Scoters (identified a lot by process of elimination).  It was exciting to hear then watch as a total of 33 Sandhill Cranes flew over then landed across the lake.  Their calls just send chills through me (how about you?)  We made a quick swing by Rock City north of Valier.  We saw a few pigeons and Horned Larks on that part of the trip.  It was a sunny day, mild temperatures and wind was tolerable compared to the day before and the day after we visited. – Beth Hill

Oct 22 – Been wandering around lately.  Was down on Missouri River in the Prewitt Creek area a couple days ago and saw a lingering osprey,,,, seems like its getting late for them..

Up by Dutton hunting yesterday and saw LOTS of horned larks, a harrier, and surprise, surprise….   a northern shrike that hung around for good looks but no camera along so no pics.  I don’t see many of them.  Saw definite signs of a grizzly bear along the Teton River which got us on edge a bit.  My friend has seen them in that same area in the past.  Yikes….

Kept my eyes peeled on both trips for roughleg hawks but saw none.  Need colder weather I guess…      That will prob come soon enough and bring them with it..   I look forward to seeing them. – Steve Leathe

Oct 18 – We just had a flock of about 50 Cranes fly over.  Just south of our place they started circling, kettling up.  When they were really high, just barely visible dots, they formed V’s and headed south. – Kitty & Kris

Oct 18 – Part of our trip report to Lake Frances today…33 cranes arrived while we were watching near the lighthouse dike end of the lake.  We heard them first.  Later we saw where they landed across the lake.

Who doesn’t get chills when they hear them? – Beth Hill

Oct 17 – I forgot to mention that we found one young owl nearly dead 2 weeks ago at the foot of the steps at Giant Springs just after sunrise.  I got a tarp from the ranger station, wrapped him up so he couldn’t grab anyone (he was actually too weak to respond) and they ran it across the road.  I’m not sure if they were going to test for ‘bird flu’ or not.  He was on his back, head twisted to one side and too weak to even twitch.  He was in good flesh – so it got sick pretty fast.  Like we’ve seen other suspect bird flu cases.  Not sure if there are any owls left.  I keep looking everytime I’m there. Just this last week they found some in the Gibson Park waterfowl.  I’ve seen reports that it has been on an upswing this fall. – Beth Hill

Oct 15 – And it was a really dark rough legged hawk.  I spotted one this morning resting on a power pole crossbar. Anyone ready for one with raptor surveys?  Coming next month. Maybe we will see some when we go to Lake Francis this Saturday. – Beth Hill

Oct 11 – Went bird watching today after the round dance in honor of Indigenous People’s Day where I ran into fellow birder Marge Wilson at Morony Dam I saw one cormorant, a small flock of geese further downstream but no other birds. saw quite a few horsehair woven bag nests (orioles). on the way back near the shooting complex off the road to Morony, I saw four or five hawks that I guessed were Harriers as they had the big white spot on top of tail at it’s base but one definitely had rust body so I don’t know what I saw. drove out to Benton Lake Wildlife Refuge where the light was poor and a few drops of rain fell on me saw lots of birds on t he water but couldn’t tell colors – by size I think I saw Canada Geese, coots, northern shovelers and one Harrier hawk hunting and one Franklin’s Gull on the gravel road in the refuge . then as I left the refuge on a fencepost along the hwy I saw this but don’t know what it was either. – Bev Axelson.

Oct 8 –  What a fantastic day and year, a very special THANKS to my helpers Hannah and Velda, Hannah did an excellent job of driving plus both Velda and Hannah weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty and helped clean out the boxes, we had a great time and to top it off we saw 3 Mountain Bluebirds. Along the road to the boxes we came across several flocks of small birds, likely Horned Larks plus 3 Meadowlarks. The boxes are now all ready for next spring. – Richard Mousel

Oct 8 – Hi all ! It’s Darolyn Holland in Fort Shaw. I just wanted to share a great experience I had volunteering for Grant Grisak/Northwestern Energy. On September 25th a group of us, to include Wyoming Wetlands Society, Montana Fish,Wildlife & Park, Northwestern Energy staff, private land owners and volunteers convened in Ennis to release 9 cygnet trumpeter swans (3 sibling groups at 3 different sites). These releases are part of some amazing wetland restoration projects to help ( hopefully) increase the number of breeding pairs, not only in Ennis Montana, but along the Rocky Mountain Front migratory pathway into Canada. The cygnets were wild/captive raised in Wyoming ( not habituated to people) . I learned through Grant (NWE) that the research shows the swans tend to return to the location where they first fly -so that is one of the hopes . Wyoming Wetlands Society has been releasing swans for 30 years and is part of a huge success story in the increase in numbers of trumpeter swans in that time. All that aside, it was a beautiful day. The cygnets were breathtakingly beautiful, about 18 pounds and ready to fly and get on with their wild lives! A day I will cherish for sure and just wanted to share with you all! – Darolyn Holland

Oct 7 – A turkey vulture (I like the term ‘buzzard’ better…) just flew over the house,,,, seems like its getting late for them but still plenty of roadkill aroundJust put the spotting scope on the suspected collared dove nest about 50ft up in neighbors big spruce tree.  Looks for sure like one adult is sitting on the nest I saw them building a couple weeks ago and the other adult is keeping vigil about a foot away.  Anyone ever notice them nesting this late in season?  Seems pretty strange.  I will keep an eye on it to see if they actually start feeding young birds.  No sign of that yet….   They must have their spring/fall photoperiods mixed up.

Took a drive out to Benton Lake on Saturday.  There were hundreds of widgeon there and quite a few pintails and mallards as well as a smattering of other waterfowl, including a 6-8 swans but saw no shorebirds and the prairie seemed pretty empty of birds.  Did see one raptor and 95% sure it was a ferruginous.  Waterfowl still using the place despite the ongoing federal govt shutdown, guess they haven’t gotten the word.

Was over in Stanford area yesterday and saw one of the birdhouses with a bluebird painted on the side on Running Wolf road with an actual live bluebird sitting on it.  Must be one of the famous ‘Bluebird Bob’s’ houses.  Kept my eyes peeled for raptors along highway all the way over and back.  Seems our ‘summer hawks’ (mainly redtails and Swainson’s) are just about totally gone now and few (if any) of our ‘winter hawks’ (roughlegs and dark and light phase redtails) have arrived yet as I  saw none.    So, is a slow time for raptors.

Have been seeing a few large flocks of meadowlarks and robins lately that are probably heading south. –  Steve Leathe

Oct 7 – I visited Giant Springs Thursday – it was jammed with white-crowned sparrows and yellow-rumped warblers.  It took looking to find some variety.

I walked around the West Bank Park area on Friday – there were a few migrants showing up.  I considered the more than 200 coots non-migrants.  They will probably move down to Giant Springs a little later in the fall.  But, there were a few common goldeneye, ruddy ducks, western grebes, canvasback (2), redhead (1), still one pelican and a couple cormorants.  Hundreds of mallards and many fewer ring-billed gulls.

At Wadsworth Park on Saturday – nothing to see on the pond but a couple of mergansers that didn’t stick around long.  The trees were full of white-crowned sparrows and yellow-rumped warblers.  There were several large flocks of starlings moving around even in the morning.  I wonder what it might look like in the evening?

Today around my neck of the woods I was pleasantly entertained with a group of American wigeons swimming in the river, later in the day there was a pair of hooded mergansers.  There are many geese that fly up and down along the river, some landing, some hitting the fields, others just moving from one place to another.

There’s always something to see if you just look. – Beth Hill

Oct 4 – Still had 2 this morning, sure hope they were about to head south. – Arla Eckert

Oct 4 – We can see Northern Goshawks here in GF. I have seen a male at Mount Olivet cemetery and got photos of him a few years ago. I also had a female or young one in my yard a few years ago. At that time I was finding a lot of long gray feathers in my yard over a few weeks making me think that bird had found it was easy to get Eurasian Collared Doves for dinner. So check your books and keep your eyes open. – Arla Eckert

Oct 3 – This bird (identified as possibly a Coopers) has been dining on the Eurasian doves in my yard. Seems immature but has been successful in getting dinner. – Grayce Holzheimer

Oct 3 – saw robins, a few northern flickers, magpies at both but really enjoyed watching the chickadees hanging upside down at water spigots at Highland getting a drink from the drips before the water was turned off! /// I haven’t had robins at my house in a long time so now I know where they’ve been!

didn’t see any Eurasian collared doves at the cemeteries but have hundreds of them out  here and wish they’d move on. /// enjoyed seeing three whitetail does and three fawns at Highland yesterday

the robins were in a small puddle at Highland yesterday. /// I spotted a couple of peanut feeders at Mt Olivet today – no wonder the magpies and northern flickers hang out there! – Bev Axelsen

Sept 22 – Sitting on patio yesterday and a good-sized falcon flew in and land in tree about 100ft away.  Was def not a kestrel and not a merlin.  It was a prairie falcon,,, a pretty rare sight for me here in the city. / / / Took a walk at Gt Springs this morning thinking it might be jammed with migrants moving with the cold front.  Was a little disappointed, not near as many birds there as I hoped for.  Saw a towhee, a few white throated sparrows (I think…) and a few LGW’s (little green warblers) that I could not ID positively.  Very few ducks/waterbirds on the river there other than some ringbill gulls but did see my first goldeneye (just one…), first bufflehead (just one…), and a pied billed grebe (just one…).  Watched a ringbill gull flog a big crawdad on the pavement and when satisfied it was dead the gull swallowed it whole, tail first.  I was surprised it could swallow such a big item and hopefully the crawdad was fully dead because it would not be good for the digestive tract if the pinchers were still working.  – Steve Leathe

Sept 21 – Whatever raptor/hawk it is that has the white spot on top of tail near base of body at Freezeout – quite a few of them scattered throughout the area. most of the dead (and now dried up) carp are still on the shores at Freezeout, those warblers were deep in thick brush and I could not photograph them but this  white crowned sparrow cooperated / / / I saw a lot of Swainson’s enroute to GNP via Hwy 89, on Duck Lake Road, and on my way back to Freezeout.  Saw one very dark raptor that made me wonder if it was a dark morph Swainson’s. – Bev Axelsen

Sept 18 – Saw 3 Swainson’s on the way to town yesterday.  i looked back for Swainson sightings in my list of birds since 2016, and the last days I have seen them in my area was 9/20-23.  I wish them well every time I see them–until next year….Velda

Swainson’s everywhere indeed. Six of them gathering & soaring over the neighborhood right now – Steve Leathe

Sept 17 – Bev Axelson called me from Freezout Lake this morning.  She wanted to report a really large number of White-face Ibis in one of the shallow lakes along the highway (last lake on the west/left) as you head to Priest Butte.  There are also lots of pelicans, all manner of ducks, she saw a large raptor perched on one of the vault toilets that was pretending to be a second vent (it was the same size as the vent from a distance).  She has been enjoying a few days away in Glacier and now Freezout Lake. – Beth Hill

Sept 16 – This morning I saw a Swainson’s Hawk at the top of our birch tree (eastside GF). He prolly stopped to say good bye.

Sept 16 – Today there were a few juncoes in the mix of sparrows and warblers at Giant Springs. No Swinson’s – Beth Hill

Interesting….  I woke up yesterday to quite a few sparrows and some Wilson’s warblers in the backyard.  That made me head to Gt Sp yesterday morning to see what was there.  There were quite a few Wilson’s in the uphill brushline at the park but just about none of them down by the river, where there were a few yellow-rumps and one distinctive warbler-ish bird I just could not id after spending lots of time later at home with the bird books and apps.  I expected a lot of sparrows down there but saw darned few, almost none, and was surprised by that.  I have one hell of a time trying to ID sparrows,,,, they all look the same to me, unless they have a distinct white crown or chin…  Didn’t see any of those white-marked ones yesterday down there so it looks like things change virtually overnight this time of year.  Was looking for buffles or goldneyes on river but did not see any. –  Steve Leathe

Sept 15 – I could hear what sounded like a new migrant call coming from the backyard so I quickly turned on Merlin and got suggestions for three different sparrows White-throated, White-crowned and Song Sparrows. – Richard Mousel

Sept 15 – I’ve been seeing mixed little groups of chipping, white-throated and white-crowned sparrows and sometimes a Lincoln’s or song sparrow the past week.  Merlin has been suggesting them and I waited, watched and they will pop out for a quick view.  Keep looking – you never know what you might find. – Beth Hill

Sept 14 – I was curious what was going on in the evening at West Bank Park, so today we made a visit.  Not much.  A few kingfishers chasing each other around, gulls, geese, mallards, finally saw a few yellow-rumped warblers.  The best bird was a first year Sabine’s Gull down toward the refinery picking bugs off the water.  It was pretty close for once – we usually see them mid-river and far away down or up stream and the middle of a raft of Franklin’s.  This fellow was alone.  A little after 7 “black birds” began to fly about in small groups and when we left there could have been 2000.  Not many compared to years past.  – Beth Hill

Sept 13 – Have what appears to be 2 young male Downy Woodpeckers feeding on the sap of a Willow tree. – Richard Mousel

Sept 13 – In a matter of less than 30 minutes we counted at least 90 Swainson’s Hawks pass overhead while at Giant Springs this morning (10:15-10:45 ish).  They may be continuing. (I’d park myself at the L&C river overlook and watch if you considered it).  They would kettle around then head off up river, then some more would appear behind us (from down river – or north/east).  Just when we thought that might be it another couple would show up, then more then more and another kettle formed.  Incredible to watch.

Interesting if some hawk watch spots are seeing a peak today. – Beth Hill

Sept 13 – I think what we are hearing and seeing is this years young owls are being tossed out of the places they were born in. Time to go find their new homes. Each fall you will see young owls in different places like my yard. Two different falls I have had an owl during the day in my yard or and hearing one a night. This also may explain why the owlets are not at GS. – Arla Eckert

Sept 8 – Maria and I went to Belt to check out the potential of restoring the Belt area Bob Niebuhr Bluebird trail. We started up Willow Creek Road then met up with E Highwood Road then turned down Burley Road then ended at Hwy 331, 32 miles. We found about 6 birdhouses mostly unusable, a couple had recently been used by Tree Swallows. We will essentially be starting from scratch. It will probably take some time to restore the Bluebird numbers that this area has the potential to produce, there are additional Road spurs worth checking out as well. If you own property in this area or in other areas that could use Bluebird boxes please let me or Beth Hill know. Or if you know about landowners in this area please let them know that we would love to get their permission to install and monitor Bluebird boxes along their property. We could easily install at least 50 Bluebird boxes to start. A Bluebird trail in this area has the potential to fledge hundreds of Mountain Bluebirds annually. – Richard Mousel

Sept 4 – Orange-crowned Warbler and a Clay-colored Sparrow. – Richard Mousel

Observed what looked like a female redstart – Steve Leathe

Sept 2 – A couple days ago I watched small groups of 10-20 or so gulls high (very high) over town doing the same thing,,,, apparently gathering up and heading south. / / / Had a definite male Wilson’s warbler in our ‘aphid tree’ this morning… could only ID because he had a distinct black cap.  The warblers do not stick around long and never sit still. / / / The only singing birds around here are a pair of Eurasian Collared Doves that are making a lot of noise and are actually building a nest in the neighbor’s spruce tree.  Seems a bit late for that but maybe that is how they do it in Eurasia. – Steve Leathe

Aug 31 – When I was at Giant Springs this morning we watched one, that joined 2, then 3 more Swainson’s Hawks, riding thermals.  They crossed the river from behind us then circled around on the opposite side of the river then zippe out of sight to the south. / / / I did manage to find a couple of Wilson’s and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  It was not exactly hopping with birds. / / / A big branch of one of the creek willow branches broke off overnight and completely blocked the trail at the lower footbridge!  And only one staff person present for the next 2 days.  We saw a couple of beavers eyeing the fresh willows – but people were starting to arrive and they slipped away. – Beth Hill