Westby Works It's Magic - Again!

After leading a field trip for the Montana Audubon Festival last Sunday, I headed east to Westby. As I mentioned in a earlier blog, this small farming community in NE Montana - on the North Dakota border - has cast some sort of spell over me. It calls to me each May and September to come look for some memorable birding experience - and it usually produces. This year, I altered my traditional timing a bit with a specific goal in mind - to find and photograph several bird species that were on the rare side there and not found in other parts of Montana. The targeted species were sedge wren and Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrow, and they were noticeably absent from my bird image library. These species sometimes do not arrive until the beginning of June so I scheduled this years spring trip about 10 or more days later than usual.

The drive to Westby is a long one, but the anticipation of potentially great birding plus stops along the way at Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and Medicine Lake NWR combine to perceptively make it shorter. The weather did not look all that promising with showers and associated cold but that did not dampen my spirits. I arrived at Westby about 3pm on Monday, after spending the night in Culbertson. On the way into town, some nice groups of shorebirds graced the shorelines of the alkaline potholes. Species diversity was somewhat lacking but included white-rumped sandpipers, one of my favorites. Westby City Park was my first point of interest in town. Since spring bird migration was just about over, I didn't expect too much for variety in the park and that was indeed the case. Only several warbler species - including a beautiful male mourning warbler - plus some vireos and orioles showed themselves. After getting settled at Ellis Hagen's B&B where I usually stay, I returned to the park for an evening look see. Local birding legend Ted Nordhagen joined me and we mostly talked and exchanged family news for more than an hour - as birding was slow.

Tuesday morning broke foggy and cold so prospects for accomplishing my birding/photography goals seemed slim. After spending an hour or so in the park, I headed north of town in fog toward the State Line road where my search for the targeted species would focus. As expected, the road to my birds was muddy and impassible. Having driven State Line Road many times in the past, I knew that after I got past the initial muddy portions, the base would get firmer and walking would be pleasant. So I parked my vehicle, put on rubber boots, strung and hung cameras, binoculars, spotting scope, and other paraphernalia on my back, and headed out. The fog began to lift a bit as I walked the mile or so to my destination. But despite the heavy clouds that remained, the air was calm and it was a very serene setting with the potholes I passed reflecting the clouds like a mirror.

As I approached my destination, I dug my birding IPod clone out of my pocket and selected sedge wren as my first objective. Not 2 seconds after the recorded call began, a sedge wren popped up along the roadside vegetation and began calling. Then another down the road joined him. Replacing the spotting scope on my tripod with a camera, I began capturing digital images about as fast as the camera could handle them. WOW! What a great start to the morning! After what I considered was an ample numbers of camera clicks for this species, I looked over and listened to the sounds of the adjacent marsh. Several soras called nearby, and then an American bittern uttered its very strange "gulping" sounds several times. Even though my hearing is a bit challenged, the stillness of the morning and the sounds of the marsh were hinting at one of those great and memorable Westby days. Common yellowthroats and marsh wrens perched on last years bulrush stalks and uttered their vocal challenges to anyone who would listen.As I prepared to head back to my vehicle, I decided to try a Nelson's sharp-tailed call with my IPod. Just as I played it, a jack rabbit came ambling down the road towards me. So I got camera ready for some possible closeups. Somehow, he noted my presence and decided to head back the other way. Just as he did, a small bird flew across the road in front of me and sat on a fence wire. About 20 feet in front of me sat the very first Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrow that I have ever had a real good look at! And he posed long enough for me to get several nice pictures and then moved even closer onto another higher wire. My Westby goal for this trip had been accomplished in a matter of a half hour or so on a perfectly calm and beautifully cloudy morning. Among the many memorable days I have spent in this birding mecca, this one ranks in the top 2 or 3!
The remaining 1 1/2 days of my stay were pretty relaxing as I pursued other grassland and specialty species. Nelson's sharptails were located in several other locations. And Baird's and grasshopper sparrows were pretty easy to come by.

Chestnut-collared longspurs were always conspicuous when present.
Plus the relatively high water levels pushed piping plovers to the edges of alkaline potholes and even occasionally on to roadsides.I will return, Westby!!