Bitterroot Bird Alliance

Teller Wildlife Refuge Great Blue Heron Rookery Viewing
2025-05-08 17:30 - 20:00 UTC
Join BBA’s Alex Kearney and Teller Wildlife Refuge’s Nicole Ballard to view one of the Bitterroot Valley’s great blue heron rookeries. The parents should be busy at this time getting the next generation of herons off to a good start. Scopes and field glasses are suggested, but will also be provided for viewing. Please contact Alex Kearny (406-360-2345) to pre-register and get directions to the meeting place.

Ruffatto Ranch River Walk
2025-05-04 16:30 - 18:30 UTC
May 4, 2025
4:30 PM to 6:30 PM
Bitterroot Bird Alliance and the Feminist Bird Club of Northwestern Montana are pleased to welcome birders of all backgrounds and abilities on a spring walk through the Ruffatto Ranch’s Block Management “River Unit” off of Highway 93 between Stevensville and Florence. Kate Stone will lead birders on an easy round-trip walk of about 1.5 miles on a ranch road, with one gentle downgrade at the beginning followed by level conditions as the road winds towards and then along the Bitterroot River. We’ll hope to observe many riparian and floodplain specialists, including Red-eyed Vireos, Willow Flycatchers, Least Flycatchers, Gray Catbirds, Nashville Warblers, and Black-headed Grosbeaks. Nice stands of ponderosa pine may host all three nuthatch species, Western Wood-pewees, and various woodpeckers. This site’s parking area is on the east side of Highway 93, 0.5 miles north of the Bass Creek Fishing Access site and just north of where Bass Creek Rd joins Hwy 93 from the west side. For people coming from the north, it is approximately 1 mile south of where Larry Creek Rd intersects Highway 93 from the west side. Or use these coordinates: 46.574554°; -114.092773°.

Birding Lake Como
2025-05-04 08:00 - 12:00 UTC
May 4, 2025
8:00 AM to about noon
We will meet in Hamilton at 8 am, arrange carpools, and caravan 20 miles to Lake Como where we will make two stops and walk about a total of 2-3 miles along well-established trails. We should see about 30-40 species that might include ruffed grouse, red-necked grebe, common loon, Williamson’s and red-naped sabsuckers, Cassin’s vireo and Townsend’s solitaire. We should return to Hamilton by about noon or early afternoon. Call or text Corbin Grimes at 406-360-3052 for details.

Monthly Program: Tricia Rodriguez Songbird Banding
2025-04-21 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
Beyond Binoculars: The Science and Impact of Bird Banding
By Tricia Rodriguez and Kate Stone
Our April program will welcome professional bird bander and avian ecologist Tricia Rodriguez from the University of Montana’s Bird Ecology Lab (UMBEL).
Field ornithologists collect information about wild bird populations in a variety of ways, with the goals or questions in a study guiding the choice of methodology. Banding is an excellent choice for researchers who need to mark and identify individual birds, assess health and body condition, collect measurements, and more. UMBEL has been studying songbird populations in western Montana since 2006, capturing and banding over 37,000 birds of 154 species. Tricia will familiarize you with bird banding efforts in Montana and around the world! She will share results from several local studies.
Tricia was born and raised in Georgia, where she lived a suburban lifestyle without a bird feeder in sight. In her final semester at the University of Georgia, she took ornithology “just for fun”, but it ultimately changed the direction of her life. After graduation, she traveled for eight years as a seasonal field technician, working on bird projects in places like Cape May, NJ, Denali National Park, AK, and Maui, HI. She has been an avian ecologist with UMBEL since 2012, managing the banding program but also jumping in to work on any of the other great projects at UMBEL whenever there’s a chance. Tricia enjoys spending time on the river, camping in beautiful places, cooking, knitting, and playing with her two cats.
Please join Tricia Rodriguez and Bitterroot Bird Alliance to learn more about songbird banding on Monday, April 21st in the Education Building adjacent to the Slack Barn at Teller Wildlife Refuge, 1180 Chaffin Lane in Corvallis.

Welcome Back Waterfowl
2025-04-19 10:00 - 13:00 UTC | Lee Metcalf, United States
Mark your calendars: WELCOME BACK WATERFOWL DAY will take place Saturday April 19th from 10 am to 1:00 pm. at the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge north of Stevensville. Bitterroot Bird Alliance members with high quality optical equipment will be available to assist in identifying, learning about and observing waterfowl and other birds that use the refuge wetlands. The scopes will be stationed along Wildfowl Lane on the county road between the ponds west of the Visitor Center. This special event is open to the public.

Beginning Bird Walk at Lee Metcalf NWR
2025-04-19 10:00 - 13:00, 2025-03-15 10:00 - 13:00, 2025-02-15 10:00 - 13:00, 2025-01-18 10:00 - 13:00 UTC
This field trip is brought to you by our friends to the north: Five Valleys Audubon Society.

Join Larry Weeks and Five Valleys Audubon for a beginning bird walk at Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge from 10:00 am-1:00 pm. Meet the field trip leader at the Refuge Visitor’s Center. This field trip involves walking on level paved and unpaved paths.

The group will observe and identify birds on the Visitor Center Ponds, Kenai Trail and in the Wildlife Viewing Area.

There are outdoor toilets at the Visitor’s Center and the Wildlife Viewing Area.

Author Event: Flight Paths with Rebecca Heisman
2025-04-02 17:00 - 18:30 UTC
Bitterroot Bird Alliance, Chapter One Book Store, and MPG Ranch are excited to host a virtual happy hour to discuss the book Flight Paths with science writer Rebecca Heisman on Wednesday April 2 at 5:00 pm. You may recognize Rebecca’s name from outlets like Audubon magazine, Living Bird, Scientific American, the American Bird Conservancy and others. Rebecca describes Flight Paths as follows:
“Did you know that one of the first ways to measure bird migration was counting the silhouettes of night-migrating birds as they passed in front of the full moon? Or that British radar operators during World War II were mystified by “angels” appearing on their screens that turned out to be seabirds in flight? Or that scientists today can tell roughly where a bird spent the winter by analyzing the ratios of hydrogen, carbon, and sulfur isotopes in its feathers? Flight Paths: How a Passionate and Quirky Group of Pioneering Scientists Solved the Mystery of Bird Migration is my first book and tells the incredible scientific story of how we know what we know about bird migration, tackling the methods scientists use to track this amazing natural phenomenon — from the origins of bird banding to the latest in high-throughput genetic sequencing and space-based tracking systems — chapter by chapter.”
We are really lucky to have such a distinguished author discuss her work with us. One reason this book is so special is that it discusses an acoustic monitoring project that took place in the Bitterroot Valley, with many BBA members participating!
You will need to pre-register for this event: Click here to register.
You can order this book from Chapter One; hardback versions are available now, and softback versions can be pre-ordered and will be available March 18th!
There are also multiple copies available within the Montana Library System.

Mission Valley Raptors Field Trip
2025-03-22
Mission Valley Raptors, March 22, 2025
Join BBA’s Alex Kearney for a trip to Mission Valley at the south end of Flathead Lake. While the focus will be raptors of the area, we will discover other early spring arrivals. Alex led the same trip one month ago and saw 39 species! We will meet at two locations to organize carpools (Stevensville and Ignatius) and will return to the Bitterroot Valley by the late afternoon. Bring clothing for short walks from the cars, snacks, lunch, and water. We’ll make several bathroom stops. This trip has a limited number of participants, so please pre-register soon by contacting Alex Kearny at 406-360-2345.

Wild Wings Light Goose Festival
2025-03-21 - 2025-03-23

Monthly Program: Diane Boyd on Wolf Conservation
2025-03-17 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
“Five decades of Wolf Recovery in Montana and the West,” with Diane K. Boyd
Dr. Diane K. Boyd holds a Ph.D. in Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana. She has studied wolves in Montana and far beyond, like in Romania and Italy. She is the author of numerous scientific papers on wolves. She now divides her time between her home in Kalispell and her cabin in the North Fork.
Dr. Boyd will discuss wolf recovery in Montana and the western US, through natural recolonization and reintroductions. She will discuss the ecology of gray wolves and the challenges of humans and wolves coexisting on a human-dominated landscape.
Diane’s book, Woman Among Wolves is available at Chapter One or through their website. The paperback out 8/24/25 is also available for pre-order.
You will need to register for this March 17th Zoom event, using the link below.
You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: Mar 17, 2025 07:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/rT1rf7hQSsOgDehz9w5oIA
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Mission Valley Raptors
2025-02-22
Join BBA’s Alex Kearney and Five Valley Audubon’s Steve Flood for an all-day trip to the Mission Valley at the south end of Flathead Lake. While the focus will be raptors of the area, we will discover other wintering species and perhaps see the very beginning signs of spring migration. We will meet at two locations to organize carpools (Stevensville and St. Ignatius) and will return to the Bitterroot Valley by the late afternoon. Bring clothing for short walks from the cars, snacks, lunch, and water. We’ll make several bathroom stops. Trip has a limited number of participants so please pre register by February 16th by contacting Alex Kearny at 406-360-2345.

Monthly Program: Clark's Nutcrackers with Dr. Diana Tomback
2025-02-17 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
Clark’s Nutcracker: the Bird that Builds Forests, by Dr. Diana Tomback
The presentation will cover Clark’s Nutcrackers as keystone seed dispersers, and thus forest builders, for many conifers across the montane west but with the focus on nutcrackers and whitebark pine. With the decline in whitebark pine, now a federally threatened species, there is a concern about a decline in nutcracker populations. I will include some data from our work on nutcracker forest community use, annual abundance, and home range size in Yellowstone National Park.
Diana F. Tomback is Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of Colorado Denver with expertise in forest ecology and conservation biology. She received a B.A. and M.A. at UCLA and Ph.D. at the University of California Santa Barbara. Author of more than 150 publications and essays, she has conducted research on high elevation and treeline ecosystems, including pioneering studies of the keystone seed disperser Clark’s nutcracker, whitebark pine, and related five-needle white pines in parks and forests across the U.S. and Canada. In 2001, Tomback and colleagues started the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation (WPEF) http://www.whitebarkfound.org, a science-based 501 (c)3 non-profit to advocate for whitebark pine restoration. She was science lead on the National Whitebark Pine Restoration Plan, a multi-agency strategy in partnership with American Forest and advised by the Washington Office of the USDA Forest Service. She now serves on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Whitebark Pine Recovery Team.
You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: Feb 17, 2025 07:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/6DSoVThdT6GzuODT1GPsiQ
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Please register before 6 p.m. on the 17th.

All Day Field Trip to the Mission Valley
2025-02-15 08:00 - 17:00 UTC
This field trip is brought to you by our friends to the north: Five Valleys Audubon Society. Thanks friends!
Join Thomas Kallmeyer and Five Valleys Audubon for an all-day field trip to the Mission Valley to look for resident and overwintering raptors and other birds. Meet at 8:00 am on the West side of the Adams Center parking lot at the U of M or at the Cenex gas station in Ronan at 9:00 am.
This is a driving trip with frequent stops to look for birds. We will spend some time outside the car, so be prepared for cold temperatures, wind and snow or rain.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, please wear a mask if you carpool with people other than your household members and practice social distancing in the field.

Poets in the Root
2025-02-08 13:00 - 15:00 (America/Denver)
Nature in nearly all manifestations has inspired poets since there were poets! And at least since the Roman poet Horace wrote Ars Poetica or the Art of Poetry in 19BC, literature, including poetry, sought to both instruct and delight.
Poets in the ‘Root combines these two aims in an uncommon but simple way. One person reads a poem or part of a poem that uses an element of nature to convey its message. Then, the same or another person gives an explanation (5 minutes max) of some aspect of that nature element. The explanation focuses on nature interpretation, not literary interpretation. Listeners get a bit of poetry and a bit of natural history.
We’ll have refreshments, including coffee, tea, wine, and snacks!
Anyone can volunteer to read poetry and/or offer the nature interpretation. This is a fun way for Master Naturalists to earn credit towards their certification. Free and open to the public.
For participants, even attendees, Chapter One Bookstore in Hamilton is offering 20% off of one book of poetry. Coupons will be available at the event.
To ask questions, please contact Micki Long at mickilong@gmail.com
To register, please visit the Teller Wildlife Refuge website.

Monthly Program- Shorebird Migration in Montana
2025-01-20 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
Monday January 20th, 7 pm
Nocturnal peeps: what night sounds can tell us about shorebird migration in Montana
Shorebirds cover huge distances during spring and fall migration, passing over entire states without touching land. Where they settle, wetlands provide critical resources for refueling. With widespread population declines, understanding all aspects of their life histories is important to conserving populations. Because most shorebirds migrate at night and daytime shorebird identification challenges many birders, we understand very little about their migration through Montana and the Intermountain West. However, shorebirds make unique flight calls while migrating, and we can often identify them to species based on these calls.
Some of you may recall the “Bitterroot Array”- an installation of up to 50 recording units deployed annually from 2013 to 2019 at sites in Montana to study nocturnal bird migration. Though we set most units in the Bitterroot Valley, we had a handful of sites east of the Continental Divide. We focused most effort on fall migration but also had some units recording in the spring. Several Bitterroot Bird Alliance members hosted recording units at their property, as did schools like Florence and Darby High Schools. We also had units at familiar locations in the high country- sites like St Mary’s Peak and Sula Peak.
This effort resulted in over 20 terabytes of acoustic data. Because of the massive amount of data and the difficulty in identifying some western bird species by flight calls, we decided to tackle shorebird calls during the year 2017 for an initial analysis. In this presentation, we’ll walk you through how our Bitterroot data helped train the machine-learning model “Nighthawk” (think “Merlin” for nocturnal flight calls) and how scientists everywhere can use this application to better understand bird migration happening at night. But more importantly, we’ll share some of our results about the shorebirds migrating over our valley- species you might never see or even expect. We’ll also compare the findings from our recordings to the on-the-ground surveys several BBA members performed at Lee Metcalf NWR the past two years as part of the Intermountain West Shorebird Survey.
Kate Stone is a long-time board member of Bitterroot Bird Alliance and an ecologist at the MPG Ranch. Like many people, she struggles with visual shorebird identification in the field because she sees relatively few of them. But as an “ear birder” at heart, she loves the use of acoustic tools to study bird populations.
Please join BBA for this glimpse into the scientific process of innovation and discovery during our January virtual program. You will need to register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/BOsWvJQTTlOzuJX7sDot5g
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Stevensville Christmas Bird Count
2024-12-28 07:30 - 17:00 UTC
Join Bitterroot Bird Alliance for the Stevensville Christmas Bird Count! We will gather at 7:30 at the Forest Service’s Stevensville Ranger District at 88 Main St in Stevensville for location assignments and to form small groups. Birders of all levels are welcome! Questions? Contact compiler Deborah Goslin 406-214-7879.
