Wild With Nature

Estoy con algunas personas, andando despacio, cuando vemos un colibrí cabeza roja haciendo algo que me sorprende. Ella se cierne en el aire cerca de un extendido parche enredado de zarzas himalayanas cerca del borde del agua. Mientras la miramos, ella se mueve metódicamente de una hoja a la siguiente, sondando los bordes de las partes inferiores con su pico delgado. Los colibríes son bien conocido...

When you compare the birds of a manicured lawn with those that inhabit a grove of chokecherries, the difference is stark. The lawn might support a few starlings and robins. Perhaps, late in spring migration, a handful of desperate Swainson’s thrushes might stop by. The chokecherries, on the other hand, support an intricate community of life, from two-tailed swallowtail butterflies to dozens of spe...

Cuando comparas las aves de un césped cortado con las que viven en un parche de capulines ( Prunus virginiana ), la diferencia es fuerte. Talvez el césped mantendría a unos estorninos pintos ( Sturnus vulgaris ) y mirlos primavera ( Turdus migratorius ). Es posible que, al final de la migración primaveral, unos desesperados zorzales de anteojos ( Catharus ustulatus ) pudieran pasar por ahí. Los ca...

It’s hard to deny that Lewis’s woodpeckers ( Melanerpes lewis ) are stunning birds. Seen in good light, their glossy green backs contrast with their pinkish bellies. An ashy gray collar separates the red-tinged head from the iridescent back. But the story of Lewis’s woodpeckers isn’t just a tale of a beautiful, relatively uncommon bird of the Rocky Mountains. There’s much more going on here than m...

Es difícil negar que los carpinteros de Lewis ( Melanerpes lewis ) son aves espectaculares. Cuando se los ve en buena iluminación, sus espaldas verdes lustrosas contrastan con sus vientres rosados. Un collar de gris pálido separa la cabeza teñida de rojo de la espalda iridiscente. Pero la historia de los carpinteros de Lewis no se trata solamente de un cuento de un ave hermosa y relativamente rara...

Pastures, hayfields, and streams: the area around Drummond, MT looks like a great place for winter hawks. But few of them are here. Why?

Pasturas, campos y arroyos: el entorno de Drummond, MT, EU parece un buen lugar para aguilillas invernales. Pero sólo hay pocas acá. ¿Por qué?

"If you see a porcupine, it's like finding a unicorn," biologist Jessy Coltrane told me. She was referring to the part of Montana west of the Continental Divide, where these once-common rodents have nearly disappeared. This week's story is all about Montana's porcupines. Four winters ago, I had a series of remarkable experiences with one particular porcupine near Helena. Read about this one gnawin...

"Si ves un puercoespín, es como encontrar un unicornio," me dijo la bióloga Jessy Coltrane. Se refería a la parte de Montana al oeste de la Divisoria Continental, donde estos roedores previamente comunes casi han desaparecido. Esta historia trata sobre los puercoespines de Montana. Hace cuatro inviernos, tuve una serie de experiencias extraordinarias con cierto puercoespín cerca de Helena. Lee sob...

The prairie falcon perches on a power pole in the light rain drizzle, tearing apart a vole. Its talons glow faintly, a rich yellow against the gray sky. The electrical lines hiss faintly in the rain. Today I’m with avid birder and acclaimed children’s book author Sneed Collard. We’re driving slowly through western Montana’s Mission Valley, looking for birds in the snow-covered fields. Nineteen tho...

El halcón mexicano ( Falco mexicanus ) se posa en un poste de electricidad en la llovizna ligera, desgarrando un topillo. Sus garras brillan débilmente, un amarillo vivo contra el cielo gris. Los cables de luz sisean suavemente con la lluvia. Hoy estoy con Sneed Collard, un pajarero ávido y escritor alabado de libros para niños. Estamos manejando despacio por el Valle Misión del occidente de Monta...

“They make it their profession to blend in,” says Beth Mendelsohn. She’s talking about long-eared owls – and specifically, the male long-eared owl who is peering down from the Russian-olive behind us. His posture is upright, his earlike feather tufts partially raised. Beth is a research biologist with the Owl Research Institute (ORI), a nonprofit based in Charlo, Montana. This morning we’re out wi...

“Lo hacen su profesión camuflarse,” dice Beth Mendelsohn. Está hablando de los búhos cara canela ( Asio otus ) – y en concreto, el búho cara canela varón quien está mirándonos desde un árbol del paraíso detrás de nosotros. Tiene una postura erguida. Sus penachos, que se parecen a ojos (pero realmente no los son), son parcialmente levantados. Beth es bióloga investigativa quien trabaja para el Inst...

How do you count up overwintering hawks and eagles? And, just as importantly, who cares?  Raptors are hunters. Our smaller birds mostly feed on insects, seeds, and fruits: foods that are often abundant on a local scale. But raptors hunt animals. Depending on the species, their diets may include deer mice, voles, ground squirrels, jackrabbits, trout, suckers, sparrows, and ducks. And for this...

Una rodaja fina de la luna menguante cuelga en un cielo parcialmente nublado esta mañana. La curva azul de montañas que nos rodea sigue en sombra. Estoy con Stephen Turner, un pajarero local. Estamos manejando despacio por el valle, haciendo un circuito de 71 millas entre álamos, pasturas, campos agrícolas y zonas residenciales. Nuestra meta es directa, pero de ninguna manera es fácil. Queremos co...

A soft gray tuft of feathers, a spot of blood along the trail... a death has occurred near Hauser Dam. What happened here?

Encontramos una muerte misteriosa, un ave en la nieve cerca del Río Missouri. ¿Qué es? Y ¿qué nos pueda enseñar?

The nest sits in the middle of the hawthorn in front of us, silent and inscrutable. We contemplate it, tucked securely among thorny branches, at the edge of a frozen slough near the Bitterroot River. Perhaps it contemplates us, too. It’s a flat, mossy cup, larger than my two fists. Our question today is simple enough: whose nest is this? But if we hope to find an answer, we’ll have to use all our...

Missoula, Montana's LaValle Creek is an area with a diverse mix of habitats, from grassland and hawthorn thickets to aspen groves and conifer forest. And for four years now, Steve Flood has been counting winter birds in this area as part of the Missoula Christmas Bird Count. This year, I went with him. This story is about the birds we found - and those we didn't find. And it's also about being par...

Western Montana's Swan Valley is wild and forested. It's also the location of one of over 2600 Christmas Bird Counts that take place across Canada, the United States, and Latin America each winter. This is the story of this wintry, forested Christmas Bird Count. It's a story of chickadees, golden-crowned kinglets, and red-breasted nuthatches: common winter birds in the conifer forest. But it's als...

Once the site of a gravel quarry, Missoula, Montana's Fort Missoula Ponds have become a magnet for ducks, shorebirds, and many other creatures. In fact, birders have recorded a whopping 231 species of birds here over the past few years. In December, the bird activity is much quieter than it would be during the warm season. Nevertheless, it's a chance to see what’s out here in the cold and to remem...

Even as the Hellgate wind blasts Missoula, MT with its icy breath, we spot goldeneyes & mergansers along the river on this winter walk with Five Valleys Audubon Society. This is part of the "town-bound birding series" - a set of short monthly walks aiming to make the wonder of our local birds accessible to all.

It turns out that a stream doesn't just end at its banks. It continues underground: a slow-moving world of water, percolating through the sands and gravels under our feet. This story is about groundwater and its intimate relationship with Rattlesnake Creek, an important stream near Missoula, MT. But these basic concepts about groundwater and its connection to streams apply just about anywhere.

The ponds and marshes at Lee Metcalf NWR, in Montana's Bitterroot Valley, were mostly frozen on this frigid day in late November. But nevertheless, we found a variety of waterfowl, raptors, and smaller birds around this extensive wetland complex. This is the story of another day in the field with the Montana Natural History Center. It's a story about habitat and the resilience of our winter birds.

Missoula, Montana's Greenough Park is an urban natural space near the edge of the city: an interesting mix of wild and domesticated, native plants and garden escapes. In mid-November, I joined a group of naturalists, led by Ser Anderson of the Montana Natural History Center, in a wintry "naturalist saunter" through the park. We found a variety of fall and winter fruits, checked out a rock outcrop...