The natural environment and history of Kalispell’s West Valley area
by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
There’s a bite of cold in that wind and snow on the mountains. Back roads slip from ice to mud in a single step. Winter visitors wing over snow-bent grasses as if to say “Farewell!” and Pintails fill the open water still enclosed by ice. FOY (First-of-the-Year) birds, flowers, songs meet with excitement. In sheltered places, the sun warms the ground and our faces. Let’s check it out!
Continue Reading →by Dick Walker
dickwalker2009@hotmail.com
walker photography.smugmug.com
I count cranes, specifically on six sections of grain and hay fields and ponds in the west valley. I go every day, late morning, 365 days a year unless I’m gone. Some people go to the gym, some for coffee with friends, some go to work. (More images of Dick’s photography are viewable on this companion article on our web site.)
by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
October 21, 2020 1:16 p.m. As I drove along West Valley Drive, the sun made a quick exit behind dark clouds, and I made a turn toward the ponds along Clark Road and West Springcreek Road to observe the dramatic change.
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
The Dec 24 2020 edition of the Daily Interlake has a useful downloadable supplement (by Scott Heisel of the Lake County Leader) on winter birding day trips in the Flathead Valley and beyond. It’s a little difficult to locate, so if you missed the print edition, here is a PDF file of the article.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
One of the most visually striking waterfowl you might encounter in the valley is the hooded merganser. Both males and females have distinct crests which they can raise and lower. The males are particularly beautifully marked, especially in breeding season.
Continue Reading →by Laura Katzman, Land Protection Specialist, Flathead Land Trust
lkatzman@flatheadlandtrust.org
Fall bird migration is in full swing in the West Valley. Last week 800 snow geese, 1,000 Canada geese, 150 sandhill cranes and hundreds of ducks were seen at the West Valley Wildlife Viewing area. With the cold weather over the weekend the West Valley Wetland ponds have become mostly ice-covered, but yesterday hundreds of snow geese and a couple hundred sandhill cranes were seen feeding in the nearby fields so birds still can be seen in the area.
Continue Reading →by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Throughout the fall, as birds start moving from nesting sites toward warmer climates and more plentiful food sources, they teach us how they value our valley as many species gather in the harvested fields and in and around the several potholes for rest, food, and perhaps reunions before moving on.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
The fall migration season in the valley is a busy time for waterfowl observers. Sandhill cranes, Canada geese, snow geese, and various others ducks and waterfowl arrive in great numbers, stopping in valley ponds and fields to fuel up for their journey south. Arriving in somewhat smaller numbers are the tundra swans, and it’s always a treat to encounter them en masse. But unlike geese and cranes, they’re not typically as vociferous. Yesterday was an exception.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
Northern shovelers are common inhabitants of our local wetlands and marshes during the spring and summer, where they mate and nest. They’re gorgeous birds, the males being easily recognizable by their bright green head, yellow eyes, chestnut and white bodies, black back, and most prominently their long, broad bills. It’s these oversized bills that give them their name, and they are prominent on both males and females.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
In every class, there is a class clown. If you put all ducks into a classroom, that role would probably be filled by the ruddy duck. I don’t know of any duck that is more amusing to watch.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
Both male and female coots sharing parenting responsibilities for their brood. However, they are not notoriously good parents, at least in one sense of the term. Coots usually hatch 7-9 chicks, but the parents–by some pretty draconian means–like to get that number down to a more feedable 3 or 4. How they do it is…not pretty.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
Kalispell’s West Valley is situated toward the northern end of the breeding range of the beautiful white faced ibis. The spring migration season of 2020 was witness to an unusually large number of these birds making their presence known in the valley. We’ve had multiple sightings of more than 50 birds at once at the Potholes and the West Valley Wildlife Viewing area (see Locations), and fewer at Bowser Lake in the Pig Farm state trust land area.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
West Valley is home for a huge variety of migratory and resident ducks and other waterfowl. While some waterfowl are waders (e.g., sandhill cranes, great blue herons, dowitchers) or skimmers (none around here, although some gulls do this occasionally), ducks can be broadly separated into two groups based on how they obtain food: dabblers and divers.
Continue Reading → by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Bowser Lake is a shallow lake in a bentonite depression in the western part of Pig Farm; with only meltwater or rain to fill it, it evaporates rapidly, but it attracts an interesting variety of birds while it has water.
Continue Reading →