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Welcome to Flathead Audubon

To conserve birds, wildlife habitat, and ecosystem diversity in northwest Montana, through education and conservation programs.
Northern Pintail courtship flight Photo Credit: Dick Walker

Native plants are for all of us!

We had a great time at our March meeting hearing from our own Denny Olson and Kathy Ross, as well as from Jessie Walthers from the Flathead Conservation District and Mackenzie Dey from the MSU Extension Office discussing native plants. If you missed it, we have the recording now online. Click here to view it and be prepared to take notes!

Owen Sowerwine Conservation Easement was approved unanimously by State Land Board!!

Owen-Sowerwine Natural Area

After many years of hard work, keeping fingers crossed, and partnering with amazing conservation organizations, namely Flathead Land Trust and Flathead Lakers, we can celebrate knowing our efforts to set aside this incredible habitat for birds, fish, and wildlife known as Owen Sowerwine will soon be completed. This was an effort by many people. Our many members and friends who donated money deserve a special thank you as does The Whitefish Community Foundation for awarding Flathead Audubon a Community Grant of $50,000.

A special thanks goes to the Montana Land Board for believing in our vision. Gael Bissel and Pam Willison deserve our sincerest thanks for the hours of work they donated to see this come to fruition. The behind-the-scenes work they accomplished to lead to this success is beyond what anyone could expect of unpaid volunteers.

We are truly thankful, and I know the birds would clap their wings if only they could.

Darcy Thomas, President

A new chapter of management for Owen Sowerwine

If you head down to Owen Sowerwine, not much has changed… and that’s by design. While the new Conservation Easement gets finalized, the whole point of the easement was to preserve the irreplaceable habitat for birds. Learn more about Owen Sowerwine before you come down and visit. We have resources including trail maps, appropriate behavior, new rules for group use and more! Click here to learn more out our beloved Owen Sowerwine.

Get your Flathead Audubon Swag here!

We’re excited to announce the availability of hats and vests to show your Flathead Audubon pride! Trucker hats, thermal beanies, and visors can be purchased online or at our general meetings and are available for pickup at the meetings. Vests are a pre-order only. Order yours before our April 9th cutoff date! Find all of the apparel in our Shop.

Love birds? Lend a hand! (or wing?)

If you are new to Flathead Audubon (or have been around for a bit) and want to get involved there are many ways you can become active in the chapter. Here is a quick list of some of those ways:

  • Help with our education events for kids and families
  • Help with environmental issues that impact birds, wildlife, and habitat
  • Write a Bird of the Month or other piece for the newsletter
  • Help with the broadcasting of our monthly meeting on Zoom
  • Lead a field trip to your favorite birding hotspot
  • Join the board of directors in our important work

Contact Darcy Thomas at darcy@flatheadaudubon.org

Natives Rule!

Native insects feed on native plants which provide food for native birds… and their offspring! We’ve put this all together in a great video called Natives Rule! This video gives you a deep dive of why all of these “natives” are important and how you can help support this critical system. This video joins our growing catalog of Educational Videos that you can watch any time, anywhere, on any device!

Past meeting presentations available online

Speaking of videos, we have been recording our general meetings on Zoom and have them available for replay! Want to learn about the natural history of Trumpeter Swans? How wolves and ravens interact in Yellowstone? Head on over to our Videos page to see all of the past presentations.

Stay updated with the Flathead Audubon Fly-by!

In addition to our monthly Pileated Post, we also have a short email we send out called the Flathead Audubon Fly-by. It contains a brief reminder of events, any last minute announcements, and a splash of birdiness to your inbox. It’s even more important over the summer when our meetings take a break and we have a slew of field trips!

It’s densely packed like peanut butter suet and can be yours by signing up below*.

* You’ll only be signing up for Flathead Audubon communications. We don’t give/sell/distribute your email address to anyone else.

Catch all of the Latest News here!!

  • Conservation Educator’s Niche – March 2024
    By Denny Olson “The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, ‘What good is it?’ … Who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” Aldo Leopold One of the things that my dad could…
  • March 2024 presentation on adding native plants to your backyard now available for replay!
    At our March 2024 General Meeting, longtime landscaper, Kathy Ross, along with Jessie Walthers of the Flathead Conservation District and Mackenzie Dey of the MSU Extension office discussed the importance of native plants and how you can incorporate them into your own backyards to improve habitat for our native animals and environment. The added bonus…
  • Dan Casey Awarded Certificate of Appreciation
    by Darcy Thomas Our very own Dan Casey has been awarded a certificate of appreciation for his outstanding contribution to South Dakota State University’s (SDSU) Native Lands Inventory for 2023-2024. During Dan’s tenure as Coordinator of the Northern Great Plains Joint Venture, he helped advocate and provide funding for the SDSU effort to catalog the…
  • 2024 Wings Across the Big Sky Birding Festival speaker announced
    Montana Audubon, in partnership with Last Chance Audubon is pleased to announce Tiffany Kersten as the keynote speaker for the 2024 Wings Across the Big Sky Birding Festival! Birdie Big Year: Elevating Women Birders Tiffany Kersten didn’t set out to do a Big Year, but after a series of unanticipated and serendipitous events, she suddenly…
  • 2024 Montana Audubon Citizen Science Projects
    by Lauren Smith, MT Audubon Communications Specialist Help contribute valuable observations to science – and have a great time doing it! Montana Audubon is recruiting volunteers to help with four different surveys this year, including a new project surveying for Screech-owls. 2024 Montana Audubon Citizen Science Projects:  Curlew training is scheduled for March 26, 6:30pm,…
  • Conservation Corner – March 2024
    Avian Influenza on the Rise by Carole Jorgensen Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MTFWP) has noted an increase in the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), commonly known as bird flu and pigeon paramyxovirus, a naturally occurring virus that has also been documented in Montana recently. The National Audubon Society has previously discussed impacts of HPAI. The…

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