Week Thirty-four concluded with a few spectacular days spent in Wyoming, picking up three Lifers and a couple first-of-year birds. My time birding in southeast and north-central Wyoming was pretty spectacular, so it shouldn’t be taking lightly when I say that the best of my time in The Cowboy State had yet to come.
Kicking off the week at the house of Dalton Spencer, where I’d crashed Sunday night, I hit the road headed west, soon entering the Bighorn National Forest. I made one short stop in the mountains at Sibley Lake before continuing on, and as I got higher up into the mountains and they opened up into fields I spotted my Wyoming-first Northern Harrier, as well as my lifer* (though I don’t actually keep a mammal life list) Moose, when I spotted both a bull and cow Moose.
Once I finished passing through the mountains I continued on westwards to the town of Cody – the last stop of civilization on the way to the legendary Yellowstone National Park. I spent the rest of Monday DoorDashing and getting a bit of work done in my laptop after a stop at the Beck and Alkali Lakes, where I added Red-necked Phalarope, California Gull, Caspian Tern, Forster’s Tern, White-faced Ibis, and American White Pelican to my Wyoming list.
On Tuesday morning, after having done some prep the previous evening including some scouting and picking up a can of bear spray, I began making my way towards Yellowstone National Park, The Place of Hot Waters. Before I even arrived at the park I spotted only my third Ruffed Grouse of the year along the side of the road, and soon I found myself entering one of the country’s flagship national parks. Soon after entering the park I spotted Clark’s Nutcracker and a handful of other birds, and then made my first stop at Sylvan Lake, where I set up shop at a picnic table and made myself some food. While I waited for my food to cook I spotted a few social Canada Jays as well as a Steller’s Jay calling from a nearby tree, as well as some Common Mergansers on the water.
Once I was done eating I moved farther into the park, soon arriving at Lake Yellowstone where I stopped to scan the water first along Sedge Bay then from the Mary Bay Picnic Area. Out on the water there was a large variety of ducks, including not only boatloads of Barrow’s Goldeneye but also my Wyoming-first Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, and Bufflehead as well as Green-winged Teal, Common Merganser, and Ruddy Duck. I made one more quick stop at the Fishing Bridge Vistor’s Center where I watched a Common Raven doing the “popping calls” and spotted a few Cliff Swallows, and then the birding for the day ramped up.
One bird that had eluded me back in the winter and along the Atlantic that, while I wasn’t at all worried about missing entirely, I was beginning to be bother by having missed was Harlequin Duck. Fortunately for me, Yellowstone’s LeHardy Rapids there is a small colony of Harlequins who afforded me fantastic views, with the 17 individuals present accounting for just over half of all the Harlequins I’ve ever seen. Harlequins are possibly my favorite duck in North America and while the birds at LeHardy weren’t in breeding plumage they still gave among the best views I’ve ever had of the hardy little sea ducks.
My next stop after LeHardy was less birding focus, though there were some Brewer’s Blackbirds hanging around the parking lot of the Mud Volcano, which was a very cool spring of, as the name suggests, hot mud. Hayden Valley was incredibly scenic, plus yielded me a bunch of new Wyoming birds in Trumpeter Swan, Sandhill Crane, Cooper’s Hawk, and American Pipit – plus a ton of American Pronghorn and American Bison. There weren’t a ton of birds in the Tower Roosevelt or Little America areas, but eventually I arrived at my “main” destination for the afternoon.
Soon after arriving at Slough Creek I spotted a couple great birds in Green-tailed Towhee and Brewer’s Sparrow, but and farther up the trail I picked up a Williamson’s Sapsucker – though those birds all paled in comparison to the species they sandwiched: a small group of my Lifer Dusky Grouse. The group of grouse gave fantastic views and I spent a good deal of time watching them working their way across the trail and up the nearby hill. I noticed one bird – presumably the mother – stayed perched up on an elevated position keeping watch over the rest of the brood, though this sentry didn’t seem to consider me a threat as I took photos from just a half-dozen feet away.
After Slough Creek I began to work my way back towards the exit of Yellowstone to head back to Cody, but along the way there was another fantastic bird to bless me. Much like Harlequin Duck this was a species I hadn’t been too concerned about missing on the year but was frustrated I’d not yet snagged one, but the American Goshawk that flew over me as I drove down Grand Loop Road remedied that frustration. The rest of Tuesday was spent running DoorDash orders back in Cody.
On Wednesday I headed back to Yellowstone, but honestly I don’t have much to say about the birding on the day. I tried to track down a (hopefully) continuing Red-necked Grebe at the Madison Canyon turnout trail up to Harlequin Lake, but had no such luck. I also revisited a few of my stops from yesterday including Sylvan Lake and scoping Yellowstone Lake, but didn’t add a single new Wyoming bird on the entire day. The highlight of the day, though, came on a non-birding front as I paid a visit to Old Faithful, watching the geyser erupt right on schedule.
Thursday also didn’t have much noteworthy birding, as the day was primarily spent working on my laptop and running DoorDash orders, though I did have plans to meet with Amy Phillips and Corey Anco of The Draper Natural History Museum. Unfortunately as the day turned to a rainy one we bailed on those birding plans, though I did meet them at The Draper and spent quite a while chatting with them about birds, birding, and my adventures so far this year. After our conversation I did a bit of birding by car through the town of Cody just to get an eBird checklist in for the day, and then spent the evening running some more DoorDash orders.
On Friday, after an uneventful past couple days of birding, I hit the road headed north towards Montana, leaving Wyoming at 146 species and preparing to get started on my 45th state this year. Shortly after crossing the state lines I kicked off the day along the Clark Fork of the Yellowstone River, where I quickly began building up my state list for Big Sky Country with a handful of common birds including Yellow Warbler, Red-winged Blackbird, Barn Swallow, Eastern Kingbird and Northern Flicker.
Not much later I made a loop off of Montana 72 through South Dry Creek Road, Papez Road, and North Dry Creek Road – a detour that paid dividends with pickups such as Northern Shoveler, Canvasback, Redhead, Ruddy Duck, Gray Partridge, Eared Grebe, Ferruginous Hawk, American Kestrel, Western Wood-Pewee, Sage Thrasher, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, and Western Meadowlark. The day would then be effectively closed out with a stop at the Clark Fark Yellowstone Fishing Access Site, where after picking up American Wigeon, Spotted Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Bald Eagle, and Common Yellowthroat I made my way to Billings to first prep for and then sit down and record an episode of the Badgerland Birding Podcast with Derek Sallmann. This first day in Montana, despite being relatively light birding, propelled me over halfway to 100 with 52 species on the morning and early-afternoon.
On Saturday I did a bit of birding around Billings in the morning with stops at the Shiloh Conservation Area and the Billings Waterfront Park, with the two stops adding Rock Pigeon, Ring-billed Gull, Blue Jay, Cliff Swallow, Lark Sparrow, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Common Merganser, Caspian Tern, Great Blue Heron, American White Pelican, Red-eyed Vireo, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, American Redstart, Wilson’s Warbler, and Black-headed Grosbeak to my Montana list.
From there I hit the road headed northwest out of town, soon finding myself at Eastlick Road and its nearby Prairie Dog Town, between which I added Chestnut-collared Longspur, Burrowing Owl, Say’s Phoebe, and Horned Lark. The rest of the day’s birding them came at the Big Lake Wildlife Management Area, which was packed full of ducks and shorebirds. Among the mix were Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Gadwall, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Marbled Godwit, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson’s Phalarope, Red-necked Phalarope, Stilt Sandpiper, Baird’s Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Franklin’s Gull, White-faced Ibis, Northern Harrier, Prairie Falcon, Loggerhead Shrike, and Lark Bunting — all of which were new for my Montana list and brought me to 95 species, easily within striking distance of The Century Mark with most of the day ahead of me.
The 100 species mark was not yet to come on Saturday, however, as the 30th marked the return of the college football season. For anyone unaware I am a huge time CFB junkie, particularly when it comes to the Michigan Wolverines, and while I hadn’t planned to waste so much of the day watching football I found myself glued to my phone watching Ohio State vs Texas, Alabama vs Florida State, and of course my Michigan Wolverines kicking off the season versus my soon-to-be home team New Mexico Lobos.
On Sunday, I was presented with some bad news. Last week’s post I opened the post talking about the $5300 in needed car repairs, and it was on on Sunday that this situation was made aware to me. I dropped my car off early at the Bozeman, MT Firestone to get my brakes checked out as well as a suspected CV Joint issue looked at, and not only were both of those issued confirmed but it was also brought to my attention that my rear wheel bearings were in dire need of replacement as well my control arm bushing and more. These larger issues plus things like a needed oil change and some smaller issues all combined for a whopping ~$5,300 worth of needed repairs. To put into perspective the damage these needed repairs would do, if not for the GoFundMe that I’d created a few days earlier this expense would have left me $142 in my bank account plus a maxed-out credit card. Thankfully, entirely as a result of the generosity of those of you who have offered me support both through the aforementioned GoFundMe as well as through other means, I think I might just be able to manage, though the budget is going to be incredibly tight. The repairs took much longer than originally expected and by the time I got my car back dusk was almost upon me, but I headed to the nearby Glen Lake Rotary Park Trails where I managed to push past The Century Mark with Eurasian Collared-Dove, Osprey, Belted Kingfisher, Least Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, American Crow, Veery, and Swainson’s Thrush.
Next week’s post might be out a day or two late, but no later than Friday afternoon and from this point forward I am committing to never falling behind as far as I have been for weeks now. The start of September will see me work my way north from Bozeman up to Glaciar National Park, where I will have one of the best days of birding I’ve ever had, before heading back to Bozeman to spend another day with my car in the shop and some time getting caught up on this blog and my Patreon Daily Notes.
Happy Birding!
eBird Trip Summary:
First and foremost - thank you to anyone who chooses to support me in this insane adventure of mine. When I initially had this idea and began planning I didn't even consider the possibility that others would want to support me, but I am extremely grateful to those who have reached out to do so. For those who are interested in supporting me, I have set up a Patreon, which can be accessed by clicking the logo to the left (or you can send me a message via the contact page). Again, thank you for your incredibly generous support!
All Patrons will receive my "Daily Notes" 12-36 hours after the end of each day, and Patrons subscribed to the "Sponsor" tier will receive monthly postcards, mailed out between the 25th and end of each month.
For anyone who wishes to support me without using Patreon, clicking the "$" Icon will link you to my Venmo as well. There is also an option on Patreon to purchase my Daily Notes Collection for a one-time $10 payment without becoming a paid member, which will give you access to the Daily Notes without having to subscribe to a monthly subscription. For those who it requests the last four of my number for, it's 1403.
Following recent suggestions I went ahead and created a GoFundMe in order to help ensure I can keep this adventure going and afford the costs of gas, vehicle maintenance, and food (including, with enough support, some more diversity in my diet). The GoFundMe can be accessed by clicking the image link with the coin going into the donation box. (If anyone knows how to add a custom icon on Elemetor to make the Venmo and GoFundMe Links their respective logos, I'd love to hear how to do it!)
Thank you again to those of you who have supported me so far, it's tremendously generous and greatly appreciated.
Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday (I will try to have them out by 5pm, but situationally they might be a bit later) and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
