Outdoor news

Bird walk

Flathead Audubon's first field trip of 2012 will be a "Winter wander in the Mission Valley" on Sunday, Jan. 8. In years past, birders have seen snow buntings, a variety of hawks, several owl species, a falcon or two and even an American robin. Participants will meet at the Park ‘n' Ride at the intersection of U.S. 93 and Montana 82 near Somers at 8 a.m. For more information, call Leslie Kehoe evenings at 837-04467.

Park birding

Flathead Audubon and wildlife biologist Steve Gniadek will lead a 2-3 hour birding trip around the Apgar area of Glacier National Park on cross-country skis or snowshoes on Saturday, Jan. 14. Weather permitting, participants may see American dippers, bald eagles, wintering waterfowl and a rare northern hawk owl, along with tracks of woodpeckers, mountain chickadees, nuthatches and other forest birds. Meet at the Apgar Visitor Center at 9 a.m. For more information, call Gniadek at 892-7406.

Park snowshoeing

Glacier National Park will host its Winter Signs Snowshoe Walks every Saturday and Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. beginning on Winter Trails Day, Jan. 7. The free two-hour, ranger-led snowshoe walks will continue through March 18. The walks begin and conclude at the Apgar Visitor Center, where snowshoes can be rented for a nominal fee. There is no group size limit and no reservations are taken. For more information, call 888-7939 on weekends between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The snowshoe walks are sponsored by the Glacier National Park Fund. For more information about the fund, visit online at http://glaciernationalparkfund.org.

Park talk

Guide and wrangler Tom Nelesen will present a free virtual trail ride through Glacier National Park during the next meeting of Flathead Audubon on Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. in The Summit, in Kalispell. In "A look back at Glacier's dude ranch days," Nelesen will take the audience back to when the Great Northern Railway was developing the "American Alps" as a wilderness playground.

Museum talk

Darris Flanagan, a local historian, will talk about trails and mountain passes used by the Kutenai Indians of Northwest Montana and Southeastern British Columbia at The Museum at Central School, in Kalispell, on Sunday, Jan. 15, at 2:30 p.m. Tickets for all four lectures in the John White lecture series are $20 or $6 for any single event for Northwest Montana Historical Society members or $30 and $9 for general public, available at the museum, located at 124 Second Avenue East, in Kalispell. For more information, call 756-8381.