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.

Two Lifelong Goals Achieved on Western Montana / Idaho Panhandle Trip, July 6-16, 2022, Part 1 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 lists.  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 add at least 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.  I’ve birded ID 4 other times, but never made it into the far northern portion of the state.  In fact, my interest in birding the ID panhandle was spawned while on a birding trip in southern British Columbia.  At one point my route through BC took me within a few miles of the ID border, and I was seeing several species in BC that I needed in ID, like American Redstart and Red-eyed Vireo.  I was tempted to cross over the border on that trip, but instead decided to save this new part of ID for a future trip.

My tentative itinerary was to make a big loop, first birding a day each in MT near Missoula and Kalispell, then head west for about 2 days in the ID panhandle, then back east into MT for 4 days in Glacier National Park, followed by heading southeast for a day in the plains at Freezout Lake WMA and Benton Lake NWR, before heading back to Missoula.  That 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 to reach 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 first of 4 parts summarizing our trip, covering our first 3 days in MT. 

Day 1 – 7/6 – Afternoon in Missoula

We landed at the Missoula airport in the early afternoon, and after getting the rental car went straight to birding.  Just before our trip I had reached out to local Missoula birder Jillian Leblow for advice and she was a wealth of knowledge.  Given that we both had a very early start to the day, we decided to focus on a few specialties in Missoula that wouldn’t require much hiking.  Our first target was Lewis’s Woodpecker in Council Grove State Park.  Jillian had told me that they were nesting right at the parking lot so we hoped this could be a pretty easy stop for them.  And they did not disappoint – after just a few minutes walking around we found several of these very colorful birds (MT statebird #1).  My statebird map for Lewis’s Woodpecker is inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species.  The cross-hatched states are those where I have yet to find it – just 3 more to go.

And shortly thereafter we heard twittering calls coming from the tall pines right in the middle of the parking lot and found a small flock of Pygmy Nuthatches (#2).  That was an easy and fruitful stop indeed!

Next we headed to Milltown State Park to try for White-throated Swifts recently reported there.  The locations of the sightings in recent eBird reports were a little confusing so I was a little unclear where the best spot might be to look for them.  But when we got close to the park it became obvious – there was one tall bluff along the river that looked perfect for Swift nesting sites.  So we parked on the road opposite the tall rock face and started scanning.  We had a few swallows and singing Warbling Vireos along the river, but no Swifts.  Then I heard their characteristic twittering calls behind me and there was a flock of 5 White-throated Swifts flying across the sky (#3).  And as icing on the cake we had another small group of Pygmy Nuthatches nearby.  I’ve now caught up with White-throated Swifts in all their regular states except OR.

Our last stop of the day was to be Greenough Park, a quaint town park from which many checklists were reported in eBird.  But 10 minutes into our walk a thunderstorm came through that made us scurry back to the car.  Still 3 new MT statebirds with just a little birding time was a good start to the trip.

Day 2 – 7/7 – Missoula and Ninepipe NWR

The plan for the day was to spend much of the morning birding with Jillian at Pattee Canyon southeast of Missoula.  But first we took advantage of the fact that our internal clocks were still on east coast time to get in some predawn owling time nearby.  I targeted three locations in the Lolo National Forest south of Missoula where owls had been reported recently.  Our first 2 stops had recent reports of Flammulated Owls, but despite calm and quiet conditions and a bright moon, none would reply to our calls.  Best we could do was to hear a single Common Nighthawk. 

Our last stop was on Larch Camp Road where there was a recent report of both Saw-whet and Pygmy Owls.  The sky was starting to brighten in the east so we focused on the nocturnal Saw-whet to start.  But once again there were no replies, at least initially.  And just when I started to think we would strikeout on the owls that morning, I started to hear a Saw-whet give a single toot in response to the tape (#4).  I’ve had Saw-whets give single toots like this in the past a couple times in response to callback.  Although MT was my 16th state for this species, I still need it in many more.

We took a short walk down the road where the calls seemed to be coming from and played some more tape.  This time we heard a harsh call as a reply.  It sounded like an owl, but it was tough to tell which one was giving this very atypical call.  Then it gave a perfect Western Screech-Owl song, followed by a second bird nearby (#5).  And with the brightening sky we watched both birds fly almost directly overhead across the road.  Then a 3rd bird started to call from the original spot.  Maybe a Screech-Owl family?  These were most unexpected birds, and apparently of interest to the local birders.  A nice start to the day.

A few minutes later we were at the trailhead to Pattee Canyon and met up with Jillian who agreed to show us around.  One of the key targets here was Pygmy Owl which had nested along one of the trails earlier in the season.  But the young had recently fledged so we weren’t too surprised not to find them at the nest hole that Jillian showed us.  Nor did any birds respond to call back.  But even though we missed our first target, the habitat looked great, initially primarily this open pine woodland with a grassy understory.

Jillian’s skills were tremendous, and she helped us out with all those bird songs that we weren’t familiar with.  Several had songs similar to their eastern counterparts, so it was fun to compare and contrast them.  For instance, MacGillivray’s Warbler’s song has lots of similarities to Mourning Warbler.  Both Western Tanager’s song and call were similar to those of Scarlet Tanager.  And Cassin’s Vireo was a buzzier version of Blue-headed.  We were also lucky enough to get 2 targets that eBird data suggested were more likely in Pattee Canyon than at any of our other planned stops – Williamson’s Sapsucker and Evening Grosbeak.  Plus we got a few of the less likely ones like Pileated Woodpecker, Cordilleran Flycatcher, and our only MT Nashville Warbler.  All told I added 14 new MT birds on this most productive walk, bringing my tally up to 19 new species.  Many thanks once again to Jillian for her help.  And there was even some nice scenery at the top of our hike too.

Our next planned stops were three waterfowl refuges north of Missoula- Ninepipe NWR, then Kicking Horse Reservoir, and then Pablo NWR.  I had a number of targets at these sites, including Horned and Red-necked Grebes, Trumpeter Swan, Sandhill Crane, Cinnamon Teal, Short-eared Owl, Black-necked Stilt, and White-faced Ibis.  All had recently been reported at several or all of these waterbodies and associated wetlands, but most all were seen only occasionally and in low numbers.  So the strategy was to bird all of them in hopes of running into each target at least once.  Plus the refuges east of the mountains we would visit at the end of the trip could yield these targets if we didn’t get them at these western sites.

As we drove down out of the canyon to start heading north the Low Tire Pressure light came on.  Often this is not a big deal, but we still checked the tires anyway.  It turned out the front left tire was very low, so we pumped it up and hoped it was already pretty low when we first got the car.  But a half hour later we checked it again and it had lost pressure in just that short amount of time.  So we aired it up again and decided to keep an eye on it.

As we neared Ninepipe NWR I mentioned to David that I wasn’t able to find much information on how to bird that site.  So we would just find whatever vantage points we could and bird from each of them.  Our first viewing spot was to be the main entrance road which entered the refuge from the east.  We pulled into what we thought was the entrance road only to find out it was a small turnaround with limited visibility of the water.  But I mentioned we may as well scope the water here just in case something good happens to be flying by.  And just as I stepped out of the car a Caspian Tern flew right by (#19).  That was lucky.  Although Caspians had recently been reported occasionally at nearly all the wetlands we would be visiting, that one turned out to be our only one of the trip.  I’ve now seen this species in all but 5 states where it is regular.  I’ve also seen it in CO and ME as a rarity (the tan-shaded states).

Farther up the road we got to the real main entrance road but it actually only gave us access to a small part of the refuge.  We set up the scope for some distant viewing and found a small group of Trumpeter Swans (#21), along with a large nesting colony of Ring-billed Gulls, and a number of diving and dabbling ducks.  My statebird map below reflects the Trumpeter Swan range map in the Sibley app, indicating that this species is a rarity in a number of states where I’ve seen it.  In reality, Trumpeter Swan is expanding its range quite a bit, so it is no longer a rarity in a several of these states.

And along with viewing from a few other vantage points we found 3 species of Grebes – Eared, Clark’s and Western, though no Horned.  And we finally found my only remaining dabbling duck target, Cinnamon Teal (#22), but nothing else of interest.  We drove along the western and southern edges of the refuge hoping to come upon a perched Short-eared Owl, but with no luck.

As we reached the end of the perimeter road we got out and checked the tire.  It was lower still – alas, it was time to take care of it.  After many calls pursuing multiple options we finally got the rental car company to send us to a tire repair shop that fixed it quite quickly.  Though unfortunately we lost most of the afternoon birding time dealing with the tire, eliminating our opportunity to bird Kicking Horse and Pablo Reservoir.  Hopefully we could still get our remaining wetlands targets at the refuges east of the mountains near the end of the trip.  Another casualty of our tire debacle - we wouldn’t have time to look for Merlins possibly nesting at Wayfarers SP along the way.  But it could have been worse - at least the car was fixed that day and it didn’t impact the next day’s birding too. 

Day 3 – 7/8 – Glacier NP and Kalispell Area

The original plan for Day 3 was to bird the greater Kalispell area.  But even though that was the most likely area for Gray Partridge and Turkey, sightings were few and far between, and none were apparently reliable.  There were however apparently reliable spots for Red-necked Grebe and Sandhill Crane, and an iffy site for Horned Grebe.  But all 3 could be birded quickly in the afternoon.  So instead of committing our good early morning time to birding Kalispell, we decided to head into Glacier National Park for our first visit to the western side of the park.  Then we would make those quick stops for the Grebes and Crane in the afternoon while on the way through Kalispell in route to ID.

By the way, if you're planning to bird Glacier NP be sure to purchase a copy of "Glacier is for the Birds" by David Benson.  It's an excellent resource and proved to be invaluable for my birding in the park.

We arrived at Glacier a few minutes before the 6 AM official opening time and surprisingly we were able to drive right in without showing our visitor passes to anyone.  As we drove to our first stop at the Fish Creek Campground and adjacent picnic area we heard the first of many Pacific Wrens singing a somewhat less musical song than its eastern Winter Wren counterpart (#23).  And when we reached the picnic area we had this tremendous sunrise view of McDonald Lake.

A short walk through the thick conifers on the way to the campground yielded a singing Brown Creeper (#24).  Then a quick walk around a couple of the campground loops gave us a few of the common regulars like Hammond’s Flycatcher, Cassin’s Vireo, “Audubon’s” Warbler, and Western Tanager.  When we reached the main campground road we came to a stream that had another singing Pacific Wren.  And while we strained our eyes to get a view of this skulking bird a Dipper flew by – our only one for the trip.  (We never did see the Wren – in fact never saw one on the entire trip though we heard many.)

Next we headed to the Inside North Fork Road which is a secluded unmaintained road which first passes through a thick conifer forest, and then comes to an extensive burn area with young trees and brush.  Before we had gone far down the road a deer came running right towards us.  And a few seconds later a black bear came ambling down the road as well.  Luckily we were in the car at the time – yes that's my dashboard in the foreground.  We rolled our windows up when it got 5 feet away and passed right by the car.

One of our key targets once we got into the burn area was the Dusky Flycatcher.  Their song is virtually identical to Hammond’s Flycatcher, and except for a shorter primary projection, has a very similar plumage.  The key differences are that Dusky prefers more open, brushy habitat, whereas Hammond’s prefers a thick conifer forest.  Dusky also sings from a lower perch while Hammond’s typically sings from a higher perch.  Here’s a typical shot of the burn area and the low trees and brush revegetating the area.

Soon after we reached the young forest in the burn area we started to hear the characteristic song of the Dusky and Hammond’s Flycatchers.  Although it sounded like the Hammond’s we heard earlier in the tall conifers, this one was singing from the brushy vegetation.  We played a bit of tape of the Dusky and a bird flew right in in response.  We had our Dusky Flycatcher – the 25^th new MT statebird and #200 for my MT list.  I reached my first milestone of the trip - at least 200 species in all 49 continental states. 

I still need Dusky Flycatcher in a couple states where it’s regular, plus I’ve seen it as a rarity in migration in KS and OK.

Further up the road we got to an area where a stream bed paralleled the road, and we picked up a number of American Redstarts and Tennessee Warblers in the riparian vegetation – our only ones for the MT part of the trip.  A bit farther along the stream bed widened into a nice wetlands where we heard my fourth and final warbler target – Northern Waterthrush (#26).  I had been worried that my warbler targets might not still be singing this late in the year, but I guess I didn’t need to worry after all.  In fact, we had 8 warbler species singing just along this road, which is a nice tally for western birding.  At 10 AM we turned around and headed back toward Kalispell after a most successful morning in the park. 

As we headed back through the Kalispell area in route to ID we planned 3 quick stops for specific targets.  And along the way we’d keep our eyes peeled for Gray Partridge and Turkey.  The first stop was for a pair of Horned Grebes reported in a small pond on Monegan Road in Whitefish.  The birds had been reported there a few times, but not too recently.  I knew this one was iffy, but just maybe a pair was nesting at the pond.  It didn’t take us much time to survey the pond when we arrived – it truly was a small body of water.  But Mallards, a pair of Ruddy Ducks, and a nest of Coots was all we found there.  I knew it was a long shot.

Next, we were on to 2 spots in an area called West Valley to try for Sandhill Cranes.  Both places had reported Cranes in the double digits as recently as just 2 weeks earlier, whereas there were just occasional reports from other wetlands in the area and generally of just 1 or 2 birds.  So I was cautiously optimistic.  The first spot we went to was the West Valley Bird and Wildlife Viewing Area, which was on a hill giving us a nice view of a couple nearby lakes.  But the lakes were quite small and lacking cattails or similar vegetation for Cranes to forage or nest in.  We had some dabblers and Lesser Scaup, but little else.  The best bird was a singing Clay-colored Sparrow right next to the parking lot.  Unfortunately, it was a similar story at the nearby West Valley Ponds – limited habitat and just a few dabblers.  Where were the Cranes?  Migration was long over so the recent reports had to be of local nesting birds.  Maybe they truly were breeding in the area but only occasionally coming to the ponds to feed.  In any case, we were disappointed to strike out at what appeared to be the best Crane spot of our trip.

After a short drive we were on to our next site – Smith Lake Waterfowl Production Area.  Several recent reports from this site had multiple Red-necked Grebes, potentially of nesting birds.  This appeared to be the best spot for them in the region – our other planned stops only had occasional reports of single birds.  So although I was optimistic, this story sounded just like the one for the Sandhill Cranes at our last stops.  Smith Lake was a large wetlands and the only potential viewing spot I could find on-line was from a boat ramp on the southeast edge.  We headed right for the boat ramp, and one of the first birds I saw on the open water was an adult Red-necked Grebe (#27).  I ended up counting at least 13 birds, including a pair with 3 young.  I’ve now seen this species across most of its breeding and wintering ranges, along with IA and WY as a rare breeder, and several east coast states where it’s a rare wintering species.

And over the adjacent cattails there were at least 10 Black Terns flying about in their sharp breeding plumage.  Plus with singing Marsh Wrens of the western subspecies, it was quite a spot.  Here’s a view of the wetlands from just above the boat ramp.

Although that was our last stop in MT, the Grebes weren’t the last new bird in MT.  As we neared the MT/ID stateline in Troy, MT we had a Vaux’s Swift pass over the car (#28).  Luckily, we would get much better views of this species later in the trip after we were back in MT.  

The ID portion of our trip is summarized in the next blog post.