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Recent Postings from
Montana Birding

Updated on Tuesday, December 11 at 06:51 PM ET
The most recently received Mail is at the top.

While visiting from Oregon, I hit a few spots during the last four days to
find birds not normally seen in the Portland area. Highlights below.

Georgetown Lake:
Cabin feeder birds included the usual corvid contingent, Steller's jays,
gray jays, and Clark's nutcrackers, as well as pine grosbeaks, evening
grosbeaks, and typical small songbird flocks braving the sub-zeros. The open
water near Stewart Mill Bay had some Mallards, Canada geese, a coot, and a
pair of Gadwalls.

Butte:
I skipped the funeral, but found a rough-legged hawk within city limits and
had a flock of 500+ bohemian waxwings in a neiborhood off of continental.

Deer Lodge Valley:
I met Nate and Gary at the stockyards, but just missed the rusty blackbirds.
We did see redwings, brewers, and horned larks in the field. At the Warm
Springs exit, I caught a glimpse of a prairie falcon overhead.

Three Forks Headwaters State Park:

Pretty quiet, apart from some song sparrows and a lone tree sparrow.

Good Birding,

Max Smith,

Hillsboro, Oregon

On 12/6 we had a Harris's Sparrow in our yard in Helena.  I didn't see 
it, but my wife took photos of it and forgot to tell me until 
yesterday.  Also, have had at least one Townsend's Solitaire visiting 
for the last week.  

Birders,

I was sorting through pictures on my flash card tonight and found a few 
good comparison photos of Glaucous and Glaucous-winged gulls with the 
wings open and placed them in my Photo Album.  Nate Kohler and Bob 
Martinka also have similar pictures in their albums, but it never hurts 
to look at a  few more, if you are interested in gulls.  These were 
taken Dec 2, 2007.

I was also able to go out with Nate today and relocate the Rusty 
Blackbirds that he saw yesterday.  That was a year bird and a Montana 
Life bird for me here in my own valley!

Gary Swant
Deer Lodge  

Mob,

I had my first Snowy Owl of the winter just south of Westby this
afternoon.  It was a very dark, heavily marked individual.  I've also
been seeing a Prairie Falcon & Golden Eagle almost daily while on my
bus route, and there continues to be a few mixed flocks of L.
Longspurs, Snow Buntings & Horned Larks in the area.  Our feeder
activity has been very slow, with an occasional visit by one Hairy &
one Downy Woodpecker.  One note of interest has been the absence of
House Sparrows with just a few coming each day, and today I didn't
have any which has got to be a first (trust me, I'm not complaining)!

I should mention, the other day I had a Northern Shrike spend a few
minutes in our mountain ash just a few feet outside my studio window,
affording me great looks.  As I watched, it surprised me by flying
down to a low growing juniper (arborvitae) and pulling off several
berries.

Ted Nordhagen
Westby MT

Indeed, the strength of these little dynamos is amazing.  Not long ago, we
observed a pygmy owl catch a Round-tailed ground squirrel in southern
Arizona (no- it wasn't a Ferruginous/Catcus owl) along a hiking trail just
as it was getting dark.

The little owl barely picked-up its prey and tried to fly away while
dragging the squirrel's tail on the ground.  It managed to move the
squirrel about 5 feet off the trail.

According to Princeton's *Mammals of North America, *the ground squirrel
ranges from 110 to 170 grams and, from a bird book, Pygmy owls go from 62
(males) to 73 (females) grams.

Can any of you imagine carrying, that is- flying- with more than twice your
own weight?

Cheers,

Jim Rogers
Polson


On 12/9/07, Dan Casey  wrote:
>
>   Mob-sters:
>
> This morning we watched a Northern Pygmy-Owl catch one of the birds
> visiting our feeders. Thankfully it was not the Harris's Sparrow,
> which did visit this morning. Instead, it reduced our over-sized flock
> of House Sparrows by one. Watching these guys fly with prey that is
> essentially their own size is really something.
>
> Dan Casey
> Somers
>
> 
>

A quick trip with Arla to Giant Springs yielded some interesting observations, 
on the road just above the L&C center had a Shrike fly across the road, then 
down by the river, LOTS of waterfowl including two immature Long-tailed, if all 
these waterfowl stick around another week the river crew will be busy. We had a 
couple of immature Swans. We had a Townsend's Solitaire at both Giant Springs 
and Highland Cemetery. 

Sincerely;
Richard Mousel
Wild Bird Mercantile
rmousel AT bresnan.net
The Colour Outdoors - Wildlife Stock Agency Photography
Richard Mousel -STOCK Pictures- www.4co.us  -  www.fox-park.com  -PRINTS
5420 14th  ST  S - Great Falls,  MT  

Mobsters,

Steve Wickliffe from Anaconda and I birded the valley today. The big 
find of the day was at least three Rusty Blackbirds feeding in a 
stockyard near Racetrack. We found them hanging with a large group ( 
150+ ) of Red-winged Blackbirds, Starlings, and a few Brewer's 
Blackbirds. The group was moving around a bit so it's possible there 
may have been more than three Rusty's in the bunch. I've posted a poor 
digiscoped photo showing two of the Rusty Blackbirds in Nate's Album.

Other birds of note from the day were: Brown Creeper, Prairie Falcon, 
and one N. Pygmy-Owl up Dry Cottonwood Creek.

Nate Kohler
Deer Lodge

Richard (et al.):

Count week, as defined by Audubon, is centered on count day, and so 
includes the three days preceding the count, and the three days 
following. So for those counts to be conducted next Saturday (the 
15th), count week begins on Wednesday and ends on Tuesday the 18th.

Dan Casey
Montana CBC editor

MOB-sters, 
 
Okay, I know for many this is old hat but I enjoyed a yard first just now.  
 
It's been a quiet bird weekend in the yard.  That all changed just a few
minutes ago.  It has just started snowing.  I sat down next to a window to
take a break and watch the snow & birds for a minute.  There was a northern
flicker in the larch and I was going to look at it through binoculars for a
minute.  As I moved my view up the tree, I passed over the two dark spots
that are on the back of the head of  NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL (immediately
recognizable).  By the time I moved back onto the bird (almost invisible in
the branches) it was facing my direction.  
 
I first saw a northern pygmy-owl last year, thanks to Gary Swant and Nate
Kohler.  This was my second viewing of a northern pygmy-owl.
 
I've been reading reports of them in yards with envy.  In fact, I had read
Dan Casey's recent post just a few minutes before!
 
I went out into the yard to get a few pictures.  The owl was intensely
watching the juniper right under the window that faces the larch where a
bunch of house sparrows hangs out.  I became hopeful and wasn't
disappointed.  It had just occured to me that a better vantage for the
action might be back in my windowside chair.  I saw the owl change its pose
then the rest went lightening fast.  It flew directly in front of my face
like a dart into that juniper where there is now one less house sparrow.  In
a flash it was taking off back out of that juniper with its prey.
 
As Dan noted just a few hours ago, watching that owl fly with its prey that
was just about a match in body size was "really something."  What a sight!
 
The chickadees (both black-capped and mountain) went nuts!  What a racket
they made!
 
What a fun event to witness right in my own back yard!
 
The whole time that the northern pygmy-owl was intently watching the juniper
bush (where, by the way, I could see no sparrows but was confident that they
were there), the flicker was two feet away on another branch.
 
I have neither reflexes nor camera fast enough to catch that action, but I
have a few photos of the owl perched in the larch that I'll put in my folder
later today.
 
Katie LaSalle-Lowery
katie AT bigskycountry.net
http://www.bigskycountry.net   (updated Oct
23, 2007)
 

Well this is the week for the start of the CBC we will be conducting ours on 
Sat the 15th, I am wondering what days are included in count week? Does it make 
a difference that we do ours on the second day of the count period? 

I would guess I have perhaps the most feeding stations up than anyone else on 
MOB, between all my suet, sunflower, nyjer and mealworm feeders, I have in 
excess of 30 feeding stations. My most recent additions are three small nyjer 
socks, I do also have a couple nyjer spirals that the seed continues to 
disappear from, but since putting up my new socks my Goldfinch numbers have 
increased, they seem to like the fact I have them hanging from some sunflower 
plants, I've gone from four birds to 10 just now, although I haven't seen any 
Redpolls in some time, one of the main reasons I put up the socks. I put up 
strings in the vicinity of my sunflower feeders to repel sparrows and it seems 
to be working great, the sparrows seem to be limiting themselves to the sparrow 
feeders. Arla and I plan on doing some scouting this afternoon, we'll post if 
we find anything interesting. 

Sincerely;
Richard Mousel
Wild Bird Mercantile
rmousel AT bresnan.net
The Colour Outdoors - Wildlife Stock Agency Photography
Richard Mousel -STOCK Pictures- www.4co.us  -  www.fox-park.com  -PRINTS
5420 14th  ST  S - Great Falls,  MT  

Mob-sters:

What to do when there are no rare gulls present? Observe the variation 
in common species (or maybe stop chasing gulls altogether?....nah.) 
Note the differences between the side by side Ring-billeds in the 
photo I posted today. Bill size, amount of head markings, and "gentle" 
versus "fierce" countenance can vary considerably even within species. 
In this case, I would guess that the one on the left is a female, and 
the one on the right, a male. But this amount of variation in bill 
size in particular is worth noting, since that is often a key in 
separating species.  

Dan Casey
Somers

Mob-sters:

This morning we watched a Northern Pygmy-Owl catch one of the birds 
visiting our feeders. Thankfully it was not the Harris's Sparrow, 
which did visit this morning. Instead, it reduced our over-sized flock 
of House Sparrows by one. Watching these guys fly with prey that is 
essentially their own size is really something.

Dan Casey
Somers

The following MOB-Montana poll is now closed.  Here are the 
final results: 


POLL QUESTION: Sorry that I'm late on the November Photo Contest, but visitors 
(my wife) distracted me. Only 6 competitors for this month's contest, but 
beautiful photos nonetheless. Since I was late the polls will stay open until 
December 8th. 


Good Luck,

Patrick

PS: Don't forget, that December's contest entries will ONLY be comprised of the 
winners of the first 11 monthly contests. This is the way that we determine the 
"Photo of the Year." So, don't plan on entering any photos for the December 
contest. 


CHOICES AND RESULTS
- Bohemian Waxwing - #2, 6 votes, 12.24%  
- Downy Woodpecker, 5 votes, 10.20%  
- Lapland Longspur, 26 votes, 53.06%  
- American Goldfinch, 3 votes, 6.12%  
- American Kestrel, 3 votes, 6.12%  
- Bohemian Waxwing-#1, 6 votes, 12.24%  



For more information about this group, please visit 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MOB-Montana 

For help with Yahoo! Groups, please visit
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/web/index.html 

 

I stopped at Giant Springs this morning for a short time to see what 
birds were around (and let my 4 year old unwind some energy).  Just as 
we entered, my wife spotted a prairie falcon in the trees near the 
hatchery visitor's center.  Also saw a couple of bald eagles, lots of 
the usual goldeneyes and Canada Geese.  Also great horned owls (2).  
Not many of the smaller birds around.

  Today I went out birding with Dan Casey.  First we visited the 
landfill in search of, what else, gulls.  We did find a small group of 
gulls.  It was about half HERRING and half RING-BILLED.  Next we 
searched the west valley area for longspurs and snow buntings, we 
didn't find any.  We did see a few ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS and a small 
group of BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS.  We did bump into a flock of 2,000+ 
MALLARDS in a stubble field, that was really something.  Other than 
that we saw the norm.
  Oh well, better luck next time.

Happy birding and thank you Dan,
Josh

Mike, 
 
I often saw a chipping sparrow from my back deck during the summer, in the
Ponderosa pines on my neighbor's side of the fence.
 
Katie LaSalle-Lowery
katie AT bigskycountry.net
http://www.bigskycountry.net   (updated Oct
23, 2007)
 

  _____  

From: MOB-Montana AT yahoogroups.com [mailto:MOB-Montana AT yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Mike Lesnik
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2007 12:49 PM
To: MOB-Montana AT yahoogroups.com
Subject: [MOB-Montana] Short List



Hi MOB,

Checking the database, I see that we are a few birds behind 2006. 
Some "common" ones have not been entered. Somebody must have 
observed a Chipping Sparrow way back when, and how about the Pacific 
Loon?

The below birds were recorded in prior years. 
American Woodcock, Arctic Tern, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Black-
throated Sparrow, Blue-winged Warbler, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, 
Cattle Egret, Chipping Sparrow, Curlew Sandpiper, Dickcissel, Eastern 
Towhee, Glaucous-winged Gull, Glossy Ibis, Golden-crowned Sparrow, 
Great Crested Flycatcher, Green Heron, Iceland Gull, Inca Dove, 
Indigo Bunting, Kentucky Warbler, Little Blue Heron, Long-tailed 
Jaeger, Manx Shearwater, Northern Cardinal, Northern Parula, Pacific 
Loon, Painted Bunting, Palm Warbler, Parasitic Jaeger, Pine Warbler, 
Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-throated loon, Ross's Gull, Rusty Blackbird, 
Scarlet Tanager, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Siberian Accentor, 
Virginia's Warbler, Whimbrel, White-tailed Kite, Whooping Crane, Wood 
Thrush, Yellow Rail, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Yellow-throated Vireo,

In preparing the list I did notice and edit several AOU# typo's.

One W Snipe and several nice coveys of G Partridge were seen 
yesterday on the cold, blustery west side of Bozeman. 

Mike



 

Hi MOB,

Checking the database, I see that we are a few birds behind 2006. 
Some "common" ones have not been entered.  Somebody must have 
observed a Chipping Sparrow way back when, and how about the Pacific 
Loon?

The below birds were recorded in prior years. 
American Woodcock, Arctic Tern, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Black-
throated Sparrow, Blue-winged Warbler, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, 
Cattle Egret, Chipping Sparrow, Curlew Sandpiper, Dickcissel, Eastern 
Towhee, Glaucous-winged Gull, Glossy Ibis, Golden-crowned Sparrow, 
Great Crested Flycatcher, Green Heron, Iceland Gull, Inca Dove, 
Indigo Bunting, Kentucky Warbler, Little Blue Heron, Long-tailed 
Jaeger, Manx Shearwater, Northern Cardinal, Northern Parula, Pacific 
Loon, Painted Bunting, Palm Warbler, Parasitic Jaeger, Pine Warbler, 
Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-throated loon, Ross's Gull, Rusty Blackbird, 
Scarlet Tanager, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Siberian Accentor, 
Virginia's Warbler, Whimbrel, White-tailed Kite, Whooping Crane, Wood 
Thrush, Yellow Rail, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Yellow-throated Vireo,

In preparing the list I did notice and edit several AOU# typo's.
 
One W Snipe and several nice coveys of G Partridge were seen 
yesterday on the cold, blustery west side of Bozeman. 

Mike

Hi MOB:

Yesterday I made a short trip to Polson to see if I could find a bird or two. 
It was a great 15 minute birding trip. I had only seen 4 crows and 2 magpies 
before I reached the corner at the end of Bay View Drive. I parked there and 
saw about 30 or so Pygmy Nuthatches fill up a Ponderosa tree. In a birch tree 
there were another 35 or 40 Cedar Waxwings. On the lawn there were 3 Robins and 
2 Juncos. Along came a Flicker and a Pileated Woodpecker. I drove another block 
and saw a mule deer doe and fawn in the yard and garden. Across the street I 
counted 50 Bohemian Waxwings in a birch tree and a Bald Eagle on the top of a 
broken snag above the lake. A goodly flock of Canada Geese were in the lawn 
below. As I was turning around a great, huge flock of Bohemian Waxwings arrived 
and began settling in the trees. The flock extended over a block; swirled and 
twisted in a long, dense rope several yards thick that seemed to act as one 
organism. unreal. There were thousands of birds in that, my first large flock 
this year. 


Good birding.

Bob Rost - Ronan MT

Hi All,


If you click on the following website, an article about the critter 
malformations (birds are similarly affected) in the Star last week will 
come up. It is the fourth story down.

Montana News-The Bitterroot Star - The Bitterroot Valley's Weekly ...
www.bitterrootstar.com/ - 24k - Cached - Similar pages

Judy Hoy
Stevensville, MT 59870 USA

--- In MOB-Montana AT yahoogroups.com, "RICHARD  MOUSEL"  
wrote:
>
> One might have thought I could have gotten an R in at least one of 
my strings!
> My brain does work on occasion, I think? ;)
> 
> On Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:50:
>   "RICHARD  MOUSEL"  wrote:
Richard:

Yellowjackets will also deter House Sparrows.

Dan


> > Hi Birders & Bob:
> >    While I'm thinking about it, I had a customer in the other day 
and we 
> >were 
> > discussing sparrow detractors, and we got to wondering if the 
stings that 
> >work 
> > so well against sparrows at feeders might work also at nest 
boxes. Do you 
> >know 
> > if anyone has tried hanging stings around Bluebird boxes to 
detour nesting 
> > sparrows?
> > 
> > Sincerely;
> > Richard Mousel  -  rmousel AT ...
> > Wild Bird Mercantile - Recommended by Birds Everywhere!
> > 1807 3rd St N.W.  Great Falls, MT  59404  ph.
> > www.4co.us  - Wildlife, Nature, Scenic Photography.
> 
> Sincerely;
> Richard Mousel  -  rmousel AT ...
> Wild Bird Mercantile - Recommended by Birds Everywhere!
> 1807 3rd St N.W.  Great Falls, MT  59404  ph.
> www.4co.us  - Wildlife, Nature, Scenic Photography.
>

One might have thought I could have gotten an R in at least one of my strings!
My brain does work on occasion, I think? ;)

On Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:50:
  "RICHARD  MOUSEL"  wrote:
> Hi Birders & Bob:
>    While I'm thinking about it, I had a customer in the other day and we 
>were 
> discussing sparrow detractors, and we got to wondering if the stings that 
>work 
> so well against sparrows at feeders might work also at nest boxes. Do you 
>know 
> if anyone has tried hanging stings around Bluebird boxes to detour nesting 
> sparrows?
> 
> Sincerely;
> Richard Mousel  -  rmousel AT bresnan.net
> Wild Bird Mercantile - Recommended by Birds Everywhere!
> 1807 3rd St N.W.  Great Falls, MT  59404  ph.
> www.4co.us  - Wildlife, Nature, Scenic Photography.

Sincerely;
Richard Mousel  -  rmousel AT bresnan.net
Wild Bird Mercantile - Recommended by Birds Everywhere!
1807 3rd St N.W.  Great Falls, MT  59404  ph.
www.4co.us  - Wildlife, Nature, Scenic Photography.

Richard:

We have had a snag in our yard for several years (it blew down this 
summer) that had multiple cavities, one of which was used for two years 
by Pygmy Nuthatches.  This past spring, House Sparrows were checking it 
out.  I partially screwed in a 3-in. decking screw about an inch above 
the hole, and tied an 8-in. length of fly line (basically plastic cord) 
to the end of the screw, about 2 inches out in front of the hole. This 
immediately deterred House Sparrows, and the nuthatches came and went 
as if nothing had happened (after investigating their new decoration on 
the first few visits. 

So, yes, string will work to deter HOSP nesting. Don't know what 
bleubirds or swallows might think of it though; the nuthatches had the 
advantage of coming in from the side rather than having to fly directly 
to the hole.

Dan Casey
Somers

Hi Birders & Bob:
    While I'm thinking about it, I had a customer in the other day and we were 
discussing sparrow detractors, and we got to wondering if the stings that work 
so well against sparrows at feeders might work also at nest boxes. Do you know 
if anyone has tried hanging stings around Bluebird boxes to detour nesting 
sparrows?

Sincerely;
Richard Mousel  -  rmousel AT bresnan.net
Wild Bird Mercantile - Recommended by Birds Everywhere!
1807 3rd St N.W.  Great Falls, MT  59404  ph.
www.4co.us  - Wildlife, Nature, Scenic Photography.

Nate, I had never seen a Eurasian dove until this past summer, but my 
daughter in Bozeman has been getting them in her yard regularly all 
summer and still is getting them. I have also been getting them in my 
yard in Wyo (up to four at once in a small yard).  Do they not leave 
for the winter?

Mobsters,

It would appear that our resident population of Eurasian Collared-Doves 
on the East side of Deer Lodge more than doubled this season. My count 
today showed 46 birds. I guess this means we can expect over a hundred 
by next Fall.

Is anyone else seeing a trend like this?

Nate Kohler
Deer Lodge

Mob-sters:

I found the season's first Glaucous Gull at the Flathead landfill 
today, during a brief afternoon visit. Did not see any Thayer's.  As I 
left, a very large dark immature gull took off with the group. It 
appeared to be larger than even the Glaucous. I'll keep checking to 
see if this was anything other than a large Herring.  Turnover seems 
to be high, although there were still at least 300-400 gulls, mostly 
Herrings.  

I posted yet another photo taken in our less than stellar Pacific NW 
conditions.

Dan Casey
Somers

Birders:
I uploaded a couple of files to MOB, it's a handout that I did for the GF CBC 
to be held Sat, Dec 15th. You're welcome to use any of the info for your local 
count.
Still looking for help if anyone is interested, we even need help for the 
Giant Springs area.
A quick 15 min trip to Highland Cem on Sunday, windy and cold, 4" of snow.
Black-capped and Mountain Chickadees
Junco's
Magpie's
100ish Bohemian Waxwings
And one VERY VERY upset Townsend's Solitaire, trying in vain to defend it's 
juniper bushes.

Sincerely;
Richard Mousel  -  rmousel AT bresnan.net
Wild Bird Mercantile - Recommended by Birds Everywhere!
1807 3rd St N.W.  Great Falls, MT  59404  ph.
www.4co.us  - Wildlife, Nature, Scenic Photography.

Thanks Dan. The duck certainly appears to have a strong dose of Swedish Blue 
traits in its genes. 


Jim 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Dan Casey 
  To: MOB-Montana AT yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 1:00 PM
  Subject: [BULK][MOB-Montana] Re: mallard hybird/sport?


  Jim et al:

  There are a wide variety of cross-bred domestic mallard types, and many 
  have this "bibbed" appearance, including one type called a "Swedish 
  Blue", which this bird closely resembles. One important note on odd-
  looking Mallard-type ducks is that hybrids with other native species 
  will almost always be the same size as a wild Mallard or smaller, 
  whereas all those with domestic genes run larger (certainly stockier) 
  than wild birds.

  Dan



   

Mobsters:

Yesterday a group from Five Valleys Audubon birded the Ninepipes area and on up 
to Polson on the back roads. For raptors we saw a moderate number--of 
Rough-legs and Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Kestrels, 2 N. Harriers, 3 G.H.Owls and a 
several Bald Eagles. The interesting bird was a single Gray-crowned Rosy Finch 
hanging out with a flock of House Sparrows in a farm yard and barn area. 


Jim Brown

Hi folks,
 
It's that time of year to begin making plans for the 29th Annual 
Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge Christmas Count.
 
I wish to pre-assign the areas to be covered, so those of you 
interested in participating should get in touch with me as soon as 
possible at:
 
jimrogers2007 AT gmail.com or .
 
The Ninepipes Lodge Restaurant has once again agreed to open its 
doors early at 8 am for those of us interested in getting together 
for breakfast before heading out to count birds.  And, as in the 
past, we'll gather in the bar near the end of day (4:30 to 5 pm) to 
enjoy some appropriate beverages and to compile the results. 
 
Thank you for your consideration.
 
Cheers, 
 
Jim Rogers

Compiler, Ninepipe NWR Christmas Count
Polson

Jim et al:

There are a wide variety of cross-bred domestic mallard types, and many 
have this "bibbed" appearance, including one type called a "Swedish 
Blue", which this bird closely resembles. One important note on odd-
looking Mallard-type ducks is that hybrids with other native species 
will almost always be the same size as a wild Mallard or smaller, 
whereas all those with domestic genes run larger (certainly stockier) 
than wild birds.

Dan

     This spectacular windstorm has brought in a first-year Harris's 
sparrow, for the entire winter, I hope.  A poll of redpolls shows 
eight at the thistle feeder and on the hoary ground, not an invasion 
but very welcome anyway.  A first:  the tornadic wind makes one of our 
flickers literally creep across the yard to the feeder, on the ground 
in sidewinder kind of jumps and crawls of 2-3 feet each time; it takes 
him a long time to go 40 feet...if he tries to fly there he ends up 
blown into the shrubbery.  The chickadees and our lone goldfinch don't 
even try.  The song sparrow waits til dusk.  The Downys hang on to the 
swinging peanut feeder and, as they wait their turns, risk getting 
rapped in the head.  The house finches just huddle by the house.

Mike Becker
Harrison   

Hi folks,

It's that time of year to begin making plans for the 29th Annual Ninepipe
National Wildlife Refuge Christmas Count.

I wish to pre-assign the areas to be covered, so those of you interested in
participating should get in touch with me as soon as possible at:

jimrogers2007 AT gmail.com or .

The Ninepipes Lodge Restaurant has once again agreed to open its doors early
at *8 am* for those of us interested in getting together for breakfast
before heading out to count birds.  And, as in the past, we'll gather in the
bar near the end of day (4:30 to 5 pm) to enjoy some appropriate beverages
and to compile the results.

Thank you for your consideration.

Cheers,

Jim Rogers

Compiler, Ninepipe NWR Christmas Count
Polson

Jim,

I don't know what a "sport" is in this context, but the duck in question is a 
phenotype that I've seen often in widely separated areas and always passed off 
as some kind of farm duck, meaning a Mallard with lots of domestic duck genes. 


Jeff

*****************
Jeff Marks
5316 SE Henry Street
Portland, OR 97206

 (cell)
*****************

Mobsters:

My son-in-law photographed a funny looking mallard near Dillon the other day. 
He thought it was a mallard-pintail hybrid but it looks more like a 
mallard-shoveler hybrid to me, or some kind of cross with a domestic duck or a 
sport. It was hanging out with a flock of wild mallards. Any thoughts on this 
bird? 


Jim

Hi MOB:

Yesterday, Mo and I took a little tour around the valley; the first real outing 
I have had since a total knee replacement on November 5th. Feels good. 


We saw about a dozen each of Red-tailed and Rough-legged Hawks - not as many as 
I expected (it was very windy). One Roughy was nearly all black on the head and 
back as well as the breast and belly. The undersides of the primaries was pure 
white. That is one strange individual. 


We saw a handful of Horned Larks and a couple coveys of Gray Partridge but 
other than that it was slow going. Not much open water. 


Now our feeders are fairly busy. We have become rather reluctant experts on the 
feeding, foraging and food preferences of Steller's Jays. This morning I 
counted 14 individuals that happened to be on the feeder at one time. 


We can verify that Steller's Jays will eat/steal anything. Cracked corn, whole 
corn, millet, sunflower seed, peanuts in the shell or shucked, hot cakes, 
bread, peanut butter, biscuits, suet, cat and dog food, mushrooms, berries, 
etc., etc. Those blasted birds can haul more off than one can provide. Sort of 
ruins it for woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, juncos, sparrows and finches. 


They do keep you entertained.  If anyone needs a Steller's fix - come on by.

Bob Rost - Ronan MT

Enter your vote today!  A new poll has been created for the 
MOB-Montana group:

Sorry that I'm late on the November Photo Contest, but visitors (my wife) 
distracted me. Only 6 competitors for this month's contest, but beautiful 
photos nonetheless. Since I was late the polls will stay open until December 
8th. 


Good Luck,

Patrick

PS: Don't forget, that December's contest entries will ONLY be comprised of the 
winners of the first 11 monthly contests. This is the way that we determine the 
"Photo of the Year." So, don't plan on entering any photos for the December 
contest. 


  o American Goldfinch 
  o American Kestrel 
  o Bohemian Waxwing-#1 
  o Bohemian Waxwing - #2 
  o Downy Woodpecker 
  o Lapland Longspur 


To vote, please visit the following web page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MOB-Montana/surveys?id= 

Note: Please do not reply to this message. Poll votes are 
not collected via email. To vote, you must go to the Yahoo! Groups 
web site listed above.

Thanks!

 

MOB - This past Friday I had a small invasion of red bresated 
nuthatches at home in Helena.  We generally have one or two around, but 
had 15 or so for one day, and now none.  Also had one downy woodpecker, 
and a hundred or so waxwings that have been around for a week or so. 
Yesterday I observed a northern pygmy owl on York Rd near Hauser 
reservoir.  Also saw a couple of rough legged hawks at the regulating 
reservoir. 

Last week, I also saw a huge flock of mallards, gleaning in the fields off 
Clark road just 

east of West Valley road. I scanned and didn't see any other ducks, but 
estimated there 

were at least 1000 mallards. 

I also drove to Foys Lake last weekend and saw the long-tailed duck pair. BUT, 
I couldn't 

see the long tail on the drake. I found a few references that stated the long 
tail might be 

"submerged in swimming birds" and felt more at ease about the ID. The other 
field marks 

were there, so I added this bird to my life list. Thanks to Dan who always 
finds the rarities 

up here in NW Montana. There were also several Barrow's goldeneyes along the 
east and 

north shores of Foys Lake. 

Barbara Quinlan 

Bob - We have a place in Island Park, ID where we get a lot of 
Steller's Jays.  They get fed unshelled peanuts in the winter, along 
with other seed and suet.  They usually take the unshelled peanuts 
first, even with shelled nuts next to them.  They usually fly off 
with the entire unshelled nut and stash them in various places, then 
eat a few by pecking the shell a few times woodpecker-like to get at 
the nut inside.  

--- In MOB-Montana AT yahoogroups.com, "Bob Martinka"  
wrote:
>
> Birders:
> 
> For the past 5-6 weeks, I have had both Clark's nutcrackers and a
> Steller's Jay using my feeders regularly. The nutcrackers relish the
> unshelled peanuts I keep on hand for the occasional blue jays that
> stop by in fall. Suet is also a favorite of theirs. The Steller's 
jay
> seemed to eat white millet exclusively, ignoring the sunflower seed,
> unshelled peanuts and suet. The nutcrackers are dominant and the jay
> stays in the background when they are present and wait for them to
> leave. Beginning yesterday, the jay began taking the unshelled 
peanuts
> like it was an old hand at it and deftly extracted seed from the 
shell
> with a little bit of pecking. Was it the cold weather that prompted
> the jay to begin eating the peanuts or did it learn how to use them 
by
> watching the nutcrackers? Or is there some other rational 
explanation?
> Do others of you who have Steller's jays see them eating unshelled
> peanuts?
> 
> Or should I just get back to finishing my home improvement 
projects -
> as I have been admonished to do??? 
> 
> Bob
>

Mobsters: 

 A Snowy Owl has been seen on the road to Sanford Park next to Lake 
Elwell south of Chester. It along with the Snowshoe Hares are very 
obvious for there is no snow in this area!

Harriet Marble
Chester 

Mob-sters:

I have posted two of my best (still not great) shots of the adult 
Thayer's Gull I found today. In the full body shot, note that the 
mantle is just a shade darker than the Herring at upper right, that 
the smallish head is more heavily blotched than Herring, and that the 
legs are a darker pink (not easy to see here, but clearly not Yellow-
green like California). In the roosting shot between two Herrings, 
note the dark eye and slighter bill, and again the blotchier streaking 
on the head and neck. Similar to California, but without the distinct 
black on the bill in addition to the red. 

Cheers,
Dan Casey
Somers

Bob et al:

Nice variety in Helena! I also made a trek to our local landfill 
today, where there were at least 250 gulls. But interestingly, the 
imm. Thayer's I saw a week ago were not among them, nor were any 
California Gulls (or the expected newly arrived Glaucous). But 
amongst the many Herring and Ring-billed I did find an adult 
Thayer's, the first I have seen here. I will post two pictures taken 
in a brisk, bitter wind, this evening.

Other bird highlights include the continued presence of our Harris's 
Sparrow, and a flock of about 700 Mallards flying over tonight. The 
latter might not seem noteworthy, but it is the single largest flock 
of Mallards I have seen this time of year in perhaps a decade, in an 
area where flocks in the thousands were once the norm.  This change 
partly due to the shift in agricultural 'crops' of the valley, from 
wheat to spec homes, but also probably due to climate shifts and 
different (later and more direct) migration patterns of Canadian 
Mallard populations. There also seemed to be an additional influx of 
Rough-legged Hawks with this front.

Dan Casey
Somers

Birders:

Most gulls have seem to have vacated the Helena Valley with the cold
weather but there were still maybe 150-200 at the landfill this
afternoon. They included juv. GLAUCOUS, glaucous-winged, Thayer's,
herring, California, and numerous ringbills. This was the first
GLAUCOUS I have seen here in several years. I took several photos
which I will post to my album in a little while. With the cold weather
we have here in the valley, most or all gulls will likely leave as
soon as all opens water freezes - and this may occur within several days..

Bob Martinka

Mobsters

I know many of you met Cynthia at some of the bird festivals around the state 
sponsored by Montana Audubon. She was the cheerful, helpful person who never 
seemed to quit moving during the whole festival. Cynthia will be leaving 
Montana at the end of the week. 


If you have a mind to send a message, her address is cobryant AT mtaudubon.org

Chuck Carlson
chuckcmt AT nemont.net
Ft. Peck  MT

Birders: 
 Had a FFY Shrike visit my yard today, it was only in my yard for a few seconds 
as it pursued birds into the neighbors bushes where I got a brief look, don't 
know the species. My yard continues to get lots of birds. I had eight 
Chickadees in my crab apple tree at one time and I'm sure there were more 
around, I've been getting at least two Mountains in the bunch. Been getting the 
highest numbers of birds than ever, had seven Redpolls stop by for a quick 
bite, haven't seen them at feeders yet, but someone is still eating a fair 
amount of Nyjer, I know the Goldfinches are one species that is. My neighbors 
crab apple tree that usually has fruit into the spring is nearly already bare, 
not sure when it got raided or by whom but this evening a flock of a dozen 
Cedar Waxwings was in the area. 

2 plus 2 = Duh! I've been hearing what sounds like a single waxwing and after 
fruitless searching the culprit showed it's self, a Brown Creeper maybe two; 
and I should have know that since that is what I discovered they sounded like 
while birding Giant Springs this fall. 

Been getting good numbers of Nuthatch and Dowry's along with a couple of 
Magpies and had a Sharpie bomb thru today and a couple of Pheasants stopped by 
for a bite, but the one didn't want to share so they both left. 

Has anyone tried making a Redpoll feeder? Can chicken wire keep out sparrows 
but still allow chickadees, Goldfinch and Redpolls feed? 

Sincerely;
Richard Mousel
Wild Bird Mercantile
rmousel AT bresnan.net
The Colour Outdoors - Wildlife Stock Agency Photography
Richard Mousel -STOCK Pictures- www.4co.us  -  www.fox-park.com  -PRINTS
5420 14th  ST  S - Great Falls,  MT  

Here is a list of the area bird counts:

Livingston		Saturday, December 15th
			Compiler:  Sally MacDonald 
			smacbirder AT msn.com


West Yellowstone	Sunday, December 16th
			Compilers:  John Heinie (w)  (h)  Kirk Horn 
			Meet at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center
			West Yellowstone at 8:30 AM

Bozeman		        Saturday, December 22rd
			Compiler:  John Parker 
			Meet at Perkins Restaurant, 2505 West Main,
			Bozeman, between 7:00-7:30AM


Three Forks		Wednesday, December 26th
			Compiler:  Dennis Flath 
			Meet at Bair's Truck Stop (Flying J at the 
			South side of the Belgrade Interchange)
			at 7:00 AM

The tentative date for the GF CBC is the usual Dec 15th, still looking for 
volunteers to help. Please let me know if you plan on helping, I've lost 
several leaders and have only a couple commitments with only a month remaining 
before the big day.
I'd love to get a backyard group that checked just backyard feeders to help 
verify Id's, any suggestions on how this might work?

How many areas are the circles typically divided into?
How many hours should the minimum be for each area?

Sincerely;
Richard Mousel  -  rmousel AT bresnan.net
Wild Bird Mercantile - Recommended by Birds Everywhere!
1807 3rd St N.W.  Great Falls, MT  59404  ph.
www.4co.us  - Wildlife, Nature, Scenic Photography.

Birds seen around the Great Falls area this past week.
*American Goldfinch 1 in my backyard
*Dark-eyed Junco 9 Giant Springs
*American Robin 4 Giant Springs
*Belted Kingfisher 
*Northern Flicker 6+ around the island off West Bank Park, all very upset by
a Cooper�s hawk
*Cooper�s Hawk
*Downy Woodpecker my back yard
*Eurasian Collared Dove 2 my yard
*Ring-billed gull
*Sharp-shinned Hawk near Skate Park
*Pied-billed Grebe 1 below Giant Springs
*Western Grebes lots
*Common Loon 1 below Giant Springs
*Surf Scoter 1 below Giant Springs
*Green-winged Teal pair off West Bank Park
*Trumpeter Swan 2 still here
Plus our normal winter list of ducks, still not seeing Barrow�s Goldeneye
Also not listing the normal backyard birds for my yard.

Arla Eckert
Great Falls

Hi Steve,

The band colors were blue, and the numbers were T180, and T181.

Let me know if you see them in your area, perhaps on Clark Canyon.

Gary

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lone Wolf Photo 
  To: MOB-Montana AT yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 8:18 AM
  Subject: Re: [MOB-Montana] Banded Swans


  Gary:
  Could you pass on the color and number of the Swan neck bands?
  Thanks
  Steve Sherman
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: "Gary Swant" 
  To: 
  Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 7:33 PM
  Subject: [MOB-Montana] Banded Swans

  Birders,

  Nate was already reported to you are finding today in the Warm Sprigs
  area.

  Two of the Tundra Swans that we saw had neck bands and I recorded the
  band color and numbers. I thought I had a sight to record those at,
  but could not find it in my computer files. Does anyone have the URL
  for reporting banded birds?

  Also, we saw large numbers of Bohemian Waxwings, perhaps as many as
  6oo to 700 in Dry Cottonwood.

  Good Birding,

  Gary Swant
  Deer Lodge

  ----------------------------------------------------------

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Mob-sters:

Last winter we had a Harris's Sparrow spend 162 days here in our yard. 
He had arrived just before Thanksgiving. Today a beautiful adult 
Harris's Sparrow is again gracing our brushpile.

Also, a note on Steller's Jays. Yesterday, while returning from Boise, 
we counted at least 80 Steller's Jays along highway 12 between Kamiah, 
ID and Lolo Hot Springs (along the Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers, Lolo 
Creek).

Dan Casey
Somers

Gary:
Could you pass on the color and number of the Swan neck bands?
Thanks
Steve Sherman
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary Swant" 
To: 
Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 7:33 PM
Subject: [MOB-Montana] Banded Swans


Birders,

Nate was already reported to you are finding today in the Warm Sprigs
area.

Two of the Tundra Swans that we saw had neck bands and I recorded the
band color and numbers.  I thought I had a sight to record those at,
but could not find it in my computer files.  Does anyone have the URL
for reporting banded birds?

Also, we saw large numbers of Bohemian Waxwings, perhaps as many as
6oo to 700 in Dry Cottonwood.

Good Birding,


Gary Swant
Deer Lodge





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