⎯ Greater white-fronted Goose ⎯ American White Pelican ⎯ Baird’s Sandpiper ⎯ Snow Goose ⎯ Double-crested Cormorant ⎯ Pectoral Sandpiper ⎯ Cackling Goose ⎯ American Bittern ⎯ Stilt sandpiper ⎯ Canada Goose ⎯ Great Blue Heron ⎯ Short-billed Dowitcher ⎯ Tundra Swan ⎯ Great Egret ⎯ Long-billed Dowitcher ⎯ Trumpeter Swan ⎯ Snowy Egret ⎯ Wilson’s Snipe ⎯ Black-crowned Night-Heron ⎯ Wilson’s Phalarope ⎯ Wood Duck ⎯ White-faced Ibis ⎯ Red-necked Phalarope ⎯ Gadwall ⎯ Eurasian Wigeon ⎯ Bonaparte’s Gull ⎯ American Wigeon ⎯ Turkey Vulture ⎯ Ring-billed Gull ⎯ Mallard ⎯ Osprey ⎯ California Gull ⎯ Blue-winged Teal ⎯ Bald Eagle ⎯ Herring Gull ⎯ Cinnamon Teal ⎯ Northern Harrier ⎯ Glaucous Gull ⎯ Northern Shoveler ⎯ Sharp-shinned Hawk ⎯ Caspian Tern The Bitterroot River ⎯ Northern Pintail ⎯ Cooper’s Hawk ⎯ Common Tern ⎯ Green-winged Teal ⎯ Northern Goshawk ⎯ Forster’s Tern Important Bird Area ⎯ Canvasback ⎯ Swainson’s Hawk ⎯ Least Tern ⎯ Redhead ⎯ Red-tailed Hawk ⎯ Black Tern ⎯ Ring-necked Duck ⎯ Rough-legged Hawk Bird Checklist ⎯ Greater Scaup ⎯ Golden Eagle ⎯ Rock Pigeon ⎯ Lesser Scaup ⎯ American Kestrel ⎯ Mourning Dove ⎯ Surf Scoter ⎯ Merlin ⎯ White-winged Scoter ⎯ Peregrine Falcon ⎯ Barn Owl ⎯ Black Scoter ⎯ Prairie Falcon ⎯ Flammulated Owl ⎯ Bufflehead ⎯ Western Screech-Owl

⎯ Common Goldeneye ⎯ Great Horned Owl ⎯ Virginia Rail ⎯ Barrow’s Goldeneye ⎯ Northern Pygmy-Owl ⎯ Sora ⎯ Hooded Merganser ⎯ Long-eared Owl American Coot ⎯ Common Merganser ⎯ ⎯ Short-eared Owl

⎯ Ruddy Duck ⎯ Northern Saw-whet Owl Sandhill Crane ⎯ ⎯ Semipalmated Plover ⎯ Chukar ⎯ Common Nighthawk ⎯ Killdeer ⎯ Gray Partridge Black-necked Stilt Black Swift ⎯ Ring-necked Pheasant ⎯ ⎯ American Avocet Vaux’s Swift ⎯ Ruffed Grouse ⎯ ⎯ Greater Yellowlegs White-throated Swift ⎯ Dusky Grouse ⎯ ⎯ Lesser Yellowlegs ⎯ Wild Turkey ⎯ ⎯ Solitary Sandpiper ⎯ Black-chinned Hummingbird ⎯ California Quail Anna’s Hummingbird ⎯ Spotted Sandpiper ⎯ Calliope Hummingbird ⎯ Common Loon ⎯ Upland Sandpiper ⎯ Rufous Hummingbird ⎯ Pied-billed Grebe ⎯ Whimbrel ⎯

⎯ Horned Grebe ⎯ Long-billed Curlew ⎯ Belted Kingfisher ⎯ Marbled Godwit ⎯ Red-necked Grebe ⎯ Semipalmated Sandpiper MONTANA AUDUBON ⎯ Eared Grebe ⎯ Lewis’s Woodpecker ⎯ Western Sandpiper ⎯ Clark’s Grebe ⎯ Red-headed Woodpecker ⎯ Least Sandpiper ⎯ Red-naped Sapsucker ⎯ Downy Woodpecker ⎯ House Wren ⎯ Savannah Sparrow ⎯ Hairy Woodpecker ⎯ Winter Wren ⎯ Le Conte’s Sparrow The Bitterroot River Important Bird Area ⎯ Northern Flicker ⎯ Marsh Wren ⎯ Song Sparrow ⎯ Pileated Woodpecker ⎯ American Dipper ⎯ Lincoln’s Sparrow The Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program, ⎯ White-throated Sparrow established by the National Audubon Society, is a ⎯ Olive-sided Flycatcher ⎯ Golden-crowned Kinglet ⎯ Harris’ Sparrow global initiative to identify, monitor, and protect a ⎯ Western Wood-Pewee ⎯ Ruby-crowned Kinglet ⎯ White-crowned Sparrow network of sites that are critical for the ⎯ Willow Flycatcher ⎯ Dark-eyed Junco conservation of birds and other wildlife. IBAs ⎯ Least Flycatcher ⎯ Western Bluebird include sites for breeding, wintering, and/or ⎯ Hammond’s Flycatcher ⎯ Mountain Bluebird ⎯ Snow Bunting migrating birds. They may be a few acres or ⎯ Dusky Flycatcher ⎯ Townsend’s Solitaire thousands of acres, but usually are discrete sites ⎯ Cordilleran Flycatcher ⎯ Veery ⎯ Black-headed Grosbeak that stand out from the surrounding landscape. ⎯ Say’s Phoebe ⎯ Swainson’s Thrush ⎯ Lazuli Bunting Since 1995, 2,000 IBAs have been identified in the ⎯ Vermilion Flycatcher ⎯ Hermit Thrush United States; 37 of them are in Montana. ⎯ Western Kingbird ⎯ American Robin ⎯ Bobolink The Bitterroot River IBA encompasses the 500- ⎯ Eastern Kingbird ⎯ Varied Thrush ⎯ Red-winged Blackbird ⎯ Gray Catbird ⎯ Western Meadowlark year floodplain around a 50 km stretch of the ⎯ Northern Shrike ⎯ Northern Mockingbird ⎯ Yellow-headed Blackbird Bitterroot River from Woodside (just north of ⎯ Loggerhead Shrike ⎯ Sage Thrasher ⎯ Rusty Blackbird Hamilton) to just south of Lolo. The Bitterroot ⎯ Brewer’s Blackbird River IBA also includes the Lee Metcalf National ⎯ Cassin’s Vireo ⎯ European Starling ⎯ Common Grackle Wildlife Refuge. ⎯ Warbling Vireo ⎯ Brown-headed Cowbird ⎯ Red-eyed Vireo ⎯ American Pipit ⎯ Bullock’s Oriole Bitterroot Audubon Society formally adopted the ⎯ Sprague’s Pipit Bitterroot River Important Bird Area (IBA) in ⎯ Steller’s Jay ⎯ Pine Grosbeak 2008 after Montana Audubon and National ⎯ Blue Jay ⎯ Bohemian Waxwing ⎯ Cassin’s Finch Audubon designated it as one of more than 2,000 ⎯ Clark’s Nutcracker ⎯ Cedar Waxwing ⎯ House Finch recognized areas important to birds and their ⎯ Black-billed Magpie ⎯ Red Crossbill habitat. Bitterroot Audubon hopes to work with landowners to focus attention on the importance ⎯ American Crow ⎯ Nashville Warbler ⎯ White-winged Crossbill of native cottonwood river bottom habitat in ⎯ Common Raven ⎯ Yellow Warbler ⎯ Common Redpoll maintaining healthy populations of birds. ⎯ Chestnut-sided Warbler ⎯ Pine Siskin

⎯ Horned Lark ⎯ Yellow-rumped Warbler ⎯ American Goldfinch For more information about the IBA program and ⎯ Black-and-white Warbler ⎯ Evening Grosbeak the Bitterroot River IBA, please contact: ⎯ Tree Swallow ⎯ American Redstart

⎯ Violet-green Swallow ⎯ Northern Waterthrush ⎯ House Sparrow Sherry Ritter ⎯ Northern Rough-winged Swallow ⎯ MacGillivray’s Warbler Chair, Important Bird Area Committee ⎯ Bank Swallow ⎯ Common Yellowthroat ********************************** Bitterroot Audubon Society ⎯ Cliff Swallow ⎯ Wilson’s Warbler [email protected] ⎯ Barn Swallow ⎯ Western Tanager Special thanks to the following people for contributing observations to this checklist: Sara (406) 777-7409

⎯ Black-capped Chickadee ⎯ Spotted Towhee Ashline, Alex Bittner, Bob Danley, Jill Davies, Amy Cilimburg ⎯ Mountain Chickadee ⎯ American Tree Sparrow Doug Duff, Susie Duff, Deb Goslin, Colleen Director of Bird Conservation ⎯ Red-breasted Nuthatch ⎯ Chipping Sparrow Powell, Sherry Ritter, Kate Stone, Nathan Stone, Montana Audubon White-breasted Nuthatch Clay-colored Sparrow and Wayne Tree ⎯ ⎯ [email protected] ⎯ Pygmy Nuthatch ⎯ Brewer’s Sparrow (406) 465-1141 ⎯ Brown Creeper ⎯ Vesper Sparrow To contribute additional species to this ⎯ Lark Sparrow list, please contact Kate Stone (406-381- ⎯ Rock Wren 1115; [email protected])