Manitoba – The Final Frontier, Part 2 of 3, June 2025

When it came time to start planning my big spring 2025 birding trip the destination was quite obvious – it had to be Manitoba.  That was my last state or province that I hadn’t birded extensively.  To paraphrase the Star Trek intro – Manitoba, the final frontier.  (Then again I haven’t yet birded Canada’s more distant and less accessible territories – Nunavut, Northwest, and Yukon.)

With an existing province list of just 61, there were lots of potential new province birds waiting for me in MB.  And if I flew into Grand Forks, ND, I could also fill a few gaps in my MN and ND lists before or after the MB portion of the trip. 

I reached out to my good birding friends Bill and Anita Hooker who went with me on my trip to FL back in January 2025, and they agreed to come along on this trip as well.  It was all coming together.

I spent several months planning the trip, including searching for the best birding hotspots in MB to maximize our species total, and looking for specific one-off targets near Grand Forks in MN and ND.  I came up with a 13-day itinerary where I could add at least 140 species in MB to break 200 for the province, add perhaps only 4 in ND, and hopefully 2 in MN.

This is the second of 3 blog posts summarizing the MB portion of the trip, covering June 2nd through the 5th. 

6/2 – Riding Mountain National Park

Earlier in our trip Brandon birder Gillian Richards connected us with local Riding Mountain birder Ken Kingdon to see if he could help us out in the park.  Better than that, Ken offered to show us around the morning of the 2nd, taking us to multiple stops north along Route 10.   

Our first stop was a short walk along Gray Owl dump road.  Here I added Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Cape May Warbler and Purple Finch.  (MB #165-167)  My Canadian province and territory map for Purple Finch is inserted below.  Provinces where I’ve seen this species are shaded in light blue – I’ve now seen Purple Finch in all 10 provinces.  Cross-hatched jurisdictions are those in the Purple Finch's regular range where I’ve yet to see it.  I’ve never birded in Canada’s three northwestern territories (yet!) so none of these will be shaded in for any of my Canada maps.

However, I missed the Siskins that everyone else heard.  Maybe I was distracted by the buzz of the hordes of mosquitoes.  Hopefully that wouldn’t come back to haunt me.

Next, we continued north to Bead Lakes for a longer walk through excellent boreal habitat.  It proved to be a great spot, with finds like Evening Grosbeak right in the parking lot, Hermit Thrush, Canada Jay, Canada Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, a heard-only Boreal Chickadee, Black-throated Green Warbler, and a calling Three-toed Woodpecker.  (MB #168-174)  Unfortunately we dipped on Winter Wren and Trumpeter Swan at an adjacent wetlands.  Ken also pointed out this tree to us – a bear had not only removed the bark near the top of the picture, but it had also rubbed on the bark below leaving some dirt behind.

Our next stop was at the far north end of the park at Crawford Creek.   I hadn’t picked out this site for a possible stop when I was planning the trip so I wasn’t sure what the targets might be here.  As we got out of the cars Ken said that this location was a reliable spot for Golden-winged Warblers, and before we left the parking lot we were hearing one singing nearby (MB #175).  We took a short walk and soon reached this classic Golden-winged habitat – an area of young deciduous trees with open grassy and shrubby patches. 

Soon we got visuals on one male with 2 others singing a short distance away.  I had planned to search for this species at a site on the eastern escarpment of the park – I didn’t realize they were at this site as well.   

We turned around and started heading south, soon reaching our next stop at Moon Lake.  Here we added 2 birds - a breeding plumage Bonaparte’s flew by just as we arrived, and we finally found Trumpeters Swans in the distance.  (MB #176-177)  We also took a short hike especially focused on Lincoln’s Sparrow and Wilson’s Warbler but with no luck.

Next we were on to the Boreal Trail, a site that has had quite a number of nice checklists in recent years.  Although the gate was closed, we assumed it was OK to walk in and take a short hike.   And we’re glad we did.  Here I finally heard multiple Pine Siskins, then an Olive-sided Flycatcher singing softly in the distance.  Then we focused on the willows and alders lining this fast-flowing stream and added both Lincoln’s Sparrow and Wilson’s Warbler. 

Then Bill got a brief look at a very dark woodpecker – sure sounded like it could be a Black-backed but we needed better looks.  Eventually we all got great looks at not one but 3 Black-backed Woodpeckers.  Seems early in the year to be a family group.  Could it be a small breeding colony?  (MB #178-182)

Our last stop of the morning was at a marsh just south of the park where Ken had had LeConte’s Sparrows recently.  The marsh and adjacent meadows seemed drier than normal – perhaps too dry for LeConte’s.  We listened intently for a while, and played some tape, but with no luck.  It was actually quite windy now, so we decided to come back in the evening to try again when the winds would hopefully be calmer. 

We thanked Ken for all his help in getting us on some great birds that morning, hoping that we might cross paths again some day.

After a quick lunch we decided to head to the west of the park, first to check out a report of 2 Connecticut Warblers.  Ken said that COWAs were not likely in the park anymore, so we were a bit skeptical.  The checklist area had some good habitat, but we couldn’t scare up a Connecticut. 

Then we were on to the dam at the south end of Lake Audy.  The area was quite birdy, and our first addition was a flock of 25 or so American White Pelicans on the north shore of the lake very far in the distance.  Good thing Pelicans are so large because they could have been as much as 2 miles away!  Much closer were several flyby Forster’s Terns followed by 2 Common Terns.  Six Trumpeter Swans were a nice sighting as they swam by.  (If only a 7th bird had joined them, we’d have had “7 swans a swimming”.)  And minutes later an Osprey and Bald Eagle flew by. (MB #183-186)  Finally, not new for my list, but still a nice find, was this Red-necked Grebe on its floating nest.

And as we drove from Lake Audy we encountered this Bear walking down the road shoulder right past us.  At this distance it’s nice to see the bear from the safety of a car.

That evening we went back to the marsh for another try for LeConte’s Sparrow.  Even though winds had greatly reduced, we still couldn’t turn up a LeConte’s.  Maybe water levels were just too low this year.  Next we planned to head to the area east of Lake Katherine for Woodcocks.  We were a bit early when we arrived in the area, so we headed to Lake Katherine and had a spectacular nighthawk show over the lake.  That was the highlight of the evening because we had no luck with the Woodcocks. 

I ended the day with 22 new species for my province list, bringing my MB total to 186.  Closing in on 200…

6/3 – Riding Mountain NP

This day was focused on sites along Route 19 on the eastern side of Riding Mountain.  My first key stop was at a stream-lined with willows, hoping for looks at Lincoln’s Sparrow or Wilson’s Warbler.  Unfortunately, those targets remained elusive, but I did have a Red-breasted Nuthatch calling in the distance (MB #187).  Ken had told us that the lack of a cone crop in the Park this year meant that Red-breasted Nuthatches (along with Crossbills) were very scarce, so I was happy to get this one.

A bit further down the road I had a Pileated Woodpecker calling in the distance – the first for the trip but not new for my list.  And as I neared Whirlpool Lake I spotted the first of 3 Wild Turkeys ambling along the road shoulder (MB #188).

Soon afterwards I reached Whirlpool Lake and the woodlands near the parking lot were quite birdy, including 13 species of warblers.  Plus this “scruffy” Canada Jay.

And the lake itself was very pretty.

I doubled back to Lake Katherine and did some quick birding along the trails there.  The highlight of this stop was an Olive-sided Flycatcher characteristically perched on top of the tallest dead snag.

Our last stop of the day was along Clear Lake where we heard another Boreal Chickadee though couldn’t get any visuals.  We called it quits early that day, taking the late afternoon off.    

 I finished the day with 2 additional species, bringing my MB list to 188.

6/4 – Riding Mountain, Portage-la-Prairie

The plan for the morning was to bird the East Escarpment of Riding Mountain along Route 361 out of McCreary.  But first we had to take a picture of the formal east entrance to the park.

Our key target along the East Escarpment had been Golden-winged Warbler, but of course we already found this one at the north end of the park.  Our other 2 remaining targets were Indigo Bunting and Eastern Towhee, both near the northern edge of their ranges.  Gillian had suggested a trail to take to find both targets, along with the Golden-winged.  So that trail was our first stop, and almost immediately after getting out of the car at the trailhead we heard a singing Eastern Towhee.  And then seconds later a singing Indigo in this habitat.  That was easy… 

We took a short walk along the trail adding a flyby Ruby-throated Hummingbird (MB #189-191) and an additional Indigo.  We didn’t have any Golden-wings though – good thing we got them earlier.  Though I’m sure we would have birded more of the trail if we still needed this target.

Next we headed to the former ski slope at end of the road.  One of our first observations here was of a mid-sized mammal walking up one of the slopes – perhaps a mink? 

Notable birds here were a cooperative Blackburnian Warbler, and another flyby Hummingbird.  It was interesting to imagine this spot during its skiing hay day.  Our last stop in the area was a short hike on the Oak Ridge Trail, with a half dozen Least Flycatchers being most notable,

After 3 ½ days at Riding Mountain NP, we were off to the Portage-la-Prairie area.  Gillian had helped to connect us with Cal Cuthbert who was a local birding expert in that area.   Not only does he know the area extremely well, he has an amazing property with widely diverse habitats and great birds.  But first, Cal took us to the Portage-la-Prairie landfill which is well-known for its gull flock and the potential for rarities mixed in.  When we arrived, we drove right up on the landfill, and had just an estimated 60 Herrings, 40 Ring-bills, and 10 Franklin’s.  That didn’t seem like enough critical mass to have any rarities, but we quickly picked up at least 4 immature Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2 adult Californias, and this stunning immature Glaucous photographed by Anita. (MB #192-194)  

MB was my 5th province where I've seen Lesser Black-backed Gull - 4 of which as rarities (the dark blue shaded provinces in my map below).

Plus, we had one bird that I thought was a Thayer’s but eBird reviewers said it was a Herring.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get on the Thayer’s that Cal spotted when we first arrived.

After a most successful time at the landfill, Cal took us to a private location where he had Saw-whet Owls nesting in a nest box.  

We were lucky enough that this juvenile bird was peering out of the box when we arrived (MB #195).

Next Cal took us to the Delta Beach area at the southern end of Lake Manitoba.  Here we witnessed a spectacular shorebird show thanks to Cal taking us to numerous secluded vantage points along the beach.  At each stop along the lake there were hundreds of shorebirds foraging in front of us, and an almost constant movement of birds heading west in waves along the shoreline.  We estimated at least 5,000 birds were included, mostly Semipalmated and White-rumped Sandpipers among the 14 species of shorebirds.  Here’s a typical shot with Semis, White-rumps, and a Sanderling in the foreground, and a pair of Caspian Terns in the background (one Tern is standing directly behind the other – can you see the 4 legs?).

By the end of the afternoon I had added 3 new MB species – 2 Red Knots (MB #196), 2 Caspian Terns (MB #197 – the old ABA reporting threshold for MB), and 32 Black-bellied Plovers (MB #198).  But nearly all were chased away by a Peregrine (MB #199) – at least now we don’t have to spend time trying for that one in downtown Winnipeg. 

We ended up with 101 species for the day, including 14 species added to my province list which now sits at 199.

6/5 – Portage-la-Prairie

We met up with Cal early that morning and he took us to a wet grassy field that had been good for LeConte’s Sparrow in the past. 

Unfortunately, the local drought meant the field was drier than normal, but with the help of some tape we eventually found LeConte’s - in fact we got great views. 

That brought my MB list to 200 – my original goal for the trip.  And we hadn’t even reached Churchill yet.

Then Cal took us to a large lot heavily wooded with mature oak trees at the Young Husband Lodge, in hopes of finding White-breasted Nuthatch.

We not only were successful in finally finding the Nuthatch, but also had views of, and heard, a Great Horned Owl.  And as we were leaving the lot 4 Sandhill Cranes flew overhead.  (MB #201-203)

We went back to Cal’s amazing yard where we walked several trails and ended the visit with some leisurely birding on the back deck.

We bid farewell to Cal, and couldn’t thank him enough for his help and allowing us to visit his amazing property.

The it was off to Winnipeg where I had 3 possible targets – Cooper’s Hawk, Cardinal, and Red-bellied Woodpecker.  All had been seen several times recently at multiple parks in the city, but local directions were limited for almost all of them.  I decided to try Bunn’s Creek Centennial Park as perhaps the best bet, and we headed there for a late afternoon visit.  Unfortunately, we dipped on all 3 targets, but we added an unexpected singing Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (MB #204).

I added 5 to my province list for the day, bringing my MB total to 204. 

Two Lifelong Goals Achieved on Western Montana / Idaho Panhandle Trip, July 6-16, 2022, Part 3 of 4

In 2014 a trip to the upper Midwest enabled me to get both my SD and ND statelists above 200.  Those were my 47th and 48th continental US states to exceed 200.  That left MT as my last of the continental 49 states with a list below that threshold.  Admittedly that is a somewhat arbitrary goal - it’s a lot easier to get to 200 in larger states like CA and TX with large statelists than in places like NH and RI with smaller statelists.  But ever since 2014, I’ve wanted to get back to MT to get my last continental US statelist over 200. 

I started planning a western MT trip back in 2019, and had hoped to go in June of that year.  But that was the year my wife and I moved from MA to NC, and I was focused on selling the old house and buying the new one.  So I put the trip off to 2020.  But then Covid hit, so I delayed it to 2021.  And then with the pandemic continuing, I delayed the MT trip to 2022.  Then in February 2022, being fully vaccinated and boosted, I finally decided that it was safe enough to get back on the road and schedule the trip.  I reached out to my good birding friend David Donsker and he agreed to go along as well.  We made our plane reservations for July 6-16 to Missoula, and were all set.  That is except for lots of planning – hundreds of hours of planning.

I’ve birded in MT on 4 previous occasions, most recently a 4-day trip in May 2014, giving me a total of 175 species.  Each of these trips was in the eastern or central portion of the state dominated by various plains and grassland habitats.  So since I had never been to the mountains of western MT with a very different mix of bird species, I had significant statebird potential on my first trip there.  Certainly, it should be easy to at least add the 25 I needed to get to 200.  And since we’d be in the northwest corner of MT not far from ID, I decided to add a couple days in the ID panhandle. 

My planned route would give me a whopping 84 targets in MT though I’d be happy if I found just 47.  That would put me 6 over the old ABA reportable threshold for MT of 216, and of course way over my goal of 200.  Plus I had another 26 targets in ID with a realistic goal of finding 12. 

If I met my expected totals I would add 59 new statebirds in MT and ID.  That would give me 14,989 Total Ticks – the sum of all my US state and Canadian province lists.  Just 11 short of my goal of the nice round number of 15,000.  But with a bit of luck (and good planning) 15,000 ticks might be within reach.  Sure would be nice to reach both lifelong milestones, all continental states over 200 and total ticks of 15,000, on the same trip.

With a bit of luck this could be a really exciting trip!

This blog post is the third of four parts summarizing our trip, covering days 5 through 8 in MT. 

Day 5 – 7/10 - Wayfarers SP, MT

We left ID after a full and successful day of birding to head back to Kalispell.  But the day wasn’t quite over yet.  Since we were a bit ahead of schedule, we had time to double back to Wayfarers SP at the north end of Flathead Lake to try for recently reported Merlins.  One or two had been reported there several times this summer, and most recently 2 birds were said to have been seen chasing a Bald Eagle through the park.  Sounded like they might be nesting.  But, with no specific locations given, it might be difficult to find them, even though the park wasn’t too big.  It was late afternoon when we pulled in, but we still needed to pay the full $8 day use fee.  Soon after we got on the narrow road that snakes through the park we started to hear some raucous calls.  I quickly pulled somewhat off the road in an admittedly less than ideal location.  Luckily it only took a few seconds to track down the source of the calls – they were begging calls from 2 full-sized juvenile Merlins at the nest which was on a horizontal branch in a large conifer.  And both parents were there as well (MT statebird #29).  I still need this species in quite a number of central states.

Sure is nice when a speculative plan comes together.  And a great way to end the day. 

Day 6 – 7/11 – Western Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier NP

This was our only full day in the western portion of Glacier NP, and we had 3 key places to bird – Avalanche Lake and campground, McDonald Lodge, and the Upper McDonald Creek trail.  There were likely benefits to birding each of these sites at dawn, but which one would be best?  It seemed like our best possibilities would be around the Avalanche campground and on the trail to Avalanche Lake, and that trail was one of the most popular ones in the park, so we decided to head there first to try to beat some of the crowds.  The other two spots would have to wait till later in the day.

We arrived at the parking lot near the Avalanche Campground about 6:15 and got almost the last parking spot.  I guess it was a good thing that we covered this spot first at least as far as the crowds were concerned.  And soon after we got out of the car I added 2 MT birds - singing Varied Thrush (#30) and Golden-crowned Kinglet (#31).  I’ve now seen Varied Thrush in all 6 states in its regular range, not to mention just as many states where it was a rarity.

So far the birds were saying it was a good choice to start there as well.  We took a slow walk around one of the campground loops but didn’t add too much.  That is except a Red Fox that got a little closer to us than we would have liked.  Then we walked a portion of the Trail of the Cedars in route to the Avalanche Lake Trail, adding another Varied Thrush and a Pacific Wren, but birding was pretty slow.

We finally got to the Avalanche Lake Trail and started heading uphill.  The first half of the trail went through a very dense cedar-hemlock forest that was great for Varied Thrush (we heard 8 of them along the way), but little else.  The trail opened up a bit about halfway up, and a blowdown afforded some nice views.

And the birding picked up a bit too, but just a little.  Finally, we reached Avalanche Lake, first arriving at the riparian area at the lake outlet.  Here we had a Warbling Vireo and MacGillivray’s Warbler, and then heard the characteristic song of the Fox Sparrow (#32).  Later the trail rose a bit above the lake providing this nice scenic lake view. 

The lake was supposed to be good for both Goldeneye species but we found no waterfowl at all despite lots of scans.  Though on one of my searches I spotted a large solid gray bird flying across the lake.  I watched it for several seconds until it landed in a distant conifer.  Although as a perched bird it was too far to ID, based on the size and color in flight I decided it was a Canada Jay (#33).  Not the best view but it would have to do.  Later we also had a nice flock of 20 or more Vaux’s Swift over the lake.  Though try as we might, we couldn’t turn any into Black Swifts which were supposed to be regular here.  We then took the long trail back to the campground, along with many, many hikers.  Needless to say we didn’t have many birds on the way down.  Though as we got to the campground to eat lunch a friendly Steller’s Jay hopped around on the next table hoping for scraps.  This bird of the Interior West race gave us great views of its white “eyebrows”.  We ended up with just 18 species for this 5-hour trip.  In hindsight this might not have been the best site to bird at dawn after all. 

Next we headed to the Upper McDonald Creek trail a short distance away.  A key target here was Harlequin Duck which nests along the cliffs, and represents a major portion of the nesting Harlequins in MT.  We read that the males leave the nesting sites in June and head back to the coast.  So by the time of our trip only females (and young) remain in the area.  But despite lots of searching along the creek we found no birds.  We even came back 2 days later and tried again unsuccessfully.  Along the way we came to 2 sites cordoned off to protect Harlequin nesting spots.

It made me wonder if the female Harlequins were on eggs at the time of our trip.  If so, the females would only come out of their nesting cavities occasionally for a quick meal then head back to the nest.  Maybe we picked the worst time of the year to look for them. 

Our last stop of the day was the Lake McDonald Lodge which had had a number of my targets in recent reports.  But by the time we arrived in mid-afternoon the lodge and grounds were full of people and cars.  We made a quick search for hummingbird feeders (we still had no hummers in MT), and a scan over the lake for waterfowl, but came up empty on both accounts.  But we still needed Chestnut-backed Chickadee for MT, and this western side of the park was supposed to be the area for them, and in fact the only area for them amongst all our MT birding sites.  So we decided leave the lodge area for now, check into our hotel, get some dinner, and head back to the lodge grounds when it was a bit cooler to try for the Chickadee again.

We returned to the lodge at 6:30 and played some Chickadee calls at a number of spots without any luck.  Then I noticed that the cedars along one side road looked good for them so we gave it a try.  Soon we heard some Chickadee notes, and with a bit of tape had a Chestnut-backed come in to investigate (#34).  It would be our only one in MT.  Interestingly, my statebird map for the 6 states in the regular range of this species matches that for the Varied Thrush.  Though unlike the Thrush, the Chestnut-backed is not prone to vagrancy.

It was a nice way to end a long, tiring, though productive day.

Day 7 – 7/12 – Eastern Glacier NP Going-to-the-Sun Road

In my original plans this was going to be our day to hike around Logan Pass and other trails near the Continental Divide.  But the Going-to-the-Sun Road was still closed due to snow, even though the park’s website says it is normally open by early July.  There was a rumor that the road may open on the 13th, so we moved up our planned birding in the eastern part of Going-to-the Sun to the 12th, and crossed our fingers that the road would truly be open the next day and allow us to get to the highest portions of the park on the 13th. 

With the road through the park being closed, we had to drive all the way around the southern edge of the park to get to the eastern entrance around St. Mary.  Along the way we had a pair of Mountain Bluebirds and a flyby Cooper’s Hawk near Browning (#35) – a silver lining of that longer ride outside the park.  I’ve now seen Cooper’s Hawk in all the Lower 48 states plus DC.

We finally rolled into the St. Mary’s Visitor Center at about 7 and our thoughts instantly went to Veery which was our key target here.  The visitor center was in the middle of a grasslands, so I wondered where we might find the proper riparian habitat for Veery.  But as soon as we opened the doors we could hear a Veery singing a short distance away to the northwest (#36).  That was a lot easier than expected.  The references also talked about the grasslands near the St. Mary visitor center harboring a number of sparrow species, and a sparrow chorus it was.  Within minutes we heard songs from Savannah, Clay-colored, White-crowned, Lincoln’s, and Vesper.  Here’s a panorama of the surrounding grasslands.

 

Our plan for the morning was to take a 4-mile loop trail, starting with the Red Eagle Lake Trail, then return on the Beaver Pond Trail.  Recent reports from these trails had included no less than 6 of my remaining targets – Barrow’s Goldeneye, Black-backed Woodpecker, Calliope Hummingbird, Alder Flycatcher, Olive-Sided Flycatcher, and Cassin’s Finch.  Truly a target-rich location.  We began our walk along the edge of the grasslands getting many of the same sparrows we heard at the visitor center.  Then we entered a nice wetlands with several singing Willow Flycatchers, MacGillivray’s and Yellow Warblers, and Northern Waterthrush.  Then I heard what sounded like half of a song of an Alder Flycatcher.  The Sibley app calls this the “Rrreea call” of the Alder.  We played some tape and a bird flew in in response to the Alder’s “Peet call”.  We had our Alder Flycatcher (#37).  Like several of my other targets on this trip, Alder Flycatcher is mostly an eastern bird in the US, passing through many states as a migrant where I still haven’t caught up to it.  But in Canada its nesting range goes coast to coast.  The Sibley app shows it as a regular breeder in just one spot in MT near Glacier NP, but not in ID.

Farther down the trail we soon left the wetlands (and the mosquitoes!) and entered an area with many trees that had recently died.  Most of the trees had obvious spots where the bark had been flaked off by Three-Toed and/or Black-backed Woodpeckers, so we were optimistic that we might find one or both of our target woodpeckers.  But despite lots of searching and playing tape, we could only find one Hairy Woodpecker.  Maybe there was just too much good habitat and the woodpecker density was too low. 

Eventually we reached the trail junction and turned onto the Beaver Pond Trail to head back to the parking lot.  The woods were dominated by aspens, and we were able to find two Red-breasted Sapsucker nests each with at least one noisy nestling – we had 10 Sapsuckers on this part of the trail alone.  As we continued our walk we caught brief glimpses of the beaver pond, and each time we scanned for the Barrow’s Goldeneyes that are supposed to be breeding there.  Eventually we came to an opening and we spotted movement on the lake – it was a female Bufflehead and 3 ducklings.  And then we noticed a duck sleeping on a rock in the middle of the lake.  It was a female-plumaged Goldeneye, but which species?  (And how did we miss these birds on all our previous scans?)  It eventually woke up and showed us an all dark bill – female Barrow’s have mostly yellow bills, right?  We were disappointed that it was just a Common, even though only Barrow’s had been reported here.  Then we got a better look at the head shape and it was sloped forward with a shaggy crest like a Barrow’s, as shown in this passable digi-binned photo.

With a bit of research we found that the female Barrow’s only acquires a yellow bill during winter, which is the typical time of year that we might look for them on the New England coast.  And its bill is actually dark during breeding season.  So we had our Barrow’s Goldeneye after all! (#38).  I now just need this species in one more western state (SD) where it’s a wintering species.  I’ve also seen it as a rarity in WI and 3 northeast states.

Soon after we confirmed the ID a moose ambled by and came to the beaver pond to drink.

The riparian area was quite birdy including species like Least Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Orange-crowned Warbler, and Lincoln’s Sparrow.  And several meadows we passed through were full of pretty wildflowers, though we still couldn’t come up with a hummingbird.  All in all it was a nice walk even though we only got a couple of our targets.  [As a post-script: later that day we ran into birders who mentioned that a Great Gray Owl had been seen from these trails just a few days earlier, though it had not been seen the last couple days.  That would have been a good one to run into.]

The rest of the day we planned to bird a couple short trails farther west along St. Mary Lake.  But by the afternoon it was quite hot and sunny.  And worse yet, almost the entire area had been burned and there were next to no tall trees remaining to offer any shade.  We did walk the Sun Point Nature Trail, finding a bit of shade along the lake.  And we found a spot where there was a nice breeze coming off the lake.  The only thing that was missing was a bench. 

As we watched out over the lake we noticed a small flock of birds in the distance flying low over the surface.  It was pretty far away so it took us a while to verify field marks, but we were seeing all-dark Swifts, with shallow and slow wingbeats.  David commented that they reminded him of Leach’s Storm-Petrels.  They seemed too big to be Vaux’s Swifts which might hardly even be visible at this distance.  And along with the flight pattern and coloration, we concluded we had a flock of 4 Black Swifts (#39).  MT was only my third state for this elusive species; I’ve also seen it in Canada in BC.

A short time later a family group of Hairy Woodpeckers flew into the trees right in front of us.  These were of the interior west race that have significantly less white on the back and wings than our eastern race.  We commented how similar they are to Three-toed, and could be easily misidentified by eastern birders.  Sure enough just a minute later a couple birders came along the trail, spotted the birds, and ID’d them as Three-toed.  Not sure if the little ID lesson we gave them was enough to persuade them into taking Three-toed off their life list though.

Day 8 – 7/13 – Logan Pass and Piegan Pass Trail, Glacier NP

Our plans for this day were up in the air, with options all based on whether the Going-to-the-Sun Road would be open all the way through Logan Pass.  As of 5 AM when we left the hotel the Glacier website said the road was still closed.  So we once again made the 2-hour long drive around the park to enter on the east side at St. Mary.  But as we arrived at 7 AM there was a park ranger there to tell us that the road was indeed open.  It turned out that the 7/13 opening date tied a record for the latest date the road had ever been opened. But would the late spring snows cause us problems on the trails?

Now with access to the highest stretches of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, our plan was first to hike the Hidden Lake Trail at Logan Pass to look for Ptarmigans and Rosy-finches.  Then we would head to the Siyeh Bend/Piegan Pass Trail for other boreal species.  When we got close to Logan Pass there was quite a bit of snow still on the ground, including an 80-foot tall drift at a location aptly named “The Big Drift”.  We were one of the first cars to get to the parking lot at 6,600 feet elevation and saw this beautiful landscape of snow and wildflowers on the mountains.

But the Hidden Lake Trail was nearly completely snow-covered, and officially closed even though there were quite a number of people on at least the lower portion.

You would normally look f or Ptarmigans in vegetated patches at the edge of a snow field.  But since most of the area along the trail was still snow covered, there were no grassy patches for them to feed in.  There were however quite a number of Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches flying around and feeding on the snow (#40).  And a number of American Pipits both calling and singing.  Not sure if I’ve ever heard a Pipit singing before.

If the Ptarmigans were still in the area they would have to be lower in the mountains where the snow was only patchy.  I scanned a number of such areas in the distance hoping to spot some movement but not surprisingly came up empty.  Though I was surprised (and lucky) to pick up a Clark’s Nutcracker flying along the treetops on one of my scans (#41 – that gives me 216 for my MT list which was the old ABA reportable threshold).  Nice to get the Nutcracker as a bonus bird since we weren’t able to get to the Ptarmigan’s habitat in this abnormally snowy year.

Next I was on to the Piegan Pass Trail using the trailhead starting at Siyeh Bend.  The trail started at 5,840 ft and climbed to 7,000 ft over a 2.6 mile route through mature spruce-fir forest.  At those elevations our biggest concern was that this trail too could still be snow-covered.  And along with the elevation gain, David decided to pass on this trail.  The lower portions of the trail had occasional snowy areas making the hiking a lot more strenuous, and the trail a bit difficult to find at times, but it wasn’t too bad.  Along the way the forests were beautiful with the regulars like Siskins, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Mountain Chickadees (including a family group), and Red-breasted Nuthatches.  And I came upon more trees showing Three-toed/Black-backed activity, like this tree surrounded by a pile of bark on the ground.

But the real targets for this trail were the boreal species mostly seen at higher elevations, so I had to continue higher in the mountains on my search.  Unfortunately, as I gained elevation a greater percentage of the trail was snow-covered, and in some cases the snow drifts were waist deep.  Luckily, they were packed down well enough that I could mostly walk on the surface. 

I had climbed to about 6,500 ft when I started to hear call notes up ahead that I didn’t recognize.  I recorded it with my Merlin app and it identified it as a Pine Grosbeak.  Merlin isn’t too accurate at times but this time it was right on – I played some tape of the Pine Grosbeak call notes and it was a perfect match.  Then it started singing which again matched the song on the app (#42).  If it hadn’t been for Merlin I wouldn’t have identified that one. 

A bit farther along I heard some Chickadee notes that got my attention.  The entire trip I had been working on separating the calls and songs of the four species of Chickadees that could be in the area.  And those calls up ahead sounded like they were from my last remaining Chickadee target – the Boreal Chickadee.  I got closer to the calls and played a bit of tape.  A Boreal Chickadee flew right in and checked me out just 5 feet away (#43).  Oh if I only had a camera…  I still need this species in several northern tier states, though I have seen it as a rarity in MD and MA.

I was just about to reach the beginning of Piegan Pass when I added my next bird – this one was a White-winged Crossbill that called as it flew overhead (#44). 

I was now at just above 7,000 feet, and the trail was mostly snow covered, so I decided to turn around at that point.  Interestingly the Pine Grosbeak was still singing at the same location as I passed by it again back downhill.

And this Marmot was quite inquisitive as I passed by it along one of the waterfalls.

But as they say on TV - “But wait, there’s more.”  I had just returned to my car and took off my backpack when I noticed a large raptor flying by.  It was close enough to ID even without binocs as a sub-adult Golden Eagle (#45).  A nice way to end my birding on the trail.

I rejoined David at Logan Pass and we drove west through the heart of the park on the newly opened Going-to-the-Sun Road, taking in some beautiful scenery.  One of the best shots was this classic bowl-shaped valley formed by glacial activity.

We also stopped at Haystack Falls where Black Swifts have nested in previous years, but could not come up with them.  And we made a few more stops along Upper McDonald Creek in unsuccessful searches for Harlequin Ducks.  That one will have to wait for a future trip.

 

My next blog post provides a summary of the last portion of our MT/ID trip on days 9-11.