Flocks descend on the Flathead
For a rare few weeks every year, there might be as many waterfowl in the Flathead Valley as there are people. That's certainly been true for the past few weeks, as volunteers and biologists have counted incredible numbers of migrating birds all across the Valley.
Nowhere, though, are you likely to find as many as along the North Shore of Flathead Lake and the Lower Valley area.
"I did a ground survey from Somers about a week and a half ago," said Dan Casey, the Northern Rockies Coordinator for the American Bird Conservancy. "I saw about 20,000 pintails on the North Shore."
Add to that thousands of Canada Geese, Tundra Swans, diving ducks, Mallards and other waterfowl, and Casey said that the Flathead could be home to as many as 40,000 migrating birds during the peak times of the spring.
And this year is no slouch, thanks to plenty of moisture and the ground staying frozen late.
"I haven't seen numbers like this in years," Casey said.
Both Casey and Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks biologist Gael Bissel said the numbers in the Flathead this year are the most they've seen since sometime in the 1980's, when the Valley had a series of wet springs.
Even last year, with its abundant snowpack, didn't bring the moisture to lower elevations that the traveling birds seek.
"Most of these birds have come from the Central Valley of California and are headed to nest on the prairies in Canada," Casey said. "Between the aquatic areas on the north of the lake and the sloughs on the river in Lower Valley, it's a good a good place for a food source and a few days of rest."
On top of the natural features, both Casey and Bissell said the agricultural lands of the Valley are prime spots for large numbers of birds when there's some standing water in the fields.
"Those lands are critically important as feeding areas, especially when there's wheat," Casey said.
To get a better idea of how many birds are moving through the area — which is part of the wide Pacific Flyway, a path huge numbers of birds take from their warmer winter climates — FWP conducted aerial surveys of parts of the Valley to get more accurate counts.
Dwight Bergeron, an FWP biologist, said the survey flight last Friday was hampered by fog over the Valley and light snow over Flathead Lake, but still yielded plenty of data.
"At Church Slough we saw about 1,600 swans," he said. "There were several thousand pintails, too."
Bergeron said Fennon Slough just north of Sportsman's Bridge near Bigfork was also excellent for spotting large numbers of waterfowl.
"I think we're getting pretty spectacular numbers because we're not counting the same birds twice," he said.
Though some species' migration is beginning to tail off, Bergeron said other types of birds have yet to peak in the area as they tend to stay a bit longer at southern latitudes.
"Pintails and swans are dropping a bit," Bergeron said. "But shovelers and scaups are still rising."
Bergeron pointed out that pintails and scaups are both declining species that many bird and wildlife management organizations are expressing interest in managing. Both Greater and Lesser Scaups are moving through the Flathead, though Bergeron said it is the Great Scaups that are the more rare of the two.
Areas like the North Shore are key for those declining species and others on their long spring and fall migrations.
"I don't think there's been a lot of recognition for the North Shore and those fields in the Lower Valley," Bergeron said. "People are starting to realize that they're really important areas."
Recognizing that importance, the U.S. Fish and Game-managed North Shore Waterfowl Production Area as well as the Blasdel Waterfowl Production Area are closed until July 1 to protect migrating and breeding waterfowl. That closure along the North Shore runs from the area's start just off Somers Road all the way across to the mouth of the Flathead River.
But even with some of the prime habitat closed, the spectacle is still something to see, according to Bergeron.
"There is just a phenomenal number of birds coming through."