to Great Falls

20090528 – to Great Falls

I left my private campground after a quiet morning walk. The maps of the area were in some disagreement about the Wildlife Management Area, so I decided on Brown's Lake Fishing Access. Only 3.5 miles from the cutoff from MT200. Almost immediately I came across Mountain Bluebirds and a Bald Eagle so I knew I had made a good choice. I spent ~three hours birding and taking bird pictures along the road and at the lake. There was a busy, but attractive campground on the lake and a lot of fishermen meditating on chairs next to their pickups and cabovers.

Heading East again on MT200, there were a few more campgrounds and fishing accesses in the National Forest then, at Rogers Pass private property took over and campgrounds were no longer available. I took the Stearns-Augusta road North for a few miles toward Bean Lake seeing some nice birds in the fields, probably because I could drive more slowly without highway traffic urging me along. Returned to MT200 for more Big Sky type views, cattle grazing and irrigated hayfields. Some of the rolling hills morphed to mesas and small rocky cliffs as I approached Great Falls.

I caught up with Patt, made some plans for her arrival, downloaded and organized the photos I've taken so far, and spent the night at Dick's RV Campground.

Birds: Common Raven, Spotted Sandpiper, American Robin, Song Sparrow, Yellow Rumped Warbler, Pine Siskin, Mallard, Red Breasted Nuthatch, Canada Goose, Kestrel, Osprey, Red Winged Blackbird, Mountain Bluebird, Red Tailed Hawk, Bald Eagle, Yellow Headed Blackbird, Red Necked Grebe, Lesser Scaup, Brewer's Blackbird, Tree Swallow, Black Tern, American Coot, Bullock's Oriole, Great Blue Heron, Bank Swallow, Vesper Sparrow, Sharp Tailed Grouse, Long Billed Curlew, House Sparrow, Starling.