June 2009

Birding Observer

Five Valleys Audubon Society A Chapter of the National Audubon Society

Community Naturalist Program Activities – Calendar April & May by Larry Weeks, Coordinator

* June 5th – 7th: Annual bird festival in Great Seventeen people attended the Intermediate Falls. For details, visit Birders Workshop in April which included 3 www.mtaudubon.org/birdwatching/festival or call classroom sessions and a field trip to Smurfit- the Montana Audubon office at 406-443-3949. Stone. The presenters included Dick Hutto * June 13th-14th: Two-day field trip to Bannack (warblers), Jim Sparks (woodpeckers), Jim Brown and Clark Canyon Reservoir led by Nate Kohler. (waterfowl), Kristi DuBois (raptors), Kate Davis (live See May newsletter or call Larry Weeks for details. birds), and myself (shorebirds, sparrows). * Saturday, June 27th: Five-mile hike up Mt. Sentinel, down the Hellgate Canyon Trail and back A fire ecology, unit which consisted of 3 classroom via the Kim Williams Trail. Meet at the base of the presentations and a field trip to the Black Cat fire M Trail at 8:00 AM. near Frenchtown, was completed for the Five * July 9th-12th: Four-day campout in Glacier Valleys Home School Coop. The same fire ecology Park. See May newsletter or call Larry Weeks for unit was also completed for Marlene Naylor’s 3rd details. grade class at St, Joseph. * Friday, August 14th: Deadline for submissions to the September edition of the Birding Observer. Classroom presentations on bird identification were * Saturday, August 15th: Full-day field trip to given for the 3rd grade class at St. Joseph, the Five Smurfit-Stone to look for returning shorebirds. Valleys Home School Coop and the 3rd grade class Meet in the middle of the UM field house parking at Hawthorne. These presentations were followed lot at 8:00 AM or at the pulp mill at 8:30 AM. by separate field trips to Smurfit-Stone. * Saturday, September 5th: Half-day field trip to Tower St. Open The Alternative High School Class from Willard Space and Sleven’s planted 40 cottonwood shrubs at Smurfit-Stone. Island. Meet at the This was followed by birding at the pulp mill and Tower St Open Space Council Grove State Park. parking lot at 8:00 AM. I showed bird skins to a preschool class at the * Tuesday, University Congressional Church. These bird skins September 8th, were also used by Jean Woessner at another 7pm: Joyce Nave preschool class at the same church. will host the board meeting. Two field trips to Smurfit-Stone were conducted for the 2 naturalist classes at the Montana Natural History Center.

Peeps from the Prez by Paul Loehnen

Three years ago I met Victor Emanuel, the founder of the guan. We hurried in the direction of the bird of one of the premier birding companies, VENT. I and suddenly this rather bizarre bird was over the asked him which was his favorite trip among all the trail just a short distance away, snapping its bill tours his company conducts. He told us his disapprovingly. We all got an excellent view of this absolute favorite is a hiking, camping and birding endangered bird. trip in a Bioreserve cloud forest in Chiapas, Mexico. The El Triunfo cloud forest is now regarded as the We stayed at a biological station. Some of the finest natural area remaining in Mexico. It covers group slept under shelter while others camped. All three thousand acres and is a sanctuary for a in all, it was quite luxurious with good food and hot spectrum of bird species whose world wide range showers. For three days we hiked various trails in are restricted to the mysterious fog- shrouded the forest. Some of the highlights where several cloud forests of southern Chiapas and Guatemala. pairs of Resplendent Quetzals, perched and flying Beth and I decided to do this trip, which is in courting display, a stunning pair of Fulvous Owls physically demanding, while we were still able. We and endemics, such as the Yellowish Flycatcher and invited our son, Ben to join us. Green-throated Mountain Gem. We also saw a flying Barred Forest Falcon, a real treat as they After spending a few days in Mexico City generally remain in dense forest. (fortunately before the Swine Flu outbreak) we flew to Tuxtla Gutierrez in southwestern Mexico, just After leaving El Triunfo we worked our way down north of Guatemala, where we met our guides and the Pacific slope of the mountains over the course fellow travelers. Our first day was spent birding the of three days, travelling on foot through one of the Sumidero Canyon National Park where we saw the last great wilderness regions of Mexico. The White-lored Gnatcatcher and the endemic Belted contrasts were striking: only a few hours after Flycatcher. We also saw the skulky Blue-and-white leaving El Triunfo and crossing the continental Mockingbird. We ended the day at Jaltenango, divide, we abruptly left the cloud forest and literally at the end of the road and the jumping off descended through a zone of tall pines and point for El Triunfo. cypresses before entering another zone, verdant subtropics with towering fig trees and the very rare After a several mile ride in the back of an open and local Azure-rumped Tanagers. We also came truck we were at the trailhead. Our porters met us across an ant swarm with its associated feasting with their pack horses. We were in the valley floor birds. We had wonderful looks at many Fan-tailed at about 4300 feet and needed to ascend to El warblers. Triunfo, at an elevation of about 6,500 feet. Although about seven miles of uphill trail, we At the end of our last hike we were driven to the stopped periodically to bird and had wonderful home of one our horsemen where we enjoyed a views of an Emerald Toucanet, amongst other wonderful lunch including fresh, homemade sightings. tortillas. We spent our last evening at Tapachula where we were treated to some more endemics One of the major target birds of this trip is the including the White-bellied Chachalaca and the Horned Guan, a turkey sized bird, whose terrain is Giant Wren, the largest and loudest wren in the now limited to the high cloud forests of Chiapas world. The three of us had a truly wonderful and and Guatemala. It is one of the rarer birds in the unique adventure. world with a population thought to be about 1,000. On entering the cloud forest our local guided first heard the almost inaudible low-pitched double hum

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Tribute to Ken Brett by Jim Brown Field Trip by Larry Weeks

Ken Brett, a long time member of Five Valleys Saturday, April 25, 2009: Five Missoula people Audubon Society, died peacefully at home on April drove to Deer Lodge where we met Gary Swant for 2nd. The family suggested that memorial donations a day of birding at the Warm Springs Ponds. Gary be gifted to Five Valleys Audubon Society. We are was assisted by Nate Kohler, and 10 people from appreciative and thankful for this generous gesture. the Butte-Deer Lodge area. Gary gave a brief Funds will support our environmental education history of the ponds and handed out brochures that efforts or to protecting the Clark Fork River—Grass identified the birds in the area. We visited pond 3 Valley Important Bird Area. Ken was a keen which is the largest pond in the complex. The observer of nature going back to his childhood in diversity and quantity of waterfowl was outstanding New York State. Ken and his wife Carol moved to – there must have been 2000 ruddy ducks present. Missoula in 1961. Ken was a professor of Spanish That’s a bird I haven’t yet seen this year in the language and literature at the University of Missoula area. The coots were so numerous that it Montana. He was a poet, writing in both Spanish was difficult to estimate the numbers. One of and English with works published in Mexico and the Gary’s recent surveys had 8600 coots, and I believe U.S. He was an outdoorsman and an artist. He was they were all still present. Canvasbacks, northern a birder, hunter, fly fisherman, and amateur shovelers, lesser and greater scaups, Barrow’s archaeologist. Like many birders, he loved goldeneyes, and red-necked grebes were all discovering and learning about nature. His wood abundant. At a stop by the dike between ponds 2 carvings of birds were magnificentt. When I visited and 3, we watched a swarm of tree swallows Ken’s home after his memorial service I looked in feeding near the dike. Then, a merlin flew by with his work room and found still held in a vice waiting a tree swallow in its talons, landed on a pole and to be carved a block of wood marked with the proceeded to pluck and eat the swallow. As we outline of a Black-capped Chickadee. Next to it on a worked our way along the pond complex, we found sheet of paper was the following poem: all the expected waterfowl except northern pintail and hooded merganser. Other raptors beside the The Black-capped Chickadee merlin included red-tailed, Swainson’s and Cooper’s hawks, northern harriers, bald and golden eagles, Blackberries and cream, and osprey. Shorebirds included marbled godwit, cotton and coal, lesser and greater yellowlegs, and killdeer. At the chick-a-dee-dee-dee last stop, we witnessed a flight of 11 sandhill from the brush lots. cranes and 7 more remaining on the ground. The

Deer Lodge has a large population of breeding The busy call from scattered fluff cranes. The total species for the field trip was 58. scratching for seeds in the wheat grass, After the crowd dispersed, I birded back towards shares suet and rice Deer Lodge with Gary and Nate, and we found a and peanutbutter cones ruby-crowned kinglet, a couple of American kestrels with the juncos and a common loon on Racetrack Pond. soon after snow fall. Gary Swant has been doing some surveys on the Dispersed by hellish winter winds, Warm Springs Ponds, the sewage treatment ponds the lonely and the Job Corps Ponds. These surveys have welcome the spring. taken 9 hours to complete, and I can attest that They cry to each other, searching flutes: this type of effort becomes work. On April 11, “Jo-ey” 2009, Gary counted 23,484 individual birds and on “Ma-ry” from the willow tangles April 21st, he had 18,213. Birds of interest in the creek bottom. between the 2 counts were northern shovelers went from 5800 to 800, ruddy ducks went from By Kenneth Craig Brett, Christmas 1980 100 to 4300, snow geese from 238 to 0, and American coots from 7500 to 8600. 3

Field Trip by Larry Weeks

Saturday, May 2, 2009: Jim Brown led the Sunday, May 10, 2009: The Mother’s Day field annual field trip to Brown’s Lake and we were trip to Smurfit-Stone was split into two groups fortunate to have a nice day. The highlight of the which were led by Terry Toppins and myself. By first stop at the Clearwater River was a trumpeter splitting up the group, we intimidate the birds less swan that flew by and then landed on the river. and we end up seeing more total birds. Both Then it swam right up to us which offered excellent groups started at Pond 3, which is adjacent to mill, looks at the field marks. The swan was wearing a because Terry had seen white-faced ibis there the neck band (3p6) which was a dead giveaway on previous day. However, the ibis had gone. the ID. 3p6 is a three year old bird released in the However, there were American avocets, long-billed Blackfoot in 2007. It wintered two years ago on dowitchers and Wilson’s phalaropes. Then Terry the Bear River in SE Idaho just north of Utah. It went South and my group went North. My group returned to the Blackfoot Valley last year and spent found a special mix of shorebirds in a pond that the bulk of the year on and around the Clearwater had been drained but contained some shallow River. Other birds at this stop included hooded water over a gravelly bottom. The prize bird was a merganser, red crossbills and belted kingfisher. dunlin in breeding plumage. Other shorebirds The lack of swallows other than tree was indicative included solitary sandpipers, semipalmated plovers, of a late spring in the Blackfoot Valley. A herd of least sandpipers, and some more dowitchers, about 40 elk served as the welcoming committee to avocets and phalaropes. I radioed Terry about the the Ovando Valley. After leaving Ovando, we shorebirds and his group altered their route to see encountered the first of several sandhill cranes. the dunlin. At the next stop, there were 2 lesser The ponds along the road yielded the usual ducks yellowlegs and at first glance, appeared to be 2 and a Cooper’s hawk. We had good birding on the more semipalmated plovers. However, they turned road that cuts across to highway 200. We stopped out to be juvenile killdeer which start out with a for a Clark’s nutcracker and found a golden eagle single band across the chest. We watched a belted sitting on the top of a small hill. In a stand of kingfisher hover over the pond at the New quaking aspens, we had both male and female Wetlands, plunge into the water, fly to a perch Williamson’s sapsuckers and red-napped sapsucker. where it banged a small fish on the post several At Brown’s Lake, there were approximately 20 times, and then swallowed it. Our group also common loons and several were flying away from spotted a soaring Swainson’s hawk, a pair of the lake. Who could blame them for leaving female Barrow’s goldeneyes and a white-crowned because the lake was crawling with people. There sparrow that were not seen by Terry’s group. was a large flock of Ross’ geese and a few snow However, Terry and his group had many birds that geese on the other side of the lake. A tight flock of we didn’t see. A northern goshawk that was American avocets were huddled on a rocky point soaring with and periodically harassing a bald along with some ring-billed gulls. eagle, red-naped sapsucker, There were four species of grebes yellow and Nashville warblers, present; horned, eared, red- common yellowthroat, house necked, and western. Yellow- wren, peregrine falcon, and rumped warblers were feeding in white-throated swift. We the trees by the campground. As ended up with 11 species of we approached the Cut-Off Road, shorebirds which is outstanding there was another herd of about for the spring migration at 50 elk in the middle of the valley. Smurfit. The total count for the The final bird for most people was field trip was 80 species. 5 long-billed curlews. There were Twenty-nine people participated 27 people on the field trip and we on the field trip. identified 73 species.

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First Time Bitterroot BioBlitz to Document Area Biodiverity

The first Bitterroot BioBlitz will take place on Friday, June 26th and Saturday, June 27th at the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge (LMNWR) in Stevensville. Organized and hosted by the USFWS, the Friends of the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge and Montana Audubon, the event is designed as part festival, part educational event and part scientific endeavor. To document the Refuge’s rich biodiversity, scientists and volunteers will survey as much of the refuge as possible. The schedule of free activities will include guided field and birding walks, a workshop on sketching plants and animals, fly tying demonstrations, and a junior BioBlitz program for children. Meanwhile, professional naturalists will be staking out parts of the refuge in four- hour shifts, returning to the visitor center to file regular reports. The final species count, and other interesting findings, will be announced at closing ceremonies on June 27 at 3 pm.

To learn more about the Bitterroot BioBlitz or register as a volunteer, please visit www.bitterrootbioblitz.com.

New Members: Returning Members:

Mariah Crossland William Boggs John L. Brown, MD Shirley Day Monte Dolack Dave & Mary Dickson Susan Doores Nancy Erickson Stephanie Lubrecht Leo Frye Julia B. Hunt Jo A. Kregosky Seth Martin Dr. & Mrs. Norman G. Lavery Campbell Massey Evy O. Leary Tammie Newby Sheldon Reagan Mrs. Hedwig Vogel Leigh & Pat A. Wallace Paul Overman Richard & Adele Wolff Jeanne Wolverton Jerry Wade

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FIVE VALLEYS AUDUBON SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS: President Paul Loehnen 11556 Bench Road, Missoula, MT 59808 721 – 7517 [email protected] Vice President Gerhard Knudsen 4400 Scott Allen Dr, Missoula, MT 59803 251 – 2765 [email protected] Secretary Char Murray 50 Brookside Way, Missoula, MT 59802 549 – 5223 [email protected] Treasurer Alex Taft 951 Ronald Ave, apt. 109, Missoula, MT 59801 218 – 8438 [email protected] DIRECTORS: 2006-2009 Bill Ballard 5120 Larch Ave, Missoula, MT 59802 549 – 5097 [email protected] 2007-2010 Carolyn Goren PO Box 7189, Missoula, MT 59807 544 – 1060 [email protected] 2008-2011 Bill Boggs PO Box 7881, Missoula, MT 59807 728 – 3088 [email protected] 2009-2012 Joyce Nave 4605 Rattlesnake Dr., Missoula, 59802. 721– 2981 [email protected] 2009-2012 Jeb Minarik 4705 Potter Park Loop, Missoula, 59808 529 – 2884 [email protected]

COMMITTEES: Member Records Vick Applegate 303 Rimrock Way, Missoula, MT 59803 549 – 0027 [email protected] Membership Promotion Vacant Program Carolyn Goren PO Box 7189, Missoula, MT 59807 544 – 1060 [email protected] Conservation Advocacy Vick Applegate 303 Rimrock Way, Missoula, MT 59803 549 – 0027 k7vk@ arrl.net Habitat Protection & Restore Jim Brown 1504 Woods Gulch Rd, Missoula, MT 59802 549 – 8052 [email protected] Field Activities Larry Weeks 2428 W Kent Ave, Missoula, MT 59801 549 – 5632 [email protected] Publicity Elizabeth Johnston 1101 W. Greenough, Unit E-8, Missoula, 59802 327 – 1525 [email protected] Education Larry Weeks 2428 W Kent Ave, Missoula, MT 59801 549 – 5632 [email protected] PL Wright Endowment Bill Gabriel PO Box 520, Florence, MT 59833 273 – 6880 University Liaison Dan Pletscher 509 Arbor Dr, Missoula, MT 59802 543 – 4865 [email protected] Newsletter Editor Bev Orth Geoghegan 3130 Corlear Ave, Bronx, NY 10463 (406) 750 – 0149 [email protected] Newsletter Circulation Shirley Holden 2319 Valley Dr, Missoula, MT 59802 549 – 5706 Web Site Clare Kelly 2909 Highwood Dr, Missoula, MT 59803 251 – 7207 Archivist Shirley Holden 2319 Valley Dr, Missoula, MT 59802 549 – 5706 Audubon Adventures Jackie Alford 215 Brooks St, Missoula, MT 59801 549 – 0917 [email protected] Christmas Bird Count Larry Weeks 2428 W Kent Ave, Missoula, MT 59801 549 – 5632 [email protected] Past President Jim Brown 1504 Woods Gulch Rd, Missoula, MT 59802 549 – 8052 [email protected] ------MONTANA AUDUBON – PO Box 595, Helena, MT 59624 (406) 443-3949 www.mtaudubon.org Executive Director: Steve Hoffman [email protected] Board President: Larry McEvoy [email protected] Program Director: Janet Ellis [email protected] Director of Education: Paul Belanger [email protected] Office Manager: Loreene Reid [email protected] Global Warming Advisor: Amy Cilimburg [email protected]