Grand Yellowstone
June 13-25, 2009
Bird/Species Trip List

Red-necked Grebe – There was a pair at  the north end of Henry’s Lake – stunning plumage.
Eared Grebe – Most common at Red Rock Lake – alternate plumage on everyone!
Western Grebe – Scattered on most large bodies of water throughout the trip.
American White Pelican – On most fresh bodies of water, but those on the Yellowstone win.
Double-crested Cormorant – An adult and immature gave us great comparisons on the prairie.
Great Blue Heron – The best look was the ghostly bird in Hayden as the fog lifted.
Great Egret – Only one and that was in Billings.
Black-crowned Night-Heron – A stunningly plumaged adult at Harriman was well shot.
Canada Goose –  Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere…
Trumpeter Swan – Our first two were on Indian Lake along Grassy Lake Road.
Gadwall – There always seemed to be a pair in adequately sized waters.
American Wigeon – Our first pair were in a pond at Slough Creek.
Mallard – Even if it is one of the more common ducks on the trip, the drake is absolutely stunning.
Blue-winged Teal – Only one in the pond north of Broadview on the prairie.
Cinnamon Teal – A pair at the same pond as the Mallard gave us the best look of all.
Northern Shoveler – Only a couple of males at the same pond north of Broadview.
Northern Pintail – One drake at the pond north of Broadview.
Green-winged Teal – One pair at the Broadview pond.
Canvasback – A pair seen on the last field day at Red Rock Lake.
Redhead – A male and female at Red Rock Lake were the only ones for the trip.
Ring-necked Duck – Two males and a female were on a pond west of Henry’s Lake.
Lesser Scaup – Pairs were scattered in most mountain ponds.
Bufflehead – Very rare on this trip, but there were a few on Yellowstone Lake.
Common Goldeneye – A lone female on a pond along Pilgrim Creek Road was the only one.
Barrow’s Goldeneye – Very common on Yellowstone, but the courting pair at Schumacher won.
Common Merganser – Common on most large streams for the trip.
Ruddy Duck – A few individuals at the pond north of Broadview were the only ones for the trip.
Gray Partridge – We saw a few of these birds paired up in the prairie north of Billings.
Ring-necked Pheasant – A few in the fields around Billings.
Sharp-tailed Grouse – A female in a field brooding her young during a rainstorm was a treat.
Wild Turkey – A hen in Helen’s backyard with six young were all we saw, but we saw them well.
Turkey Vulture –  Not common, but always seen in the air.
Osprey – This aerial fish hunter was seen a couple of times on almost every day.
Bald Eagle – Our first two were in the prairie sitting on adjacent posts, only one was an adult.
Northern Harrier – Mostly males were seen and we only saw them over their favored habitat, grassy fields.
Swainson’s Hawk – A few over the prairie and one at Red Rock Lake.
Red-tailed Hawk – Our most common raptor.
Ferruginous Hawk – Two birds on two different nests in the prairie.
Golden Eagle – A single bird was seen flying low over the prairie, presumably looking for lunch.
American Kestrel – Not common, but the males we saw were stunning.
Peregrine Falcon – One at Calcite Springs was made even better because we watched it from above.
Prairie Falcon – A single bird flying  around a barn near Rapelje.
Sora – We only heard this rail, but we heard it at least three times at Schumbacher Landing.
American Coot – Seen mostly at Riverfront Park in Billings.
Sandhill Crane – Scattered throughout the trip, but the best sighting was a pair with two colts.
Killdeer – A pair got up close and personal.  Apparently they had a nest near the road at Red Rocks.
American Avocet – A gorgeous pair at the pond north of Broadview.
Spotted Sandpiper – Every stream seemed to have a vociferous pair.
Upland Sandpiper – Not as many as last year, but a couple of pairs let us get close.
Long-billed Curlew – A pair with a half grown chick in the prairie allowed us plenty of pictures.
Wilson’s Snipe – A male surveying his domain from a fence post, allowed us within 15 feet.
Wilson’s Phalarope – Not as many as expected, but a number of the prairie ponds were dry.
Franklin’s Gull – Full alternate plumage adults were flycatching over Red Rock Lake.
Bonaparte’s Gull – A flock dispersed over Henry’s Fork as we watched from the deck.
Ring-billed Gull – Casual sightings over larger bodies of water.
Caspian Tern – Only seen in Idaho, huge compared to the other Laridae.
Black Tern – A few of these small obsidian colored flycatchers were at the pond near Broadview.
Rock Pigeon – Silos = Rock Pigeon, we had lots of silos in the prairie.
Mourning Dove – Usually seen flashing across our windshield as we drove Montana’s back roads.
Eurasian-collared Dove – They are coming…
Burrowing Owl – Four individuals were a mile south of black-tailed prairie dog town.
Common Nighthawk – Our first was seen flying over and around the displaying McCowan’s Longspur.
Vaux’s Swift – Mixed in with a small flock of White-throated Swifts at Calcite Springs.
White-throated Swift – Common at Calcite Springs where it nests in the basalt columns.
Broad-tailed Hummingbird – A very cooperative male was on a short cottonwood at Dornan’s.
Belted Kingfisher – Seen mostly at Harriman State Park or in other parts of that valley.
Red-naped Sapsucker – A few were seen, mostly in areas with aspens or cottonwoods.
Downy Woodpecker – Two Moon Park had a number of these little guys.
Hairy Woodpecker – Our best look was on the road from Billings to Red Lodge.
Northern Flicker – The most common woodpecker of the trip.  Seen almost everyday. Olive-sided Flycatcher – Finally got to see an individual on Grassy Lake Road.
Western Wood-Peewee – Our first was a cooperative bird at Two Moon Park.
Alder Flycatcher – A calling bird at Pelican Creek.
Willow Flycatcher – An individual at the roadside rest just north of Red Lodge was our only one.
Least Flycatcher – Great looks at a calling bird (actually two different individuals) at Two Moon.
Hammond’s Flycatcher – In the forest at the lunch stop right after Red Lodge.
Cordilleran Flycatcher –  The only definitive bird was calling at Red Rock Lake campground.
Say’s Phoebe – Seen on the prairie nesting in an old pump house.
Cassin’s Kingbird – Seen on the prairie by a farm house late in the afternoon.
Western Kingbird – Mostly on the prairie and second only to the Eastern in visibility.
Eastern Kingbird – Everywhere on the prairie and sporadic through the rest of the trip.
Loggerhead Shrike – We had 2-3 individuals out on the prairie.
Warbling Vireo – Quite common with best looks at Two Moon Park.
Red-eyed Vireo – A nice male calling continuously at Two Moon Park.
Gray Jay – A very cooperative bird at Two Ocean Lake in the Tetons.
Pinyon Jay – Two very cooperative birds at a bluff top housing development on Billings.
Clark’s Nutcracker – Everyone finally got good looks on our way out of Red Rocks.
Black-billed Magpie – Everywhere and nonetheless stunning!
American Crow – Uncommon, seen mostly around the larger prairie farm residences.
Common Raven – Everywhere foraging on anything.
Horned Lark – Birds were taking flight as we drove on the prairie roads north of Billings.
Tree Swallow – One of the swallows on our six swallow day around Billings’ lakes and rivers.
Violet-green Swallow – One of the swallows on our six swallow day around Billings’ lakes and rivers.
Northern Rough-winged Swallow – One of the swallows on our six swallow day around Billings’ lakes and rivers.
Bank Swallow – One of the swallows on our six swallow day around Billings’ lakes and rivers.
Cliff Swallow – One of the swallows on our six swallow day around Billings’ lakes and rivers.
Barn Swallow – One of the swallows on our six swallow day around Billings’ lakes and rivers.
Black-capped Chickadee – All around Helen’s place.
Mountain Chickadee – Common in the montane forest as we traveled around.
Red-breasted Nuthatch – Best looks were at Harriman State Park.
White-breasted Nuthatch – We heard two birds on the trip, but were never able to catch a glimpse.
House Wren – If we saw a wren, it was this little guy.
Marsh Wren – Heard but not seen at Two Moon Park in Billings.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – Our best look was at West Thumb geyser basin.
Mountain Bluebird – These azure-breasted prairie hoverers were scattered throughout our trip.
Townsend’s Solitaire – Very good looks at an individual flycatching over Upper Mesa Falls.
Swainson’s Thrush – Seen at West Thumb geyser basin.
American Robin – Our most common thrush and right up there for being commonly good looking.
Gray Catbird – Very good looks at Two Moon Park on the Yellowstone River.
N. Mockingbird – In and around Billings neighborhoods.
European Starling – What can I say, everywhere.
American Pipit – At 11,000 feet on the Beartooth Pass actively foraging and defending turf.
Cedar Waxwing – Nice looks at birds perched over the Yellowstone River in Billings.
Yellow Warbler – Singing and flying anywhere there were willows or cottonwoods.
Yellow-rumped Warbler – In the forests around Lake and Colter Bay.
American Redstart – Gorgeous males kept landing in front of us at Two Moon Park.
Ovenbird – A calling bird at Two Moon never quite let us get a look at him.
Northern Waterthrush – Seen in the marshy area along the Yellowstone in Two Moon Park.
MacGillivray’s Warbler – Heard but not seen on the road over to Red Rock Lake.
Common Yellowthroat – Seen and heard calling at Two Moon Park.
Wilson’s Warbler – Uncommon at best, with our best views at Two Moon.
Yellow-breasted Chat – Nice to have North America’s largest warbler so common in Billings’ riparian.
Western Tanager – We never got tired of looking at these explosions of color.
Green-tailed Towhee – Pilgrim Creek Road had a very cooperative male.
Spotted Towhee – Seen at the feeders where we had the Pinyon Jays.
Chipping Sparrow – Ubiquitous for the sparrow clan.
Brewer’s Sparrow – Sporadic sightings in the appropriate sagebrush habitat.
Vesper Sparrow – Common up on the prairie.
Lark Sparrow – A few individuals up on the prairie.
Lark Bunting – Scattered sightings of males only up on the prairie.
Savannah Sparrow – Where the habitat was just grass, we would sight a few of these individuals.
Song Sparrow – We had these birds show up in streamside willow thickets along the Yellowstone.
White-crowned Sparrow – Our first was also our highest, in the snow on Beartooth.
Dark-eyed Junco – Easily found in the right habitat – mix scrub adjacent to forest.
McCowan’s Longspur – A long distance look at a displaying male.
Chestnut-collared Longspur – Random birds sighted on fence and displaying in the prairie.
Black-headed Grosbeak – At Two Moon Park along the Yellowstone.
Lazuli Bunting – A gorgeous male sitting atop a tree at Petroglyph State Park.
Bobolink – A total of five stunningly dressed males on the way to Red Lodge.
Red-winged Blackbird – A small nesting colony at the Riverfront Park in Billings.
Western Meadowlark – These birds would scurry off the sides of the prairie roads as we drove by.
Yellow-headed Blackbird – Best looks were at the Broadview ponds.
Brewer’s Blackbird – We found these birds wandering aimlessly in the sagebrush flats.
Common Grackle – Common and everywhere around Billings.
Brown-headed Cowbird – Prairie = cattle = Cowbirds
Bullock’s Oriole – A female at an old homestead out on the prairie
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch – Two fly-bys as we looked at flocks of Black’s.
Black Rosy-Finch – Four flocks up on Beartooth of this gorgeous high elevation finch.
Cassin’s Finch – Best looks at the feeders in Red Lodge.
House Finch – Common, but sporadic throughout the trip.
Red Crossbill – Outstanding looks at the feeders in Red Lodge.
Pine Siskin – Especially common feeding on dandelion in Red Rocks.
American Goldfinch – A few individuals seen at the roadside rest on the way to Red Lodge.
House Sparrow – Usually seen around eateries in the small towns we visited.

MAMMALS
Snowshoe Hare – We saw our first snowshoe at the Mammoth geyser basin.
White-tailed Jackrabbit – Crossed the road as we drove by the railroad tracks in Billings.
Desert Cottontail – We saw these rabbits along the Yellowstone River and on the prairie.
Mountain Cottontail – Yellowstone had lots of these little guys, not uncommon.
Beaver – One sitting on the bank during our float trip was very close.
Meadow Vole – We saw lots of grass tunnels, but only a couple of individuals at Red Rock.
American Muskrat – A single individual swimming to an island at Harriman was all we saw.
Eastern Gray Squirrel – This exotic was seen at Two Moon Park.
Eastern Fox Squirrel – We saw only one and that was at Two Moon Park.
Red Squirrel – We saw a number of these, which are very similar to the west’s Chickaree.
Uinta Ground Squirrel – All over the national parks, aka “bear burritos”.
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel – The easiest to see was on Beartooth Pass pullouts.
Richardson’s Ground Squirrel – All over the prairie.
Black-tailed Prairie Dog – The dog town  south and west of Molt, MT had hundreds.
Yellow-bellied Marmot – These guys kept popping their heads up on high altitude rocks.
Least Chipmunk – Very common in Yellowstone.
Red Fox – We saw  two individuals shedding their winter coat for their summer finery.
Coyote – We saw lone individuals, but the den with four pups was the sweetest.
Gray Wolf – A member of the Druid pack carrying an elk leg was stunning.
American Marten – Bounding across the road in front of us was the only look.
Badger – A female badger at her den with two young was very cool.
Black Bear – Lots, but we really enjoyed the one that was trying to chase down the bison.
Grizzly Bear – A silver animal with a dark brown hump was stunning.
Pronghorn – Single individuals were first  seen in the prairie north of Billings, with lots through the trip.
Bison – Everywhere in Yellowstone  a smattering in the Tetons.
Mountain Goat – Females with kids were not uncommon on Barronette.
Bighorn Sheep – A nice male east of Tower was only surpassed by the ewes with young at Calcite.
Moose  – One on the road by the visitor center and another on our raft trip.
Mule Deer –  Everywhere.
White-tailed Deer – A few doe in the riparian along the Yellowstone were the first we saw.
Elk – In herds scattered throughout both parks.

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