Critter News

MAY 3, 2009

Montana has passed a law making it difficult to challenge the building of a horse slaughtering facility in that state. The last such facility in the US closed in 2007. This bill specifically makes for groups that might oppose it to use the court system to do so. From the bill, which you can read here : Section 2.

Montana 100

Montana Horses Horse Slaughter Slaughter 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

For some reason, this is the year that the masked butcherbirds have been around in my corners of Montana, with as many sightings for me in 2014 as in the rest of my life (including the other three years I lived in Montana) combined. Birding Montana New York Northern Shrike'

Montana 184

Montana 2014 New York Sparrows 184

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 16, 2016

Last week many birders were shocked and saddened by the deaths of thousands of Snow Geese who, trapped by adverse weather conditions, landed at the Berkeley Pit in Butte, Montana. As an Explainer of Montana, I am here to help. You may be curious about what exactly is the deal with that.

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Montana Geese Collecting Species 148

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2012

This story comes from Emily Johnson, who is a sub-permittee for a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in Helena, Montana. Grace’s high school is in Bozeman, Montana, next to a McDonald’s. Some, however, decide that captivity isn’t so bad, and can adjust to a new life. Such was the case with Russell A.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 197

Wildlife Rehabilitation Montana Compassion Rescue 197

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2014

The species that calls western Montana home is the black cottonwood, while plains and narrowleaf cottonwood call the rest of the state home. Each of the seeds that blows by me, in short, has not much more of a chance than an actual snowflake. Humans have not helped.

Montana 166

Montana Cattle Deer Shelters 166

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2014

Moving to Montana was not even exotic – it was a non-possibility. I didn’t go to grad school or move to Montana until my 30s, and I didn’t see the Bullock’s Oriole until I had been in Montana almost four years. It was not mine, and I couldn’t miss what I had never had.

Baltimore 173

Baltimore California Condor Montana Cleveland 173

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.

Ferrets 187

Ferrets Wildlife Montana Prairie Dogs 187

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2017

Or at least the four dogs in the house I’m staying at in Montana showed no particular reaction to the 5.8 So it turns out dogs are useless. earthquake and series of aftershocks that made the state wobbly in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Montana 114

Montana Dogs Birds 114

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 14, 2021

The Collective added six new states in the past three years, but none have eclipsed the century mark: Wisconsin ( 74 ), Utah (55), Hawaii (38), Oklahoma (18), Rhode Island (9), and Connecticut (5).

West Virginia 204

West Virginia United States Puerto Rico Minnesota 204

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. For example, hunting is not permitted in most NPS wilderness areas, but it is often allowed in wilderness areas managed by the other agencies.

Puerto Rico 259

Puerto Rico Alaska Protection Montana 259

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2017

Because they are near the still, stocked waters of McCormick Park Fishing Pond, this pair of Osprey often do well in years when high, turbid waters result in nest failures for other Montana Osprey – and this year has been such a year.

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Montana Birds Fish Groups 133

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2024

In fact, the overwhelming majority of federal land is in just 11 western states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming). On a state-by-state basis, that percentage increases dramatically as one moves from east to west.

Virgin Islands 216

Virgin Islands Alaska United States Nevada 216

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2013

I also ran into a local birder who was unimpressed when I gushed about how much I was enjoying my morning — until I explained that I was from Montana. Well, I am sort of am from Montana now, I guess. My last species in the park was Wood Duck , which we have in Montana too but which is always fun to see.

Montana 164

Montana New York City New York Nashville 164

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2015

If you’ve ever wanted to understand why warning calls by one bird species seem to spread rapidly, like an avian version of the Wave , to birds of other species, Professor Erick Greene from the University of Montana is your man.

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Montana New York Times Science New York 154

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2013

When you move on to Montana, you discover that there are worse things that one species of tiny screaming mammal tricking you each year as you try to cope with an influx of songbirds and a winterized memory bank that contains only Black-capped Chickadees and Dark-eyed Juncos (and only about half their calls at that.) You sigh and move on.

Chipmunks 183

Chipmunks Squirrels Rodents Montana 183

10,000 Birds

JULY 12, 2013

As I’ve noted before, floating is not ideal for birding, but sometimes it’s all you’ve got and if so, it’s time to learn to appreciate the Spotted Sandpiper — along with the Bald Eagle , the Common Merganser , and other commonplace water birds of Montana.

Bald Eagle 162

Bald Eagle Montana Eagles Birds 162

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 158

Montana Blackbirds Birds Eagles 158

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2011

The Sage Grouse is getting a boost in Alberta with the work of The Sage Grouse Recovery Group , which is seeking to augment the dwindling population in Alberta with birds from Montana.

Montana 165

Montana Groups Birds 165

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2014

Birds Montana names Ospreys web cams' Fortunately, I can now put my irrational fears aside, because one of my favorite sets of names won. Introducing this year’s Dunrovin osprey chicks – Lunar, Sol, and Shadow, named for the eclipse that took place the night the first egg was laid.

Montana 152

Montana Eggs Birds 152

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

Just when you’ve persuaded everyone you know, from barflies in Montana to hotshot Manhattan editors to your infant nephews, that birds are the greatest thing ever… something like this happens.

Falcons 154

Falcons Montana Breeding Woodpeckers 154

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2014

But the turkey vultures would certainly leave the places we saw them – Montana, North Dakota, Illinois and Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio and eventually New York – and head south. The only bird we saw in every state was the Turkey Vulture. No vast kettles, yet, only ones and twos.

North Dakota 171

North Dakota Turkey Pennsylvania New York 171

Critter News

JUNE 14, 2010

The University of Montana study, aimed at exploring the effects of climate change on mountain goats, got under way this month with preliminary field work in the Many Glacier Valley. Tags: animal research montana. From the Daily Interlake. However, a second male goat died after it was darted on Thursday.

Mountain Goats 100

Mountain Goats Goats Montana Killing 100

Critter News

SEPTEMBER 6, 2009

Montana is another state where wolf killing is allowed. Tags: cull montana idaho wolves. The state government is as crazy about wolf killing as she is. But a US District Court Judge has granted a hearing on stopping the killing to wolf advocates represented by Earthjustice.

Idaho 100

Idaho Killing Culling Montana 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 14, 2018

This year, a few months after my fortieth birthday, when I saw a Blue Jay in West Glacier Montana I felt only a small bit of surprise – it was an uncommon bird but no longer really extralimital as a wintering species. 1978, for reference, was the year of my birth.

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Montana Oregon New York Times Deer 140

Critter News

FEBRUARY 25, 2009

Great, just after we managed to get rid of the last one "It doesn't mean you have to do it.

Horse Slaughter 100

Horse Slaughter Horses Legislature Montana 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2017

Last night I lay awake from 4 am til almost 5, worrying about the black-footed ferrets I met in Montana and the humans who had devoted their lives to helping them.

Endangered Species 100

Endangered Species Ferrets Montana United States 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2012

With all my traipsing about this year I’ve actually been shamefully lax on birding Montana. Montana offers little in the way of flamingos, generally speaking. No Snow Geese or swans yet, and no Sandhill Cranes , but it did renew my taste for some of the simpler, homier pleasures of birding.

Bald Eagle 109

Bald Eagle Montana Italy Owls 109

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2016

Whether there is one Sandhill Crane in a camas field in Montana or 1,000 in a flock on their wintering grounds, they put the charismatic AND the mega in charismatic megafauna. They share a noisy charisma with the Common Loon and a predatory grace with the Great Blue Heron. That’s not even counting the fact that they dance.

California Condor 159

California Condor Mississippi Florida Montana 159

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2022

Meanwhile, a birder from Montana who happened to be watching the Magnificent Pirate next to me, was shouting the magic words, “Life Bird!” The birder from Montana and I were calling out bird names to beginning birders as the migrants flew into tall trees surrounding an open area called The Cathedral–“Bay-breasted!

Houston 217

Houston Texas Sanctuary Sparrows 217

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2015

The landscape known as the Crown of the Continent extends from northern Idaho and Wyoming through Montana to the Canadian border, linking the Greater Yellowstone and Salmon-Selway ecosystems and including Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.

Legislation 173

Legislation Montana Wyoming Idaho 173

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. Perhaps, too, it doesn’t hurt that the number of lists from Montana is large enough to create meaningful pictures in the data, but small enough that I feel like I’m really contributing in some way.

Montana 168

Montana 2007 Game Birds 168

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2019

Lee Metcalf NWR (Montana): 178,000; $4.5 John Heinz NWR (Pennsylvania): 358,000; $4.6 million; 35 jobs. Kilauea Point NWR (Hawaii): 1,148,000; $34.3 million; 293 jobs. Laguna Atascosa NWR (Texas): 485,000; $12.1 million; 412. million; 45. Malheur NWR (Oregon): 210,000; $30.1; Minnesota Valley NWR (Minnesota): 274,000; $4.2 million; 31.

Wildlife 251

Wildlife Maryland San Francisco Minnesota 251

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2014

This is my first season with the ranch, and I’m very excited to being putting some of my theories about nest cams into practice. We’ll see how it goes.

Montana 192

Montana Horses Eggs Morals 192

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2013

The swallows here in Montana have an admirable ability to assort themselves into nesting niches. Bank Swallows live in our many sandy banks. Tree Swallows live in trees — and nest boxes. I have seen Cliff Swallows on cliffs, but even more than that, they enjoy bridges.

Montana 158

Montana Woodpeckers Eggs Raised 158

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 5, 2012

I just chalked this up to my friends being weird, until I took the Master Naturalist Class at the Montana Natural History this fall. Way, way back, during our inuagural game of Gone Birding , my friend Molly developed a theory of birds. There were, in her book, three kinds: Owls, Pigeons, and Ducks. water birds (ducks!)

Montana 161

Montana Bald Eagle Owls Ducks 161

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 28, 2011

The University of Montana Symphonic Wind Ensemble, to be precise. October 13 found me doing something very unusual, even for me: learning about birds while watching an orchestra. At a concert called “Winged Messengers”, which included a piece called “Chickadee Symphony” by Craig Naylor.

Montana 206

Montana Owls Science Research 206

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2017

But when the two get lost in the Montana wilderness, along with a 15-year-old boy named Cooper whose rough home situation has already gotten him branded a delinquent, they have to rise to the occasion or die. Stark, a white Gyrfalcon , is a falconry bird born and raised.

Falcons 119

Falcons Wolves Dolphins Montana 119