Welcome to BirdManBob's first Blog!

Welcome to my initial entry into the world of Blogs! For the past year or so, I've been contemplating initiating a blog primarily focused on Birding with occasional forays into other subjects such as dragonflies, plants and plant phenology, photography, family and whatever else might be of interest to readers. But NO politics!

Birding in the Helena, Montana area will no doubt predominate this blog. But in the past year, I have become quite enamored with Odonates - Dragonflies and Damselflies - so during the summer months, I will occasionally post dialogues of these very interesting species in the hope of getting others interested in their pursuit. Also, I travel fairly often to other parts of Montana, the US, and other continents for family vacations or to pursue birds, so epistles describing these jaunts will appear rather frequently.

Because I do not consider my literary talents to be especially colorful or flowery, I will be liberally sprinkling my blogs with various photo images either directly relating to the immediate subject or borrowed from my ever growing library of digital images. This lovely blue flower caught my eye several minutes ago as I retrived the daily mail so I thought it would be nice to share with you!

As is normal, spring has had a difficult time getting traction in Montana this year, but these occasional glimpses of color bolster the spirit.

Now for just a few Helena area birding tidbits. At the Lake Helena Causeway, there is presently a Black Swan which is an Australian species that has become popular as an ornamental bird on other continents. This bird is highly likely to be an escapee from someone's private collection. My guess is that it will stay in the area for a while.

Other birds of note now making their way into and through the Helena area are Lincoln's sparrows, savannah sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, and yellow-rumped warblers. The following is an image of a yellow-rumped warbler - sometimes referred to as a "butterbutt" - that I took in eastern MT last spring.

In the weeks to come, we should be expecting more warbler species top arrive along with some vireos and flycatchers. Common nighthawks are often the last species to arrive.