October 15th

The eagle pair was back at the nest tree last night, junior nowhere to be seen. He's out doing his thing, I guess. The storm came through earlier in the day. That's right over the eagle trees, and looks like a flying owl to me. See it? Okay, maybe not but dramatic clouds.

Red-tails Rock!

Red-tailed Hawks are familiar to everyone, "conspicuous and widespread" according to David Sibley who featured one on the cover of his first edition field guide. It seems even more widespread as the symbol for Apple Mail. But this particular Red-tail was carrying a snake, cool. My trusty Golden guide makes me think it's an unlucky Western Racer.
Join us tomorrow (Thursday)  at 4:00-5:00 pm MST for our bi-monthly appearance on Montana Public Radio, the Pea Green Boat with Annie Garde. We'll have three birds, no snakes, and streaming live on the internet everywhere: http://mtpr.org/ - hit Listen Live at the top. See you then!

Sandhill Cranes

Love the cranes, and just saw an Osprey at the river behind the house. It looked like he was taking pot-shots at a hidden Bald Eagle that I could hear protesting. The latest we've ever seen an Osprey here was last year in mid-November. Procrastinating, I'm sure.

New Falcon

My friend Jay Sumner and I have been flying birds together for a dozen years, and he has a new one  this season. Her Bitterroot debut was yesterday and a very promising start! She's a young anatum Peregrine, the Rocky Mountain subspecies, and a brown beauty. That's a back-pack radio transmitter and antennae, something we might try with Sibley. Our duck season is the same as gun-hunters, but upland game bird extends to the end of March. Let me know if you have some ducks or pheasants to chase around.

Saturday Today

Today at The Festival of the Book with our publisher John Rimel, Sonora the Aplomado and another great Mountain Press author, Donna Love. Then the the rainbow when I got home. Hey, did you see that eclipse the other morning? I had to set the alarm, as unlike a lot of my friends, I don't usually awaken at 5 am. I should be up by 6 or 7 anyway and they all say, "the best time of the day."  

Great Falls Meeting

Program: Avian Interactions with Power Lines: Montana Working Group, Great Falls. Host: Sam Milodragovich, NorthWestern Energy. Star: Nigel the Golden Eagle. Nigel was placed on a prop crossarm with three insulators to judge the wingspan that eagles have and can be electrocuted.  Immediately our bird hopped up on the insulators, pictured here, and they aren't supposed to do that I found out. Perch on the wood instead... Fantastic meeting of the minds and glad to learn all about power lines and the huge efforts to prevent such bird deaths and power outages. I even learned how huge flocks of perched starlings and blackbirds can suddenly lift off and wreak havoc with rural power companies, as lines entangle and short out. Lots to think about, and the first such annual gathering. Thanks Sam, and to co-hosts Montana Electric Cooperatives and Montana Audubon.

One More Snapshot

Another of Sib, her 12th season of hunting, and out of curiosity I just counted the number of programs she has done with Raptors of the Rockies. 442! The winner. Check out that molt - she just lost a two-year-old primary 10 today, for you feather experts.

Off to Great Falls with Nigel the Golden Eagle for the "Avian Interactions with Power Lines" workshops. Then the Festival of the Book, downtown Missoula at the Holiday Inn on Saturday, 9:30 am. A PowerPoint and 4 birds, plus books on sale including the brand new American Kestrel: Pint-sized Predator, the only copies in the Western Hemisphere so far. The rest should arrive in a few weeks.

Sib Today

First Annual RRF Photo Competition

The Grand Prize Winner at the conference was...drum roll please... Erik Hedlin (University of Alberta student). Erik's description of the photo: "This juvenile rough-legged hawk was just banded and put to the side as we worked on his siblings. The banding is part of some on-going research that's looking at the ecology of raptors breeding in the area around Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Canada." Thanks to Nick Dunlop and Rob Palmer for helping me judge, and a difficult choice in the end. Erik won a $100 gift certificate at Buteo Books and an invitation to enter again next year!

Resident Red-tail

This bird is here all year, we think nesting just south - a dark phase (or morph) Red-tail photo from last night. Middle, our program Red-tail Alisa - a red-phase! Plus there are Krider's Red-tails, white birds breeding in eastern Montana that are another sub-species. And we see dark Harlan's Hawks (bottom photo) all winter. Red-tails keep birdwatchers on their toes.

Nice Red-tail

This light Red-tailed Hawk was soaring over Lee Metcalf Refuge today, totally white tail with the red on the tip, white ventral feathers and a dark little collar. Cool bird and yet another color variation of our most common and beloved buteo.
News Flash! Identified by Joseph Dane of HawkWatch International and Jerry Liguori, author Hawks From Every Angle = Harlan's Hawk! Usually black morphs around here, and this signals fall, as this sub-species of Red-tail migrates from Alaska and Canada, with us in the winter months. Even cooler!

Linderman and Cherry Valley

What a program - 700 kids k-4 from two cool schools in Polson on Flathead Lake!  Our friend Luan Atkinson hired us for an appearance at Stevensville Elementary 20-something years ago, then we had an appearance 10 years ago for a combination of both schools at Linderman. Here they are and my first ever program with a bucket and mop at the ready, next to the tables. Excellent audience and the Junior Zoologists will probably be "hooting like owls" all weekend, so sorry parents. Linderman mascots are the Purple Pirates, the popular color, and it felt like a Prince concert, sort of.

The Old Crib?

Here was a three-year-old female Bald Eagle looking into the nest in the back yard tonight. Maybe one that fledged in 2011 and back to her crib? We'll never know and she fled in an instant when a magpie landed above. Still rockin' on the beach.

Savage Tragedy

This may not be the place to vent, but we are devastated by the savage mauling of our cat Luna, killed in our driveway by our next-door neighbor's four dogs. His dogs get out of the fence and harass our birds, several times teaming up on the eagles on three sides. Monday as I was unpacking from the conference they attacked our sweet cat Luna. I had our veterinarians examine the body -wounds included punctures to abdomen and thorax. Luna slept on my legs every night, adopted from the Humane Society along with her sister Audrey eleven years ago. Happier news to follow, I promise, but we are so sad. She was family.
PS: Two of them were just now barking at the eagles, causing them to crash into the fence!
PSS:  Officially charged with "vicious dogs" and "dogs at large."