10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2021

There is also a research institute dedicated to wilderness: the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute is an interagency facility located at the University of Montana. And it prohibits human infrastructure, e.g. , roads, buildings, dams, and pipelines, etc. However, there are some exceptions for all of these restrictions.)

Puerto Rico 268

Puerto Rico Alaska Protection Research 268

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2012

One of the admirable things about Montana is how it contains prime examples of not one, but two iconic North American landscapes. But eastern Montana contains the equally though differently stunning high plains, a world unto itself with very different wildlife meeting very different challenges.

Wildlife 192

Wildlife Ferrets Montana Prairie Dogs 192

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2018

In the fall of 2017, my mother and favorite birding buddy visited the mountains of Montana for a fishing trip. My husband and I had limited time to see the massive park, and, like my parents in Montana, a good portion of that would be devoted to fly-fishing. I’ve been dying to see one ever since. A Clark’s Nutcracker!

Montana 101

Montana 2017 Fish Game 101

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Many years ago, back in the 1970s, I visited my sister, who lived in West Yellowstone, Montana, in the dead of winter. We rented snow mobiles and drove into Yellowstone. That was the only way to get into Yellowstone in the winter (other than walking). All of them. Or almost so. Canada has more than the US.

Minnesota 221

Minnesota Wounded Montana Wildlife Rehabilitation 221

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 16, 2013

Of last round’s candidates, the Gallinaceous Bird TBD is now out, as I’ve since seen both Greater Sage and Ruffed Grouse , stolid Montana natives of good repute. And the Golden-winged Warbler still presents logistical difficulties.

Montana 159

Montana Blackbirds Birds Eagles 159

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2022

It stops those thousands of migrating birds flying across the Gulf of Mexico and directs them right onto the trees, fields, sanctuaries, beaches along the Bolivar Peninsula, where they hopefully find food and fresh water. I imagined walking right up to them. High Island in April requires Weather, so I was told. American Avocets.

Houston 225

Houston Texas Sanctuary Sparrows 225

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

During the weekend that I was there, it was announced that there were over 1300 fires burning just within the state of Oregon, not to mention California, Washington, Montana and British Columbia, Canada. It was to latter area that I was traveling. The smoke that had settled everywhere within the state was incredible.

Oregon 100

Oregon Birds Montana California 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2013

Since I moved to Montana I’ve been updating it sporadically at best, and over the past year or so, not at all. Plenty has been written about the joys and values of birding that isn’t list-centric, and a lot of it is right. Part of it has been sheer laziness. And, you know, on some level that’s fine.

Montana 170

Montana 2007 Game Birds 170

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 16, 2011

Right up near the summit is a wonderful boardwalk trail through a forest peat swamp that is evidently THE place to look for a number of higher-altitude birds, like the Pygmy Wren Babbler, White-browed Shortwing, and Snowy-browed Flycatcher. Female White-browed Shortwing ( Brachypteryx montana ) at nest with two nestlings.

Thailand 195

Thailand Birds Montana Africa 195

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2013

The subject of birds faced with extreme cold recently became a matter of great interest to me, if only because I would like to believe that there will still be some Gray-crowned Rosy-finches left alive in the state of Montana after our temperatures rise back up out of the sub-basement.

Montana 174

Montana Shelters Suffering Ducks 174

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2013

The latter are probably best ignored; the former are part of the never-ending dance of compromise out here in the west, a dance that I think is perhaps epitomized in Montana, with our constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment and our simultaneous possession of a large population who appear to think that predators are for destroying (..)

Nevada 161

Nevada Endangered Species Montana Humane 161

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2013

Those are places rich with the birds that made Montana great — American Dippers , Bohemian Waxwings , Pygmy Nuthatches , Bald Eagles on flyby, and so on and so on. This building, though fine in its own right, is but sparsely landscaped and parked in a residential/business ecosystem in the middle of town. A woodpecker. And I did.

Woodpeckers 165

Woodpeckers Bald Eagle New York City United States 165

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2011

I imagine these explorers had the same reaction as the Lewis and Clark expedition as they moved from the tallgrass prairies of North Dakota and Montana into the northern Rockies of western Montana. At which point, the Owl will lunge out at pluck the bird right off it’s perch. This species is an athletic and patient one.

Colorado 136

Colorado North Dakota Montana Owls 136

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2012

Not, sadly, in the sense that I’m actually sipping mai tais on a beach in Bali right now, but in the sense that it’s actually at least two distinct seasons, lumped together as one because they’re both cold. The first winter (which should probably be allowed to keep the name winter) is a downhill slide.

Bald Eagle 158

Bald Eagle Montana Owls Dogs 158

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

Sometimes it was just a matter of looking harder — walking a little further into the woods to get my first glimpse of a Blackburnian Warbler or being in just the right place at the right time to spot an elusive Yellow-billed Cuckoo. And living my life in the same place, I’d find them. Well, eventually.

Pythons 191

Pythons Litter Montana 2006 191

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2012

Finally, I want to leave you with a thought from the astonishing Barry Lopez, who gave a Q & A here at the University of Montana yesterday: “So much of memory is tied to being in love with the world.” I’m planning a trip and seeking advice. ” This weekend, remember a bird you love.

Montana 166

Montana Geese Blackbirds Canada 166

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

It wasn’t until I noticed the “locusts” here in Montana that I got curious about them. Human-created habitats like road edges, pastures, and railroad right-of-ways suit them to a tee, so it hardly seems fair to call them the locusts when we are the ones who have expanded explosively and stripped the land bare.

Montana 170

Montana Cooking Texas Cattle 170

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2012

A good number of times – looking at a White-browed Shortwing ( Brachypteryx montana ) or the like – it struck me just how incredibly sharp the image was. I was expecting them to be better than the current EL32s (which I use a lot), but what I did not expect was just how much better they are.

Austria 181

Austria Thailand Montana Protection 181

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

In each instance they start with a striking anecdote — my particular favorite took place on the University of Montana campus, where in 1964 an American Crow learned to call and taunt stray dogs into causing perhaps the most adorable college riots of the decade.

Humane 149

Humane Emotional Stray Dog Science 149

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2012

No coyotes in sight right now, the Great Horned Owls are off in the cottonwoods closer to the river. We’ll do this until the dawn breaks over eastern Montana. If we get close enough we might see a pink maw and slivers of white teeth, ready to take a prairie dog by the throat and choke the life out but also rather perversely adorable.

Ferrets 174

Ferrets Prairie Dogs Coyotes Kittens 174

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2018

The emerald put on an amazing show, buzzing right up to some of us and darting past others. That is how the saying goes, right? MONTANA DE VIDA. Alex knew exactly where the emerald would be, but even he was surprised at how quickly the hummingbird arrived or how interactive it would be. ECO FINCA LUNA DEL PUENTE.

Honduras 148

Honduras Birds Farming America 148

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2012

She also told me that it isn’t legal for wildlife rehabilitators in Montana to do anything with bats except turn them straight over for testing anyway, which made me feel like a bit less of a heel. Muir, thankfully, was not the least interested in the smaller mammal, and only a little confused about why our walk had been interupted.

Bats 138

Bats Wildlife Rehabilitation Missouri Montana 138

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Share Your Thoughts « Fun, Fun, Fun Crossley ID Guide Giveaway The Amazing Exploding Dove Meets Montana » To learn more about 10,000 Birds, Mike, Corey, or the many marvelous Beat Writers, please click here. Wicked, right? Renato Mar 13th, 2011 at 8:38 am Wow! I love that nine legged, cute, caring, little Plover.

2011 160

2011 Deer New York Cats 160

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2013

Highway 12, as it takes you from Montana into Idaho, has been the road to some of my greatest adventures during my time here. They will meet you when you come — so long as you come during the right few weeks in June. Depending on a visitor’s luck, one can see moose and wolves, hear Boreal Owls or Townsend’s Warblers.

Idaho 159

Idaho Mules Buffalo Wolves 159

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

I’ve only seen this handsome, copper-headed duck once before, years ago – being in Montana didn’t help on that front – and from all accounts this bird was showing well. Except when I looked for it the first time, and it didn’t show at all. I decided to attribute that to low tide rather than my own incompetence.

Iceland 163

Iceland Owls Ducks Montana 163

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Share Your Thoughts « The Amazing Exploding Dove Meets Montana Meet Suliformes, one of the newest orders of birds » To learn more about 10,000 Birds, Mike, Corey, or the many marvelous Beat Writers, please click here. Wicked, right? Nice post Corey! Corey Mar 13th, 2011 at 8:53 pm @Renato: Thanks! Thanks for visiting!

Nicaragua 194

Nicaragua El Salvador 2011 Deer 194

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2013

My best bird of the year was without a doubt the Montana Baikal Teal , a bird that combined rarity, beauty, and the good grace to stick around long enough for me to actually see it. Montana’s Baikal Teal by suneko. Tragic, right? Making it just under two years old when it came back to the High Arctic to continue the cycle.

2013 168

2013 Birds Costa Rica India 168

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2011

We took a trip a couple of weeks ago to Montana – Pablo Reservoir just south of Flathead Lake had 2 Snowies for awhile, but (of course) they left about a week before we got there. Wicked, right? Calif.) @ VRinA2 – where are you looking for Snowy Owls? Hat-tip to Stella.

2011 145

2011 Los Angeles Deer Birds 145

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2020

Ruddy Quail-Dove – Geotrygon montana. Note; The Megalomanagement reserve the right to refuse to gift prizes on the grounds that they are The Megalomanagement. Donde Cope- La Unión de Guápiles. 07 Feb 2020. Blue Ground Dove – Claravis pretiosa. Unnamed Road, Provincia de Puntarenas, CR (9,647, -84,604). 12 Feb 2020.

2020 157

2020 Sanctuary Australia Sparrows 157

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2018

Watch out for Tom during October to see this anomaly put right. Ruddy Quail-Dove – Geotrygon montana. There are a number of potential reasons for this, the most likely by far being that Pat has been batting for both teams for a couple of weeks. Alphabetic Taxonomic. Stygian Owl – Asio stygius. Parque do Ibirapuera.

2018 113

2018 Australia Woodpeckers Los Angeles 113

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2019

This year the big prize must go to Tom who has pushed himself, right to the wire to acheive a magnificent score for a self-funded, wife-organised, wife-sponsored Little Big Year , accounting for 57% of the total. Ruddy Quail-Dove – Geotrygon montana. And Pat gets to keep the awards in the remainder of the categories.

2018 113

2018 Australia Woodpeckers Sparrows 113