Northern hawk owls and snowy owls, for instance, dip across the border from their more northerly strongholds, and black-backed and American three-toed woodpeckers thrive on beetle grubs in the area’s recently-burned forests. In 2020, for example, during our biggest year of birding in Montana, we observed 275 different species.ĭue to the unique variety of latitude and landscapes in the Northern Rockies - including mountains, forests, sage, and grassland habitats - the region attracts a host of species that are difficult to find anywhere else in the Lower 48. It’s true that raw species counts in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho don’t equal that of, say, Arizona or California, but our region makes up for it in quality and adventure. However, nothing quite matches the start of a new birding season in the Northern Rockies. ![]() and abroad, from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to the steamy rainforests of Ecuador and Peru. Since we started birding in 2014, my son and I have pursued our hobby in many different parts of the U.S. Montana’s prime birding season had officially begun. ![]() Then we looked at each other and grinned. Braden and I broke out our cameras, and with telephoto lenses to capture close-ups, we each snapped a series of photos. As they ascended, reaching the slanting sun rays, the white birds turned into a fabulous pink cloud that filled the horizon. Three seconds later, we heard it - a collective wild war cry of action filling the air. ![]() Suddenly, before it struck, the white mass lifted into the sky: snow geese, tens of thousands of them, flying in immense cyclonic swirls. And as it kept climbing, the light descended toward the lake. The author, birding enthusiast Sneed Collard, scopes out shorebirds at the Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge in Montana’s Milk River Valley.Īs the sun slowly rose, it splashed an otherworldly glow across the snow-plastered Rocky Mountain Front behind us.
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