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Trout Fishing In Montana - A Perfect Day

By: Marlene Affeld

Montana is blessed with water; gin-clear cold water. Fed from glaciers, winter snowpack and deep mountain springs, Montana’s pristine chilly waters are a perfect habitat for trout. Rainbow, Lake, Cutthroat, Brown and Brook Trout thrive to the delight of bears and anglers.

Trout depend on cold water to survive. Our waters are cold, trout flourish in Montana. Brook Trout are the easiest to catch but the most sensitive to water temperature; their population begins to diminish in waters that exceed 68 degrees F., Montana’s other species of trout are comfortable at slightly warmer temps. Many fishermen feel that the wary Brown Trout is the most difficult to catch.

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Beavers In Montana

By: Marlene Affeld

 

Have you ever seen a 100 pound wet rat? The first time I spotted a large male beaver on Cedar Creek, (Mineral County, Montana) that’s exactly what I thought it was. I looked again, perhaps the gangly creature waddling down the bank was a bear cub. My next thought was, where is Mama Bear? 

 

Meeting the beaver was a unique and rather unsettling experience. Movies and cartoons have often portrayed beavers as industrious, cheeky and tenacious. Beavers are all of that, however; in the wild they are also just plain ugly.

 

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Handsome Fish Hunters - Osprey In Montana

By: Marlene Affeld

Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus), when hunting on the wing, seem to glide effortlessly over the water. Smaller than an eagle, an osprey is still an impressive raptor. With wingspans of up to 72 inches and up to 24 inches in length and a weight of almost 5 pounds, the osprey is a wonderful addition to Montana’s rich abundance of bird life. 

Handsome fish hunters, the osprey has a distinctive white head and belly with rich, dark brown feathers gracing its back. The under side of the wings are also snow-white except for dark patches and barred-brown flight feathers. Ospreys vocalize with a series of piercing whistles and chirps that become more intense if the nest is approached. Osprey nest just about anywhere in close proximity to water that provides safety and an abundance of food.

 

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Thinking of Spring

It's bitter cold today in Montana. The roads and walkways are thick with ice and the overcast gray of the day has me wishing for Spring. 
I especially enjoy the return of the summer birds. It is a delight to awaken to the sound of their song. So I am thinking of adding some more bird houses and have been doing a bit of online research that I wanted to share with you, my readers. Let's think Spring and please leave your comments and suggestions for attracting more birds to our backyards. I look forward to hearing from you.

Nestbox Monitoring: Why and How

Drs. Foster & Smith Educational Staff 

Cavity-nesting birds depend heavily upon man-made nestboxes these days. The reasons are many, but among them is increased competition for natural cavities. The introduction of aggressive non-native species such as house sparrows and starlings as well as urban sprawl and development have reduced the number of available natural cavities.   Our growing interest in the use of nestboxes helps seasonal species like bluebirds, purple martins, wrens, and tree swallows tremendously. However, if we place a man-made nestbox, there are many reasons we need to monitor and maintain it, especially during nesting season.

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Think Spring - Butterflies & Garden Delights

Hoary Marmots of Montana

By: Marlene Affeld

 

The Hoary Marmot, largest of the North American sciurid rodents, is a fascinating, charismatic animal. Marmot population biology, their impact on the ecosystem, physiology and behavior is studied world wide. The only holiday in the United States to be named after an animal, is named for a marmot - Groundhog’s Day. Closely related to tree squirrels, prairie dogs and groundhogs, hoary marmots are the largest ground dwelling squirrels in the world. 

Sociable, communicative and entertaining to observe, marmots often grow to the size of a large domestic house cat. 

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Avalanche Danger

By: Marlene Affeld

Have you ever witnessed an avalanche? They are awesome, terrifying and among the greatest dangers to human life that one may encounter in the back country. In the United States, over the past ten years there has been an average of 25 avalanche fatalities per year. The majority of avalanches affecting people are triggered by people. Skiers, snowmobilers and everyone that travels in avalanche-prone areas should remain vigilant and aware.

An avalanche is a rapid and abrupt mass flow of snow, generally mixed with water and air that thunders down the mountainside, burying anything in its pathway. Typically avalanches are caused by an over-burden of snowpack that is too massive and unstable for the slope that supports it. As an avalanche crashes down the mountain it will also tear loose trees, rocks and boulders that become part of the devastating barrage.

It is extremely dangerous in the mountains when a period of very cold weather is followed by a chinook or sudden warming trend or when rain is falling on snow pack. Free flowing water in the snow pack lubricates weak or fragile layers of the snow and often massive avalanches result. Like intense snowstorms, this is a very dangerous time to be traveling in the mountains.

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Indian Tribes of Montana - A Proud Heritage

By: Marlene Affeld

The first people to inhabit the area now known as Montana were members of nomadic tribes that supple-mented their diets with native plants and sustained their existence by hunting buffalo and other mammals. Following the buffalo herds, these first people crossed the Bering Strait from Asia approximately 12,000 years ago and over time migrated southward. Archaeologists have verified evidence of a thriving tribal culture established west of the Rocky Mountains more than 9,000 years ago.

Before the white man came west, Indian people roamed freely across this great land, following the gigantic buffalo herds that once covered the plains. For hundreds of years the native peoples relied on the buffalo for food, clothing and shelter. The bison was revered among the Indian Tribes as a bountiful gift from the Creator and were thus hunted with reverence and respect.

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Native American Indian Resources

Montana's Mountain Lions

By: Marlene Affeld

Cougars or mountain lions, also known as pumas, are large, powerful and aggressive predators. Found throughout Montana, a large male may weigh 130-190 pounds while females average 90-130 pounds. Stretching up to nine feet, nose to the tip of their tail, cougars are tawny colored with a dark tip at the end of the tail. Young cubs have spots which slowly fade. A cougar has a lifespan of up to 20 years.

Cougars were first hunted and killed for a bounty in Montana beginning in 1879. In 1971 the Montana legislature classified the cougar as a game animal and as a result lions have regained much of their previous historical distribution in the mountains of Montana. Prior to the arrival of the white man, mountain lions were at one time the most widely distributed land mammal in the western hemisphere ranging from northern Canada to the southern most tip of South America. Now they are found mainly in the western United States, with a strong population in northwestern Montana. 

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Montana's Wild Turkeys

By: Marlene Affeld

Watching a flock of wild turkey move across a Montana meadow is a fine sight. They forage, yelp and gobble, oblivious to the plight of millions of their domesticated brothers doomed to grace holiday tables. If you are a wild turkey living in Montana, it is highly unlikely that you will ever wind up in the oven.

Once non-existent, Montana’s wild turkey population is flourishing. Distinguished from other birds by their impressive size, iridescent bronze-colored plumage and naked bluish head, wild turkeys are a prized addition to the state’s diverse upland game bird population. 

Although the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopova) is native to North America and was an important staple in the Native Indian diet across most of America, it is only in the last fifty years that the succulent bird could be found in Montana.

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