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Not a hunting season, but a season to admire Montana’s snakes for what they are: a vital cog in the natural world that serves an important purpose even if some of us suffer the heebie-jeebies at the mere thought of a snake. Last week while out for a morning jog, I passed a gopher snake (our subspecies is the bull snake) lying motionless and camouflaged on a bed of gravel next to the trail. No telling how many people walked or ran by the reptile without noticing it. It was soaking in the morning sun, warming up its body temperature. If it w...
There is something about songbirds this time of year that can catch the ear, eye and heart of even the most preoccupied person. It doesn't matter where: mountain tops, middle of the prairie, downtown, uptown. It doesn't matter what you call them: tweety birds, little brown jobs, neotropical migrants. Songbirds are nesting, raising young and – at least the males – singing their blessed little hearts out. Sure a dedicated birder with keen hearing can tell the difference between the songs of a sav...
One day it’s warm and sunny, the next day cold and snowy. Welcome to that time on the calendar between winter and spring, though spring really doesn’t seem to hit us some years till May. In the animal kingdom, several species ignore the calendar and do their thing now to ensure the future of their kind. The great horned owl is hooting about now, looking for the right mate. That hoot-hoot-hoot you heard last night or just before dawn is the mating ritual of the great horned owl. After mating, the owls will continue to hoot, not so much to procla...
It's winter. Nights are long, often cold. Days are short, sometimes with a sun that acts like it doesn't want to come out and play. Depending on our disposition and age, we might smile or growl about the cold and snow. But if we go outside for any length of time we dress for the weather. Birds that stay here, that do not migrate, have evolved some ingenious ways to dress for the weather, to stay alive. Of all the creatures on this planet, only birds have feathers. They can range from about...
