by Carole Jorgensen Conservation Short Notes Avian Flu According to APHIS, there have been 51 cases of wild bird mortality associated with avian flu in Montana, including one bald eagle in Flathead County, as of Aug 2022. Wild birds are apparently more resistant to avian flu than domestic fowl. Feeding birds (once the bears go…
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by Linda Winnie Adding a Kiosk and ADA Accessible Facilities Earlier articles in this series described how a cadre of Flathead Audubon volunteers cleared trails and built bridges at Owen Sowerwine, carried out routine maintenance and weed control, monitored natural features, with Flathead and Montana Audubon covering the relatively minor costs of materials and equipment…
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As we suffered through the hot, dry, smoky days of August it is hard to imagine that the Jewel Basin Hawk Watch season was almost upon us. But the 15th consecutive season of season-long migration monitoring began on August 25th. We are once again happy to have local birder extraordinaire Joshua Covill on board as…
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by Darcy Thomas Beverly Skinner’s love of the natural world dates to her childhood when her heart was molded by her maternal grandmother – a “wild crafter” from the Missouri Ozarks who Beverly lived with for a while when she was very young. This country grandmother taught her granddaughter about birds and believed everyone should…
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by Dave Manuwal The second most important source of bird mortality in North America is colliding with windows (American Bird Conservancy). Flathead Audubon has an opportunity to measure the importance of mortality associated with birds hitting windows of our homes. We propose to record all birds that die from hitting our windows for a period…
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Looking Back, To See How Far We’ve Come! Compiled by: Pam Willison and Linda Winnie (quotes are from Pileated Post articles) The annual Owen Sowerwine Natural Area Work Day began in the fall of 2003, and has been held each fall since. The OSNA Work Day began as part of the Prudential Global Volunteer Day…
Read Moreby David Manuwal In the early evening of September 24, 1962 near South Bend, northern Indiana, there was a brief thunder shower with some wind gusts from the northwest. During the following two days, I found 77 dead birds under a 1100 foot tall television transmitter that were killed during that single storm event. The…
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by Darcy Thomas At times our childhood experiences make us who we are. That is certainly the case with Kathy Ross. “As a kid I roamed the forests of Missouri, sometimes with Grandfather, but mostly alone, exploring ponds for salamanders, frogs, and bugs, tracking small woodland beings around the forests, learning the names of all…
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One of the wonderful jewels of the Flathead Valley is the Center for Native Plants in Whitefish. It is the only retail nursey in the Flathead Valley for native plants. They grow over 200 species of wildflowers, grasses, groundcovers, shrubs, and trees – all native to Montana and the mountain areas of the Northwest. It…
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