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After leaving Kalispell on my final day in Montana, I headed south to check out Swan Lake.
I was lucky enough to catch a flock of Red-eyed and Warbling Vireos and a few Yellow Warblers foraging in bushes by the lakeside, while Cedar Waxwings were flycatching from nearby trees.
Further along the lakeshore I came to an observation platform looking out over marshland. Unfortunately, the only birds around were Barn Swallows.
It was nice to feel that down here by the lake I could walk around without worrying about bears. I wouldn't have felt quite so relaxed, though, if I had noticed this sign next to where I had parked.
My next stop was at a small city park in Polson, a town at the south end of Flathead Lake. I was hoping to find Pygmy Nuthatches there. Amazingly, I spotted one within 10 minutes of my arrival.
The only other birds in the park were Ring-billed Gulls.
After that, I headed over to a site I was really looking forward to visiting - the town's wastewater treatment plant. As every birder knows, birds love sewage!
I was crushed to find that the plant was closed because it was Sunday. I can't imagine why they would close the plant on the best day of the week for people to visit it!
Disappointed, I headed back south, stopping off again at the Ninepipes reserve on my way. As it was now mid-afternoon, there were very few birds about, except for the Grebes and other water birds that I'd seen on my earlier visit. However, I had wonderful views of the Mission Mountains from the reserve and from the road from there to Missoula.
So my Montana birding ended with a whimper rather than a bang. Overall, though, I enjoyed the trip. I hadn't seen anything like the number or range of birds that I had expected but I had seen some. (The trip took my bird year list up to 304 species.) And I had seen some incredible landscapes.
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Although I haven't quite finished reporting on my trip to Montana, I think it's time to catch up on what's been happening here in Cypress since I got back home.
Our yards haven't been as busy as usual with birds, because we still haven't put up any seed feeders. (We took them down a month ago to disperse the flock of House Finches that had become a permanent feature in our yards and that was suffering badly from an outbreak of avian pox.)
However, we have been getting some visitors. Several Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have been hanging around daily, taking advantage of the one hummer feeder we've put up while they're migrating south through our area.
Females arrived first. They chased away the only male that appeared last week.
Then more males turned up. Ever since, they've dominated the feeder and have kept the females at bay.
A few of our resident birds have been showing up, too, including Blue Jays, Carolina Wrens and Northern Cardinals. I sometimes forget just how beautiful Northern Cardinals are.
I started to put peanut butter on our fences to feed the resident birds but squirrels wolfed most of it down before the birds could reach it. What was left after the squirrels came was quickly polished off by another non-bird visitor.
Fall migration usually brings a few new birds to the CyFair college campus and this has been true this year, too. The most common migrants have been Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. I've seen at least a couple every day for the past two weeks. They're tricky birds to photograph because they never stop moving as they move through the trees (and occasionally down to the ground) looking for bugs.
They may be small and fidgety but I love watching them because they have a lot of personality.
A pair of Baltimore Orioles popped in one day but were very shy. Easten Wood-Pewees have been more visible.
Warblers have been few and far between. Except for a glimpse of an American Redstart, the only ones I've spotted have been Yellow Warblers, either along the nature trail or in the group of mesquite trees near the entrance to our library.
So it hasn't been too exciting for birds in our area but, as always in September, there have been enough residents and migrants around to keep me entertained at home and at work.
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After arriving in Kalispell from Glacier Park, I spent a little time in one of the town parks. The residents included Black-billed Magpies, Ring-billed Gulls and Canada Geese.
However, I was surprised to find lots of pairs of Wood Ducks there.
The park had plenty of Cedar Waxwings, too.
It also had a young American Robin that looked to be in a very agitated state!
The next day I checked out a local nature reserve, where I was greeted by Black-capped Chickadees.
An Osprey was a fine sight in the morning sky.
Northern Flickers were calling and hammering everywhere in the reserve.
As I was leaving, I had great views of a pair of adult males who appeared to be carrying out some kind of ritual. For over 5 minutes the one on the left constantly ducked and bowed to the one on the right.
If one had been a female, I would have assumed it was a mating display. Since they were both male, I have no idea what the ritual was about!
After the reserve it was time for me to start the drive back to Missoula - stopping off at a few birding sites along the way, of course.
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.As soon as I drove into Glacier NP, it was clear that I was going to see some wonderful scenery.
I spent an hour or two checking out a couple of possible birding sites but spotted only a Red-breasted Nuthatch and a Common Raven.
Most of the rest of my time was spent driving up the Road to the Sun, stopping off at pull-offs along the way to admire the incredible views.
At one point I had to slow down to allow a deer to cross ahead of me.
At another I had to stop to take photos of a Mountain Goat at the side of the road.
The visitor center at the top of the road was packed with people, many of them watching a couple of small herds of Bighorn Sheep on the mountainsides.
There were smaller animals, too.
In every direction the scenery was spectacular.
After six hours in the park, I headed back down towards the entrance and to Kalispell, where I had booked a motel room for the night. Glacier NP hadn't produced the birds - or bears - that I had hoped for but it had certainly been well worth a visit.
And I still had one day left in which to explore some nearby birding sites on the way back to Missoula.
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