Nemesis Bird - Finally!!

Since I began birding in earnest and recording all sightings about 1999 or so, there are several bird species that I have tried to find on numerous occasions without success. One of the last of these was the Spruce Grouse. While I had seen many of this species in years past, I didn't want to put them on my list of Montana birds ID'ed until I had seen one in my relatively recent years of keeping records. Most spruce grouse in Montana are found west of the Continental Divide. Many times, I have searched Glacier park to no avail. Then a friend from Deer Lodge located an area in the nearby mountains where this species could be found fairly easily. But each time I tried - NO LUCK!

Several days ago, I accompanied a friend on a hike to a high mountain meadow in the Pioneer Mountains of southwest Montana to look for and try to capture a male dragonfly of a species know only from this location in Montana. After a fairly steep initial portion of the trail, we came into a beautiful meadow area with a stream flowing quietly through it. Shortly after we entered this pristine meadow, a young grouse flushed from the tall grass. Then several more made their presence known. And there she was - a female spruce grouse with a brood of 4 young ones. Finally, I could check that one off on my list of nemesis birds of Montana!!We captured only females of the dragonfly species we were after, so Nate was a little distraught with the results of the hike, but for me, it was one of the better days I've experienced in a while.

And then yesterday was icing on the cake for the week! There was a report of a Band-tailed Pigeon in the small berg of Elliston, about 20 miles west of Helena. Only about a dozen or so historic records of this species have been recorded in the state, and it would be a new Montana species for me. Immediately upon my arrival at the residence where the bird had been frequenting, I spotted it sitting in the top of a conifer tree. It was quite skittish and flew to some other trees for a while. While waiting for it to return for a closer view, I was joined by Nate Kohler and a couple from Bozeman. After nearly 2 hours of waiting, the bird made its appearance again and posed on a metal post for some pretty good photo opps. A very successful week of birding, I' say!