We document the effect of an extreme weather event during 21-22 June 2025 on nesting Gray Flycatchers (Empidonax wrightii) at 1,780-1,845 m elevation in sagebrush habitat of Beaverhead County, southwestern Montana, USA. The storm, cold light rain of similar to 24 h duration with occasional wet snow, was accompanied by low clouds, gusty winds, and ambient temperatures near or below freezing at night and early morning. Eleven of 16 flycatcher nests active at the beginning of the storm contained newly hatched nestlings; the remaining five contained eggs. Ten of 11 nests with nestlings failed by 23 June, one nest still in the egg-laying phase also failed. Females associated with each failed nest built replacement nests in original territories 13-95 m (mean = 42 m) from earlier nests in similar locations within the sagebrush cover, and initiated replacement clutches in 7-10 days. Clutch size in replacement nests (n = 10) was smaller (mean = 2.9 eggs) than in failed nests (mean = 3.9 eggs). All five nests that survived the storm produced fledglings (mean = 2.8), as did 7 of 11 replacement nests (mean = 2.7), although all 11 replacement nests combined produced fewer fledglings (mean = 1.7). This natural perturbation resulted in what potentially are significant reproductive costs for the flycatchers, including (1) reduced time for most pairs to attempt second broods following renesting, regardless of replacement-nest fate; and (2) lowered reproductive potential of replacement nests that were attempted. Timing of the storm relative to stage of nesting was critical. We documented only one case of double brooding in 2025, in which a pair that was brooding newly hatched young during the storm event laid a second clutch (three eggs) after two young from the first nest fledged; the second nest failed to produce fledglings. Documentamos el efecto de un evento meteorol & oacute;gico extremo durante el 21-22 de junio de 2025 en mosqueros Empidonax wrightii que anidaban a una elevaci & oacute;n de 1,780-1,845 m en matorral de Artemisia en Beaverhead County al suroeste de Montana, EUA. La tormenta, lluvia ligera fr & iacute;a con una duraci & oacute;n similar to 24 h con aguanieve ocasional, ven & iacute;a acompa & ntilde;ada de nubes bajas, r & aacute;fagas de viento y temperaturas ambientales cerca o debajo del punto de congelaci & oacute;n por la noche y la ma & ntilde;ana temprana. Once de los 16 nidos activos al inicio de la tormenta conten & iacute;an polluelos recientemente eclosionados, mientras que los restantes cinco conten & iacute;an huevos. Diez de los 11 nidos con polluelos fallaron para el 23 de junio y un nido que se encontraba a & uacute;n en la etapa de puesta de huevos tambi & eacute;n fall & oacute;. Las hembras asociadas con cada nido fallido construyeron nidos de repuesto en sus territorios originales entre 13-95 m (media = 42 m) de los nidos previos en localidades similares dentro de la cobertura del matorral de Artemisia e iniciaron puestas de remplazo en 7-10 d & iacute;as. El tama & ntilde;o de puesta en nidos de remplazo (n = 10) fue menor (media = 2.9 huevos) que en sus nidos fallidos (media = 3.9 huevos). Los cinco nidos que sobrevivieron produjeron volantones (media = 2.8), as & iacute; como 7 de los 11 nidos de remplazo (media = 2.7), si bien los 11 nidos de remplazo combinados produjeron menos volantones (media = 1.7). Esta perturbaci & oacute;n natural result & oacute; en algo que puede considerarse un costo reproductivo significativo para estos mosqueros, incluyendo (1) un menor tiempo para intentar segundas puestas para la mayor & iacute;a de las parejas siguiendo su reanidaci & oacute;n, independiente del resultado del nido de remplazo y (2) una disminuci & oacute;n en el potencial reproductivo de los intentos de nidos de remplazo. La fecha de la tormenta relativa a la etapa de anidaci & oacute;n fue cr & iacute;tica. Documentamos & uacute;nicamente un caso de doble anidaci & oacute;n en 2025, en el cual una pareja que estaba criando polluelos recientemente eclosionados durante la tormenta tuvo una segunda puesta (tres huevos) despu & eacute;s de que dos polluelos del primer nido se emanciparon, aunque ese segundo nido fall & oacute; sin producir volantones.

Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Paul Hendricks; Winter Interactions of Sharp-shinned Hawks with Prey. Journal of Raptor Research 2024; doi: https://doi.org/10.3356/JRR-23-17 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest Search

In this note, I report on my observations of a pair of Canada Jays (Perisoreus canadensis) gathering live engorged female Winter Ticks (Dermacentor albipictus) from the recent bed of a yearling Moose (Alces alces) and flying into the adjacent woods to cache the ticks before returning for more. The Moose bed was on snow and contained loose hair and blood-stained snow as well as the engorged ticks. I found 12 additional beds on snow during the next 48 h within 250 m of the original bed, and all contained loose hair and blood-stained snow, but no ticks. Jays may routinely visit Moose beds on snow in spring because they recognize them as a potential source of food. Moose, however, may not be present during spring in many jay territories, so access to engorged ticks at beds is probably opportunistic and unreliable.

Abstract On 12 April 2021, we observed a Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia) kill an apparently-healthy adult female Cassin's Finch (Haemorhous cassinii) in an urban backyard near a feeding station in Missoula, Montana. The magpie landed on a chain-link fence above the finch before dropping to the ground 1–2 s later where it grabbed the finch with its bill and pinned it to the ground with a foot, then delivered several blows of the bill to the finch's neck, back, and breast. The entire attack, from arrival of the magpie to its departure with the apparently-dead finch held in its bill, lasted no more than 60 s. We found only 2 prior reports of Black-billed Magpies capturing adult birds, and none for the Yellow-billed Magpie (Pica nuttalli). There are several published cases of the closely-related Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) attacking and killing adult birds, indicating that magpies are quite capable of subduing birds if so motivated when given the opportunity. Black-billed Magpies and Eurasian Magpies tended to attack adult birds during winter through spring (non-breeding season), and most often in urban environments where small birds aggregate near concentrations of food or potential roost and nest sites, resources also attractive to magpies. These circumstances may afford magpies more close encounters with potential adult avian prey than might occur in rural locations, and may encourage them to hunt adult birds more frequently.

With the passing of Richard E. (“Dick”) Johnson on December 8, 2021 at the age of 85, from complications associated with dementia, ornithology lost the foremost authority on the biology of North American rosy-finches (Leucosticte). For aspiring students of alpine bird ecology in the U.S. during the last three decades of the 20th century, potential mentors with the depth of knowledge and experience that Dick possessed could be counted on one hand. Likewise, for anyone wanting feedback on the possibilities of studying birds (or anything else) in the challenging regions above tree line, Dick was a logical choice for an opinion on the feasibility of the project, for there were few alpine areas of the western U.S. he hadn’t visited at least once. Dick was born on November 9, 1936 in Pomona, California, the only child of George Frank Morris Johnson and Mina Baines Johnson. Dick’s camping trips at a very early age with his parents into the mountains of California had a lasting influence on his passion for mountains. He remained in Pomona through high school, where he was active in Boy Scout Troop 1 (attaining the rank of Eagle). He then attended the University of California, Berkeley (B.S. Forestry 1958), Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena (1959–1961), University of Montana (M.S. Zoology 1968), and Berkeley again (Ph.D. Zoology 1972), with Ned K. Johnson as his committee chair. He was hired fresh from Berkeley by Washington State University (WSU) with joint appointments as Director of the Charles R. Conner Museum and Assistant Professor of Zoology, teaching ornithology and mammalogy. At WSU, where he remained until his retirement in 1998, he successfully chaired 12 M.S. and 7 Ph.D. committees and expanded the museum collections by about 33,000 mammals and 9,000 birds. After retirement, he kept his office and laboratory for another 20 years and continued to help at the museum. Dick served in various capacities for the Pacific Northwest Bird and Mammal Society (later the Society for Northwest Vertebrate Biology), including as editor of The Murrelet (now Northwestern Naturalist) (1976–1980). He was named an Elective Member of the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) in 1980. Two western states, California and Montana, were central to Dick’s personal and professional development. After completing his forestry degree, and while attending seminary, Dick worked summers during 1958–1961 for the National Park Service as a seasonal ranger-naturalist in Glacier National Park. Dick was encouraged to apply there by Lloyd Parratt, a Professor of Biology at Chaffey College, Alta Loma, California, whom Dick met while in scouts, and who had been a ranger-naturalist in Glacier since 1946. Dick wrote that Lloyd was “important in my history because I may never have gotten to Glacier (or Montana), and therefore never have studied rosy-finches were it not for him!” It was while based in the St. Mary applyparastyle "fig//caption/p[1]" parastyle "FigCapt"

ABSTRACT Knowledge of the breeding behavior of Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) is based largely on a multiyear study in Colorado during the 1980s. In Colorado, the duration of full incubation bouts by female grosbeaks had a mean of 26.6 min, a value repeated since then in the literature. For one nesting pair of grosbeaks I studied in Montana, full incubation bouts (n = 5) by the undisturbed female during 22 h of direct nest watches on 7 d in June 2018 had a mean of 112.6 min (range = 45–202 min), much longer than the value reported in the Colorado study. Incomplete incubation bouts (female already incubating on my arrival or at my departure) by the undisturbed Montana female (n = 11) during the same observation period had a mean of 56.2 min, 4 of which were a minimum of 94–146 min, further suggesting that longer duration incubation bouts may be the norm for this species. Duration of incubation bouts for Evening Grosbeak in the Colorado study appear to be brief relative to other North American fringillids, but my limited data suggest that Evening Grosbeaks are typical in this regard. Mean duration of 10 nest absences by the undisturbed Montana incubating female was 9.7 ± 7.6 min (range = 3–26 min), similar to the Colorado study (10.1 ± 10.7 min). Male behavior during incubation also appeared similar to results from Colorado (no attending the eggs, frequent exchange of vocalizations with the nesting female, escorting and feeding the female only when off the nest). I conclude that the duration of nest watches (60–80 min) in the Colorado study was inadequate to determine the length of many longer incubation bouts by female Evening Grosbeaks.

Abstract In late June 2020 in western Montana we observed up to 10 Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) feeding on tree sap at Red-naped Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis) sap wells excavated on 2 limbs of a Water Birch (Betula occidentalis). These observations constitute (a) the 1st report of waxwings feeding at sap wells created by sapsuckers of any species; (b) the 1st report of waxwings feeding on tree sap in early summer; and (c) the 1st report of the consumption of birch sap by this waxwing species. The Cedar Waxwings may have sought tree sap because of the limited availability of early-summer sugary fruits at the time of our observations in combination with the presence of new clusters of sap wells created by at least 1 pair of sapsuckers near where the waxwings were beginning to breed. The prevalent sugars in birch sap (glucose, fructose) are also those most efficiently assimilated by Cedar Waxwings and may have contributed in attracting the waxwings to the sapsucker wells.

We documented use of rattle calls when adult Belted Kingfishers (Megaceryle alcyon) approached or departed active nest burrows, and contrasted rattle-call use during incubation and nestling phases of nesting. Adults rattled on 92.7% of 109 nest approaches and 56.2% of 105 nest departures (P = 0.021) combining both phases of nesting. During the incubation phase rattling occurred on 81% of 36 approaches and 28% of 32 departures (P < 0.001), and during the nestling phase rattling occurred on 99% of 73 approaches and 69% of 73 departures (P < 0.001). Overall, a significantly lower amount of rattling occurred during the incubation phase, both when approaching and departing the nest. Males and females exhibited similar patterns of rattle-call use at nest burrows during both phases of nesting. We suggest that use of rattle calls is more prevalent when approaching the nest burrow, despite drawing attention to the nest location, to advertise a mate's or parent's presence prior to entering the burrow and to avoid injury from the tending adult or nestlings defending themselves against an unknown intruder. We also suggest that adults are more secretive near the nest burrow during the incubation phase, especially when departing, because of a reduced need to communicate with their mate while tending the eggs during lengthy bouts of nest attendance. Nevertheless, it remains unclear why adults use rattle calls as much as they do when departing from the nest, which appears to unnecessarily advertise the nest location.

I observed Black-billed Magpies (Pica hudsonia) in a residential backyard in Montana during November-December 2019 and February 2020, as they cached food 10 times in a snow cover 10- to 12-cm deep and recovered 3 caches from the snow. The magpies carried food items up to 7 m from a food source before caching them, and tended to cache more closely to the food source when alone rather than in the presence of other magpies. Most of the snow caches were on the ground, but 1 cache was made 1.5 m above ground in a snow-covered vine thicket, and a 2nd cache at the same height in snow accumulated on the roof of a parked trailer. Cached foods included chicken scratch (grains and cracked corn), sunflower seeds, crab apples, dried mealworms, and commercial suet. These observations appear to constitute the 1st report of Black-billed Magpies caching food in snow.

We report 14 cases of banded female Costa's Hummingbirds (Calypte costae) fledging young from 2 or 3 broods in single breeding seasons during late February to mid-June in southern Nevada, USA. Successfully raising 2 broods in a single breeding season has been reported only rarely for this species, and raising 3 broods is previously unreported in the literature. We also report 8 cases of banded females simultaneously tending young and eggs from 2 nesting attempts. Females constructed a new nest and began incubating while (1) feeding large nestlings in the earlier nest (5 cases), or (2) feeding recently fledged young from the earlier nest (3 cases). One banded female accounted for 5 of these 8 cases. We also report 5 cases of autumn nesting, not previously documented for Costa's Hummingbird, including 5 young fledged from 3 nests in late November and early December. Our results suggest that multiple broods, simultaneous nests, and autumn nesting are viable breeding strategies for female Costa's Hummingbirds, some of which may be year-round residents at our study site in the Mojave Desert. We also suggest that multiple brooding and autumn breeding are facilitated by the availability of hummingbird feeders and cultivated exotic flowering plants in an urban setting.

I observed a Western Terrestrial Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans) attacking a large (approximately 9-d-old) nestling Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) on 7 July 2018 near Rattlesnake Creek, Missoula County, Montana. The snake held the stillliving nestling by its head (the head was mostly enveloped by the snake's jaws) and continued to do so for 3 min before it released the now-dead nestling when disturbed by my presence. The dead nestling exhibited skin wounds on the neck but no other superficial injury. Predation on birds by Western Terrestrial Garter Snakes is infrequently reported, and I found only 2 other reports of predation on juncos by this snake species.

On 17 September 2017, I observed two Clark’s Nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana) from 8–10 m distance as they cached seeds in a stand of dead Whitebark Pines (Pinus albicaulis) at 2500 m elevation on Saint Mary Peak in the Bitterroot Mountains of Ravalli County, Montana. Over 5 minutes, the nutcrackers created 14 caches in seven different multi-trunk tree clusters in an area of about 50 m2. All caches appeared to be single Whitebark Pine seeds, positioned 2–5 m (mostly 3–4 m) above ground in dead trees. Of the 14 caches, three were placed under loose pieces of bark on a trunk (one) or large limb (two), and the remaining 11 were in encrustations of American Wolf Lichen (Letharia columbiana) growing on branches of the dead trees. Nutcrackers are known to sometimes cache seeds above ground in trees during the late summer and autumn harvest of pine seeds, but usually not to the exclusion of other microsites. The ground at the Montana site was covered by 7–9 cm of fresh snow that fell the previous day, which may have encouraged the nutcrackers to place all of their seed caches above ground in trees.

We report details of 3 food caches created or retrieved by a pair of Common Ravens (Corvus corax) near their active tree nest in the Pattee Canyon Recreation Area, Missoula County, Montana, during spring of 2016. Caches were located in 3 different 30–35 m tall Ponderosa Pines (Pinus ponderosa). Caches were pieces of meat placed 1.0–1.5 m from the trunk on large lateral limbs at least 20 m above ground, and were 70–100 m from the nest tree. One cache was created by the non-incubating adult early in the incubation phase of nesting, and probably was fed to the incubating adult by its mate. The other 2 caches were retrieved early in the nestling phase, at least 1 of which was delivered directly to the brood at the nest. At least 2 of the caches were hidden under pieces of bark and lichen placed on the cached meat, probably to reduce likelihood of their detection and theft by other forest birds and mammals. The tree caches shared some characteristics of ground caches created elsewhere by nesting Ravens: (1) caches were within 100 m of nests; and (2) caches were often hidden or covered with vegetation. These appear to be the 1st published observations of tree caches created and retrieved by Common Ravens near their active nest. Our observations also suggest that caches may be used by the adults to feed themselves as well as their young.

The land snail Pristiloma idahoense (Pilsbry, 1902) is reported from Montana for the first time. Five live individuals were found under downed wood beneath a mature coniferous forest canopy at 1670 m elevation in the Big Creek drainage of the Bitterroot Mountains, Ravalli County, Montana. This location extends the known range approximately 75 km east and over the crest of the Bitterroot Mountains from the nearest sites in Idaho County, Idaho and supports the hypothesis that the terrestrial mollusc fauna of Montana west of the continental divide has been strongly influenced by a molluscan radiation, which developed in a northern Idaho Pleistocene refuge. The probable route of dispersal for P. idahoense between the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana and the adjacent Lochsa River drainage of Idaho was over the lower mountains to the north in the Lolo Pass area.

Many North American bat species are declining as populations face increasing pressure from disease and degradation or loss of habitat. Bats roost in natural and artificial structures with adequate crevices. It is important to document the structural and thermal characteristics of these roosts across the landscape in order to provide natural resource managers with tools to protect and conserve these species. Bat use of bridges has been well documented in the southwest United States, but bridges in northwest Montana were not surveyed because temperatures were thought to be insufficient for bats. This lack of knowledge was the basis for our survey of roadway bridges in Missoula, Ravalli, and Mineral Counties. In May-October 2014 we visited 412 bridges and categorized them as day roost, night roost, maternity colony, or no detectable use. We detected widespread use of bridges (45.9%) as night roosts used between foraging flights. Bats were detected in day roosts at a smaller number of bridges (2.7%) with use ranging from solitary bats to hundreds of females and offspring. Bridge type and structure appear to be significant in predicting bat use, and initial temperature data indicate that day roosts have a slightly higher temperature regime than unoccupied bridges. Survey and bat detection information is available to resource managers via the Montana Natural Heritage Program’s MapViewer web application (http://mtnhp.org/mapviewer). In consideration of the potential importance of these artificial roosts to bat species, we encourage the evaluation of roadway bridges for bat use prior to maintenance or replacement activities.