Bitterroot Blues!

In the late 1960's, I worked on a blue grouse research project in the Skalkaho drainage of the Sapphire Mountains southeast of Hamilton, MT. About 10 days ago, an opportunity to revisit this area was too much for me to resist, and I made 2 early morning trips into my old haunts. As might be expected, there have been a few changes in the 40+ year period. The accepted name for these Blue Grouse has now been changed to Dusky Grouse. Genetic studies and other characteristics have lead those scientists who deal with these things to separate our Rocky Mountain birds from those inhabiting on the Pacific Coast ranges, the latter now named Sooty Grouse.

It didn't take long for other changes to strike me. On my drive up to the study area, several bighorn sheep crossed the road in front of me at one point. In the more than 200+ trips I had made into this area in the late 1960's, bighorns were never seen. They are a new and welcome addition. As I ascended the steep, narrow gravel road up to the study area, there were some rather obvious changes in the vegetation, with the young conifer thickets that were the center of grouse breeding territories noticeably different. Some of this change was due to increasing age, and some was due to an ill-advised thinning project implemented by the Forest Service a number of years ago. These changes left me somewhat concerned that some of the area might no longer be suitable for breeding blue/dusky grouse. But my fears were soon allayed. I stopped several times to listen for the distinctive "hooting" and wing clap sounds that signal the presence of these mountain grouse. And it wasn't long before I followed these sounds to my first displaying male grouse. It was in the same area where I had located a breeding territory 43 years previously.

Dusky grouse, like people and other animals , seem to have differing personalities. Some are brazen and outgoing, and others are somewhat retiring and shy. My first male of the day was of the latter persuasion, so my attempts at good photo images were not very successful. This male was a little less shy but still not very cooperative. But later that morning, I was fortunate to find a more accommodating male, albeit one whose tail was just regrowing, perhaps after a lucky escape from a predator of some sort. Here is the more friendly fellow with the stubby tail! Males would often flush into a nearby tree where they were often very difficult to spot and get pictures of. But occasionally, they posed in the open. When I was working in this area in the 1960's, my data indicated that the peak of the breeding season for these grouse was about May 7-10 or so. This year, I was about 2 weeks earlier than that, but there seemed to be plenty of activity, and some females were found throughout each morning. This one posed nicely for me along the side of the road. At one of my initial listening stops, the sound of a new, bonus bird was heard, a gobbling wild turkey tom! This was certainly unexpected, but perhaps not unusual in this scattered Ponderosa Pine habitat which is typical of where this species is often found in Montana. On my trip into the area on the second morning, I was rewarded with a tom turkey displaying for several nearby hens. It was comforting for me to know that these grouse that I had worked with and come to know over a 3-year period were still easily found in many of the same places. Were they as abundant as they were 40+ years ago? That is a question that cannot be reasonably answered in such a short visit. But my curiosity about their presence was resolved and the reminiscing I enjoyed made for a very fulfilling experience on this Return to the Bitterroot Blues!

Leucistic Redtail in Helena Valley

In January, I wrote about a leucistic red-tailed hawk that was present in the Helena Valley since last summer. This bird was on the "spooky" side and I had not been able to get any very good images of it when I first sighted it in January. The landowner and birder who first reported this unusual bird called last week to report that she had found a nest that this white hawk and a partner had been attending. So yesterday, I accompanied her - Marsha - to take a look.

Marsha had been doing her homework and noted that the white hawk was smaller than the other pair member so was likely a male bird. The birds were around the nest but not especially attendant to it, so perhaps they were not yet incubating or maybe there were no eggs at all. The nest itself was a bit disheveled and perhaps had been damaged by the strong winds of the past week. Whatever the case, it was a great day to be outside looking at such a beautiful bird. We first spotted it soaring quite high in the mostly calm air.As it circled, the sun through its wings highlighted the mostly pure white primaries. About 5 of the tail feathers were mostly light red, more so than I recalled from my first sighting of the bird. And the under wing coverts showed some pigment to go along with the darkish throat patch. What a beautiful bird it is! The partner and apparent female of the pair was obviously larger when the two were seen soaring near each other. It was pretty much a typically plumaged western redtail.

As we watched these birds soaring, several other raptors came by and our white bird initiated some interaction with them, perhaps in defense of the nest site. These included a Rough-legged Hawk, heading north to its breeding grounds in Canada/Alaska. And then there was a Cooper's Hawk, the only raptor of the day smaller than the white bird. A sub-adult bald eagle also drew a little action from same. But several turkey vultures soaring in the vicinity of this probable male white redtail seemed to be ignored, perhaps because they had been frequenting the area for a number of days! We did get a few dorsal views of the bird, and the only pigmented feathers apparent in that view were the tail feathers. This gorgeous white redtail remained soaring quite high in the air while we watched, so I never did get high quality images of it, but this anomaly of nature sure was quite a sight.

Thanks Marsha for sharing this great find of yours!

Vagrancy in Birds

A vagrant bird is an individual that appears in an area well outside of the known range for that species. Several weeks ago, a Carolina wren was ID'ed near Arlee, MT, about 25 miles north of Missoula. Pending acceptance by the Montana Bird Records Committee, this will be the first recorded appearance of this species in Montana, and will grow the Montana bird list to 425 species. The species has previously been recorded for Alberta, and southern WY and SD. These were also very rare sightings. Some may question the significance of such a record, but it is important to track these occurrences so that vagrancy is not confused with the range expansion that is occurring in MT with some other species. High quality photo images of the wren were difficult to get because of low light conditions in the riparian habitat where it was located. But I did manage to get a few!
Last summer, another unusual vagrancy occurred when an Eastern Meadowlark was found in the Madison River Valley just south of Ennis. If this species were to be spotted in MT, it would seem most likely that it would be found along the eastern border with the Dakotas rather than 400 miles to the west. This record is just as or perhaps more unusual than the Carolina wren. In both of these instances, the birds' song was the factor that lead to the initial discovery of the species. While the plumage patterns and colors of the wren are quite distinctive, the eastern Meadowlark appears very much like its eastern counterpart, and so would likely be more easily overlooked if it were not for its distinctive song.

Sightings of rare and/or vagrant bird in MT will continue to spark the interest of dedicated birders. And the "listers" among us will continue to put mileage on their vehicles in the hopes that they can add one more notch to their Montana Bird Lists! That keeps the interest and excitement going in this great avocation.

Happy Birthday Brother Clifford!!

The White Geese Phenomenon

At Freezout Lake near Choteau, MT last weekend, while almost everyone else was marveling at the huge flocks of white geese - mostly snow geese - , I was looking with amazement at the crowds of people! These spring concentrations of geese on this area have been occurring for many decades, and perhaps longer. But it is only within the past 10 or fewer years that Montanans have begun to flock to this wondrous place to witness and enjoy this great spectacle of nature.

On the afternoon of March 27, I stopped on my way home to Helena to see what sort of action there was at Freezout. And quite a sight it was. There was an estimated 200 or so vehicles in various locations on the area and who knows how many people. Motels in local communities were mostly full for the weekend. My recollections is that this is more vehicles than are normally present on the opening day of waterfowl hunting season. On Pond 5, there were an estimated 50,000 or so white geese resting on the water not very far from the throngs of delighted people. Hopefully, most of the folks present were cognizant of the fact that funding provided by hunters of past and present generations was responsible for the preservation and development of this area.

Instead of inserting a bunch bird pictures in this blog, I will substitute mostly images of the many folks enjoying this annual event. They include the young and restless, old and infirm, many birder friends of mine, old friends I haven't seen in many years, and lots of new faces that I hope to see in future years.