Bob's Gone Birding: Glacier, Nine-pipe and Bison

Bob's Gone Birding at National Bison Range

Glacier National Park

Lake MacDonald in Glacier National Park

As soon as I opened the door to my hotel room, I felt a foreboding. Cold and wet, that's not my favorite kind of morning. The "breakfast" in the lobby was another disappointment. Coffee and some rolls. I took some coffee and left the rolls in peace. The rain picked up as I drove the last 12 miles to the park. I pulled up to the gate to show my National Parks Senior Pass and was greeted by a ranger.

"You can go ahead. Need a map? And the road is closed about 20 miles ahead. There's a fire on the eastern side, so Logan Pass is closed."

Logan Pass was closed. I had come to Glacier National Park from Florida to bird the Logan Pass area, and it was closed. Still, I had nearly three days to bird one of the world's most beautiful places. There was a lot to do and ground to cover, so I started up the road.

On birding trips far from home, you have to be flexible. Since I couldn't go to the top, I decided to start at the bottom and bird my way up the mountain as far as possible. Maybe I could reach the Loop Trail and hike that, but on the way I would check out the Lake MacDonald area. Good plan.

Song Sparrow near Mineral Creek

Lake MacDonald (above, right) is spectacular. Ten miles long, about a mile wide, and about 500 feet deep, it's as beautiful a lake as you are ever likely to see. But there were no birds on it that I could see. For mile after mile I kept glancing at the lake to no avail. Eventually I reached the lodge and pulled into the parking lot.

I was greeted by swarms of swallows above the lodge. Many were Barn Swallows, but I saw a few bright white foreheads of Cliff Swallows. There may have been others, but looking up at them through binoculars in the rain was a challenge. Then I heard the familiar call of a Swainson's Thrush. It wasn't hard to track it down, and I got some nice looks.

The rain continued to be a problem, so I made an impromptu decision to go into the lodge and have breakfast. Now THAT was a breakfast buffet! The food was excellent including some really tasty breakfast bison-antelope-elk sausage, French toast, 7-grain flapjacks, fresh fruit, and more. I ate like a mad man, and despite the $15 price, I think they lost money on me.

Outside the rain had finally stopped and the day had warmed a bit. I drove farther up the road until I reached a pull-off area. Mineral Creek lined the north side of the road while a small pond graced the south. This looked like a promising spot, and it turned out to be the best birding of the day. First there was a Mountain Chickadee in the pines along the creek. Then a Song Sparrow fed along a pile of logs on the water's edge. That was followed by a brilliant flash of yellow and red - a gorgeous male Western Tanager in all its beauty.

Western Tanager

I walked over to small pond and was immediately rewarded with a blur of brown passing overhead. I tracked it and thought, that's not a swallow. Chimney Swift? I checked the range map; no Chimney Swifts were in Glacier, but there were Vaux's Swifts! I waited patiently and the bird soon came back with several friends - Vaux's Swifts to be sure! I had only seen one other in my life and that was at a distance. This was a very close and satisfying view. It may not have been a lifer, but it felt like one.

I stayed in the area longer and watched Yellow Warblers skitter through dense brush. A Red-naped Sapsucker hung out on a tall snag. Cedar Waxwings seemed to be everywhere, and I never tire of looking at them. A female Mallard and her children made a brief appearance at the back of the pond, and American Robins called raucously as they passed though the area.

This was really fun birding, but there was one downside. I was birding along the only road in this part of the park, and it was jammed with traffic. Red buses, groups of motorcycles, and an endless stream of cars flowed both up and down the road. The noise was constant, and as more and more people decided to stop and check out this pretty little spot, the area began to feel crowded. Eventually I decided to move on up the mountain. The morning was passing and there was still a lot of territory to cover.

Mineral Creek, Glacier National Park

The rest of my time in Glacier National Park lasted more than a day and a half, but unfortunately it is very brief in the telling. I drove all the way to the Weeping Wall, passing one filled parking lot after another. With no room to stop, I kept moving up. Even the parking area at the Big Bend near the Loop Trail was filled. Finally I stopped at the Weeping Wall parking area where I set up my spotting scope and waited patiently as a long line of people looked through it at a white dot that was a Mountain Goat. I saw one bird, but it was too far away to identify. Back down the mountain I stopped again at the site where there were so many birds in the morning. Most were still there, and some Violet-green Swallows had joined the party. As evening approached I turned into a very crowded Apgar Village and was pleased to see a few White-collared Swifts.

My second day in the park was less successful in birding terms, but still very enjoyable. This time both Logan Pass and the Big Bend were closed, so I couldn't hike either the Loop Trail or Logan Pass, and that ended any hope for some real alpine birding. Instead, I hiked along Avalanche Creek where I was thrilled to find two American Dippers. Then I made the three-mile climb to Avalanche Lake, gaining about 500 feet in elevation and dodging an endless crowd of hikers along the way. I had heard there were Bohemian Waxwings and a loon up there. What I found were Canada Geese, a Robin, some Vaux's Swifts, and a single Common Goldeneye. Later I ate some pizza while watching the Columbian Ground Squirrels play on the lawn near the Lodge at Lake MacDonald, but I found no more birds.

Nine-pipe and National Bison Range

Bad photo, but great bird - Clark's Grebe!

In two full days of birding in Glacier, I found only 19 species. Yes, there were some really great birds, but very few of them. So instead of returning to Glacier where the fire still had the road closed, I decided to go with Plan B. I left Columbia Falls and turned south where I planned to search Nine-pipe NWR for some waterfowl and then take the wildlife drive at National Bison Range.

Before I even reached Nine-pipe, I saw a large pond on the west side of the road. I pulled off across the street into a parking area with a historical marker describing the Mission Mountains. Beyond it was a smaller pond that was teeming with life. Cedar Waxwings and Cliff Swallows decorated the sky while Spotted Sandpipers, Killdeers, Black-necked Stilts, Greater Yellowlegs and a Long-billed Dowitcher grazed along the edge of the water. On the pond were a Northern Shoveler, several American Coots and a group of what I believe were Lesser Scaup. Across the highway there was more to be seen, but the distance made identifications difficult. I saw Red-winged Blackbirds and a couple of Trumpeter Swans.

An American Bison

The ponds and potholes in Nine-pipe were equally productive. Eastern Kingbirds seemed to be everywhere. The large lake at the dam held hundreds of birds, but again distances and heat waves made viewing a challenge. I saw one bird that really, really looked like a Red-breasted Merganser. but range maps suggest that the species shouldn't be in the area. After some thought, my best guess is that it was a female Common Merganser and the bill only appeared to be longer in the shimmering heat. There were a few Ruddy Ducks, lots of Canada Geese, and a few red-necked Grebes. Then I saw two white birds swimming comparatively close to the dam. I put my scope on one and saw a Western Grebe. Excellent ... but not the grebe I was hoping for. I swung to the other bird and waited until it turned its profile to me. And there, entirely surrounded by white, was the brilliant red eye of a Clark's Grebe - a lifer and one of the prime targets of the trip. I celebrated briefly, then got the scope back on the bird and watched it for a while. Then I remembered I had a camera! As the bird increased its distance I tried several times to get that diagnostic eye-in-the-white photo. The shot I got wasn't the best, but it will do!

An elk taking a sip of water

Next I was on to National Bison Range. While the birding wasn't spectacular, the landscape and the bison herds were. Teddy Roosevelt was instrumental in establishing the park in 1908, and today the herd numbers close to 500. It's managed through an annual roundup in which surplus animals are sold live - not hunted and killed. Except in a few well-marked places, it is forbidden - and very unwise - to wander away from your car along the Red Sleep Mountain drive. So nearly all of the birding was through car windows. Still, I saw Western Meadowlark, Eastern Kingbird, Western Wood-Pewee, Warbling Vireo, Black-capped Chickadee, and American Kestrel. Along one short trail I saw Lewis's and Downy Woodpeckers, Northern Flicker and Red-tailed Hawk. Back in the car, I added Mountain Bluebird and Swainson's Thrush to the day's total. There was also a real treat along Mission Creek where deer and elk walked in the clear, cold water.

Finally I left the park to make the long, long trek to Salmon, Idaho, crossing Chief Joseph Pass in the dark on yet another white-knuckle drive. As I drove, I reflected on the day. I had 38 species including one lifer. This was exactly double the number I had in two days in Glacier. And I had seen herds of 50-60 bison grazing on the hillsides. I had no idea what the Salmon area had to offer, but I wondered if it could possibly top this day?

In a word, yes!