Outside Xmas Been Good or Bad Lists…Wildlife Checklists for New Year

Like you, I've been out and about looking for wildlife (mostly birds) to add to my lists (annual and life) for the new year. So far, it has been slow going compared to last year. Thirteen species of birds are on my checklist year-to-date. Caveat being short time invested (about 4 hours) and habitat visited. Two habitats have been concentrated on at this point, open country and Rocky Mountain Forest a) Subalpine Mesic Spruce-Fir and b) Dry-Mesic Montane Mixed. Targets for a: buteos, horned larks, snow buntings and longspurs and b: winter finches and corvids. Have done well with buteos (photo below).

Rough-legged Hawk

The forest has been really quiet...winter finches are mostly absent (CBC's bear this out). For good reason, the cone crop is pretty much non-existent. I took a field trip to Lolo Pass and found few trees (photo below, likely Subalpine Fir) with cones. The good news is the snowpack (44 inches) is 84% of normal.

Lolo Pass-Conifers and Snowpack

I record my sightings, observations in a variety of ways, hard copy and digital. I've downloaded the AOU checklist (American Ornithologists Union) and imported it into Google Sheets for annual and life list tracking. By being cloud-based, I can reach my list using any computer, tablet. Similarly, have downloaded and adapted checklists (mostly national) for dragonflies (Odonates really...provided by the Slater Museum-University of Puget Sound), butterflies (source: North American Butterfly Association), and wildflowers (Montana has an excellent natural heritage web site for plants...your State probably has extensive resources also).
The way I'm doing this is a bit dated; there is a plethora of digital resources (apps) coming online. Included are checklists (E-Bird) integrated with identification guides and natural history information (Audubon Bird Guide)...all in a mobile platform. App checklist competition comes from a published work by Whit Bronaugh titled Wildlife of North America-A Naturalists Lifelist.
Yes, tracking wildlife-watching efforts is important, think S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based) objectives for learning about wildlife. Just don't forget wildlife-watching (drilled down from generic just "being outside" category) is also a path for daily happiness (being in the moment); here's a visual checklist "how-to-be-happy" from Pinfographics.
Leave me a comment with a link to your recent observation checklist :-)

Winter Power Pole Birding...How-to and Photo Salon

Nothing beats a winter drive in the country, especially with the goal of hawkwatching in mind. Driving "backroads" in the warmth of your vehicle and leisurely scoping out the high points of the landscape in anticipation....well of whatever is not on your checklist or the spectacle at times. High populations of small rodents are the determinant for hawk density; I've seen over 100 hawks over a 50 mile circuit.
The habitat for mice and voles can be a mix of CRP (farmland set aside for conservation), cropland (plowed and unplowed), ranchland and hopefully some native sod. Just as important as habitat are power poles along the roadside; most buteo's are perch hunters and these provide the perch substrate. For you beginning birders, these perches will allow you excellent, numerous views to study the birds and photograph at times.
Sometimes having poles and habitat in abundance (think North Dakota) is not a good thing because bird distribution can be very spotty due to immense amount of habitat available. Then again, that is exactly what a Gyrfalcon (Falco rusitcolus) requires. Perhaps most of you reading this live in large urban areas; a day trip of several hours (guessing 70 miles or so one way) should get you into some kind of promising habitat. I remember taking a day trip downstate with several Chicagoland birders many years ago to see Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus) at the Lawrenceville (believe that is correct) airport. It was successful!!
Being a good birder means homework and preparation (excuse the preaching, experts). Embedded are several photos for you to identify and age; hands-on work usually equates with better learning and retention. In fact, it may be a cake walk with the wide spectrum of field guides, hard coy and digital, (think Crossley and Sibley guides) available. Oh, there are 2 photos of birds not on a pole...uncooperative for a photo and a bit of a bonus :-)

Field Trip Expectations

“Home” as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial said after a lengthy adventure on Earth. For us humans one need not go far from home for an adventure discovering alien wildlife. For me a wildlife field trip is centered on reasoned expectations of what I wish to find. I think serendipity comes into play as much or more so than prediction by logic.
So, yesterday I find a Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii) perched in my neighbor’s willow overlooking his feeder stations looking out the window (serendipity). So I’m thinking, it’s my lucky day. Quickly packed my stuff and headed to Pattee Canyon (accessible high elevation site good for winter finches) early afternoon. Sunshine and 18F, walked up the snow packed Crazy Canyon trail hoping to see/hear Pine Grosbeak or Red Crossbill. Did not find either, did get video (below) of Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa) foraging. So contrary my expectation, there was no significant/additional bird find for the day.

Today rolls around...and decide to “shoot the moon” and again try for winter finches at Lolo Pass, a mere 32 miles from my front door. Guess what, no winter finches (no conifer seed cones might explain this), instead bumped into 6 American Dipper (Cinculus mexicanus) and a Moose (Alces alces) along Lolo Creek.



Stopped back at home for quick lunch, then to west side of Missoula to find a wintering Ferruginous Hawk. Found instead an abundance of Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) between Pulp Mill Road and Loiselle Lane. Captured one bird calling on video; that is a first for me (~30 years of wildlife watching).



Kept looking for the ferrug and intersected with a good flock of Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) containing a couple of Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) and a single Lapland Longspur (Calcarius lapponicus)...again serendipitous; no matter, am really happy because they are usually difficult to find...by expectation :-0

Horned Lark, Snow Bunting, Lapland Longspur...can you find them in the photo?

Scanning...the Skies and the Ground

The last half of May in western Montana is a time of cool/wet conditions. True to form, here's a video from our Lolo porch this morning:

So instead of going on a 'field trip', I've processed some photos and video from the past couple of days for your reading, viewing pleasure. Staying home sometimes has its advantages, found two first of year butterfly species from our yard: Purplish Copper (Lycaena helloides) and Boisduval's Blue (Plebejus icarioides):

Purplish Copper

Boisduval's Blue

Looking at the ground yesterday, spied a Sticky Geranium (Geranium viscosissimum) in bloom in a small native plant patch along Marcure Road west of Missoula:

Sticky Geranium

Just east of Marcure Road is Loiselle Road, this gravel road was immediate to somewhat degraded native pasture...though sufficient for usage by a pair of Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni). Check out the following video of these birds in flight; compare with the excellent written description of flight found in the default reference material (Hawks in Flight [1988] by Dunne, Sibley and Sutton):