The natural environment and history of Kalispell’s West Valley area
by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Nothing shouts out, “It’s Spring! I’m back! quite as loudly as a Yellow-headed Blackbird. But so many things announce the season in their own style. Maybe you’ll find your favorite among the following selection.
Continue Reading →by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Robins are so familiar they stop being a curiosity. That is, until they do something like building their nest where we can look into it whenever we sit on the deck as they did in 2018. The following article includes photos and observations about Robins gathering food for their family in 2021.
Continue Reading →by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
If you drive past the West Valley Ponds at most any time of day from early spring to fall, you can see Swallows performing aerial acrobatics as they scoop up flying insects. We have several species of Swallows that find the West Valley a welcoming summer home with plenty of habitat for nests of various types and flying insects for food to sustain them and their growing offspring. Some of the swallows forage over open fields and meadows with low vegetation. In early spring, I often see all the species at the West Valley Ponds; early in the morning they line up on power lines until the lines sag. It’s a great place to learn what they all look like. Before long, they sort things out and move out to their preferred habitat for nesting.
Continue Reading →by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Over the years, the State has adopted plants, animals, stones, songs, and other artifacts as symbolic of Montana. Here are several that I have collected just because I found them interesting, beautiful, awesome, and wonderful. Only recently have I discovered that these have gained such stature. Scroll down to see if the images inspire a reaction in you!
Continue Reading →by Pat Jaquith
Spring is in full swing! Everywhere you look, something is bursting with color, singing exuberantly, or growing so fast you can almost hear the cells expanding! I could almost hear the bells ringing as I lay in the damp grass looking at a patch of Twin flowers! Here are some of my favorite images taken in the third month of Spring.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
An immature bald eagle gets chased by a pair of red tail hawks when he gets too close to their nest.
by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
A pair of young rival toms try everything they can to attract the attention of a hen. Any hen. One seems interested, for a while.
Continue Reading →by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Busy as a bee! The pace of changes becomes fairly frantic in May. Lawns are “greening up”, perennial plants are showing color giving insects something to come out for; birds are arriving now that there are insects they can feed to growing hatchlings; the soil has warmed up and dried out enough to be worked so farmers are out there early and late… read on for more pictures and notes about this cascade of events!
Continue Reading →by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Click on pictures to enlarge
Winter is melting into summer. Every day is a surprise: will the snow retreat today? or will we experience a fall-back into freezing temperatures and even get some snow? When will we see some green in the in the cold, black soil of fields that were sown last fall? When will we see the first-of-the-year (FOY) Sandhill Crane? Who can guess correctly the day of ice-out on the potholes? How many geese, ducks, swans fit in the one open pool? Are those trees really starting to blossom? Will I be able to leave that heavy coat home? Read further for some of my FOY’s!
Continue Reading →By Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
First day of spring 2021, Pond 3, the Potholes (see Locations). Better have four wheel drive…
by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
There are indeed tyrants living amongst us. You may not be aware of this, because the ones we see here in the valley are rather inconspicuous. I’m specifically referring to two members of the Tyrant Flycatcher family that make their summer homes here–the Eastern Kingbird and the Western Wood-Pewee.
Continue Reading →by Pat Jaquith
Pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Clark’s Nutcrackers are amazingly intelligent birds that have been linked to the Whitebark pine trees that are beleaguered by disease and beetles, but it appears that their resourcefulness is helping them transition to other sources of livelihood.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
The short answer: When it’s an American kestrel. The kestrel, sometimes referred to as a sparrow hawk, is actually the smallest species of falcon in North America, as well as the only type of kestrel found here. (And there is some debate over whether or not the American kestrel is a “true” kestrel.)
Continue Reading →by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Spirited, social, active, acrobatic, gregarious, friendly. Maybe I should add ‘compassionate’- see the story below! Watching these little birds as they bounce along on the airwaves on their way to the bird feeder in the morning is mood-lifting. Always on the alert, head switching back and forth, they sound the first alarm when something of concern approaches.
Continue Reading →by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Certhia americana is the only North American member of the Certhiidae (Treecreeper) family. Thanks to its long, thin tail, it measures 5.25 inches, but it appears to be about the same size as a Pygmy nuthatch, with which it could be confused. “A prisoner of the forest, the creeper seems unable to escape the gravitational pull of the tree trunk on which it creeps, ever upward” writes Bryan Pfeiffer. They live in mature coniferous forests, not wandering far afield.
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