Pals, Mostly

 The same turkey feather as last Sunday!

Neighborhood Nest

Our neighborhood is prime Red-tailed Hawk country, the local pair very vocal, and chicks most years (except last.) I took friends Dan and Sue Varland down to look at the nest, nearly the size of a Volkswagen bug, only to find it crushed on the ground under the host cottonwood tree. Big winds out of the west and One Horse Creek, and nest no more. Thank goodness the chicks had fledged, and hopefully they will rebuild. I love those guys, but they aren't screaming all day long in our yard.

Play Play

Nico is warming up to the idea of a house/playmate

New Family Member

We just picked up the 7 week-old Labrador from our friend Leesa Jones in Stevi.  Tom named him Mose and will take some getting used to, a male dog! What a trip. Nico doesn't quite know what to think, yet.

Lone Pine State Park, Kalispell

The Bird of Prey Festival this Saturday! Cancelled the last two years with COVID, and back. Lone Pine State Park, Kalispell 8 am- 2 pm. Awesome activities and speakers all day. We are the Keynote at noon, free and open to everyone. Birds and books, beginning with a nice Powerpoint, Peregrine, Aplomado and big owl that starred in a TED Talk. The redux since our keynote in 2013, photos here:

Smoke Capital of Montana

 Welcome to the beautiful Bitterroot Valley! Yikes.

Frost?

 

LOGO!

Our friend Gary Matson asked if I could design a logo for Missoula Conservation Roundtable,  and right away I thought of a falcon sculpture I made, hanging on our deck. I won the Lifetime Conservation Achievement Award in 2017, the greatest honor of all! Thanks Erick Greene for the nomination and here is what I came up with:

What A Difference a Molt Can Make

Maizee the Peregrine back in November, then one minute ago in the house.  From "brownie" to beautiful adult plumage.

Roxy Night

Fun Falconry program at The Roxy Theater Tuesday, and photo by Carrie Richer, Sib on her perch, baby Sib on the big screen. Sibley actually watched the whole film, Game Hawker, and my short film of her growing up. We'll be back, International Wildlife Film Festival week - April 23-30 2023. Here before you know it!

Found Photo

 Jon and Katy Phillips, Cheticamp, Nova Scotia - Aug 1965! I remember playing with two kids our age that only spoke French, our first shots at pantomime.

Roxy Night

Don't forget our Falconry Program at the Roxy Theater tonight, sponsored by the International Wildlife Film Festival and Patagonia! Game Hawker film, then a short film by me, PowerPoint, and Sib and Sonora on stage - 5:30 pm and ticket sales to benefit Raptors of the Rockies and IWFF.

Odd Ospreys Yesterday

What is going on at the near-by cell phone tower, occupied by Ospreys the last several summers? The nest is still occupied a month (or more) later than normal. Many of the adult females are already migrating south, males then young to follow. Here the female and one should-be-fledged await delivery of this big rainbow trout. Weird. Wonder if it is from all of the rays and flickers of cell phone energy? Not very scientific, sorry.

Roxy Music

Just kidding about the Music (one of my favorite bands) but we will be at The Roxy Theater on Tuesday at 5:30, a program I have been working on with great gusto, Falconry: An Exhilarating Lifestyle.  This title comes from a story I wrote for a magazine in 2007. In another story I was featured in for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in 2009 I say," Falconry is not just a sport. It's a complete and all-consuming lifestyle. I basically try to talk people out of it." No apologies. See a duck in the second photo? And see you at The Roxy!