Coming September 14th at Lone Pine State Park

Continuing a tradition started by the family of the late Rod Ash in 2006, Flathead Audubon, partnering with Lone Pine State Park, will expand on our big public event of the year with exhibits, booths and programs beginning at 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM. US Forest Service, Glacier NP, MT Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, Flathead Audubon, Hockaday Museum, Flathead Land Trust, and many other organizations will be there with fun activities. Fancy Face Design face painting will be there to turn you and your kids into “raptors” for the day. Montana Coffee Traders will have their delicious bird-friendly coffee and goodies available, and there will be a lunch truck with summertime food.

This year’s program lineup promises to be very exciting! Kate Stone, M.S., Avian Scientist with the MPG Ranch Conservation Area in the Bitterroot Valley, has been doing Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle research on migrations and the use of gut-piles from hunting by these birds. She has also focused on the effects of lead bullets on raptor scavengers. Kate graduated from Middlebury College with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Conservation Biology in 2000. After completing her M.S. in Forestry at the University of Montana on the habitat associations of snowshoe hares, her fieldwork included projects on small mammal response to weed invasions, the response of bird communities to bark beetle outbreaks and targeted surveys for species of concern like the black-backed woodpecker and the Northern goshawk.

Kari Gabriel, The Montana Bird Lady, will be there to do a very educational program with her Prairie Falcon, Rough-legged Hawk and the cutest tiny Saw-whet Owl you will ever encounter.

Derrick Rathe, Park Ranger at Lone Pine, will give us a lesson on basic bird-of-prey identification.

Wild Wings Recovery Center will be outdoors with their large group of volunteers and well over a dozen rehabilitating birds including Ferruginous, Red Tail, Harlan’s, Cooper’s Hawks, Great Gray and Pygmy Owls, and Peregrine, Merlin and Kestrel Falcons.

Last year we had over 850 people show up and participate! Come early if you are a glutton for knowledge and fun!

Contact Jan Metzmaker (862-7960) or Denny Olson (249-3987) for more information.