Best Birds in Montana

Mountain bluebird (photo by Elaine R. Wilson via Wikimedia Commons)
Mountain bluebird (photo by Elaine R. Wilson via Wikimedia Commons)

When my friend Chuck Tague led an outing he’d ask us at the end, “What was your Best Bird?”  Now that I’m back from Montana I’ve made a list. (The photos are from Wikimedia Commons.)

Best of the Best: Mountain bluebird.  While standing next to a short spruce at Logan Pass, I saw a Life Bird(*) fly in and perch just above me.  This bluest Bird of Happiness completes the trio of bluebird species in North America: eastern, western and mountain.

Two of my Best Birds were named for explorers, Lewis and Clark.

I’d seen a Lewis’s woodpecker fly by the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch on October 20, 2002 (very unusual!) but in Missoula I was hungry to see more.  My friend Keith Kuhn asked a resident if we could walk across her property to the shore of the Bitterroot River where they’d been reported the day before.  She was very accommodating when he said “Lewis’s woodpecker.” The birds come to her suet feeder.    It was a thrill to see three pink-bellied woodpeckers fly-catching over the river.

Lewis's Woodpecker from Crossley ID Guide to Eastern Birds (illustration from Wikimedia Commons)
Lewis’s Woodpecker from Crossley ID Guide to Eastern Birds (illustration from Wikimedia Commons)

 

Clark’s nutcracker resembles a woodpecker but he’s actually a Corvid who stores and eats pine nuts.  We saw a pair of them fly over Logan Pass, calling and chasing each other.

Clark's nutcracker (photo by Simon Wray, Oregon Department of FIsh and Wildlife via Wikimedia Commons)
Clark’s nutcracker (photo by Simon Wray, Oregon Department of FIsh and Wildlife via Wikimedia Commons)

 

I was afraid I wouldn’t see an American dipper but I shouldn’t have worried. Because they were nesting we saw adult dippers gathering food and a fledgling waiting for its next meal at St. Mary’s Falls.  Very good looks! (Click here to see one swim.)

American dipper (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
American dipper (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

 

In only eight days I saw 105 species and 11 Life Birds in western Montana.  It was hard to pick just four of the Best!

 

(photos from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the images to see the originals)

(*) A “Life Bird” is a species you see for the first time in your life.

9 thoughts on “Best Birds in Montana

  1. You’re giving me some serious wanderlust, Kate. ^_^ When I was in Glacier a few years ago, I hadn’t yet been bitten by the ‘serious birding’ bug!

  2. Awesome sitings and congrats on the life birds! I spent the past week in Oregon and also saw a Mountain Bluebird pair, an American Dipper (heard many more) and very tame Clark’s Nutcrackers at Crater Lake. My best bird was a family of Peregrine Falcons, of course.

  3. The Clarks nutcrackers fascinated us when we were in the Canadian rockies – they were everywhere and very busy…..

    The mountain bluebird is such a beautiful shade of blue!

  4. I’m glad to see all the updates you provide to us Pittsburgher’s on how wonderful to know that we made Pittsburgh a great place for wild birds to live and raise a family. Though, I was wondering, what ever happened to Dorothy’s one son “Silver”? When he went through his first malt, did his feathers grow in for him to fly or is his still living in a sanctuary?
    Thanks so much for all the information not only for the COL falcons but all the different birds you post on. I really enjoy checking in to see what’s new.

  5. Thank you Kate. Its a shame it wasn’t a better outcome.
    Thank you for that update. Again, thanks for all your work you do on keeping everyone updated on all our feathered friends.

  6. Mountain Bluebird was one of my top birds from Colorado. The pictures in field guides do not do it justice.

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