Glacier's Christmas bird count a quiet one

With nearly a foot of new snow the night before the count, Glacier National Park’s Christmas bird count was a quiet one, with fewer birds than normal observed, noted Park biologist Lisa Bate.

Twenty-three observers on 11 field routes and one feeder site  in West Glacier recorded 406 birds of 33 species. The Glacier count, unlike other counts in the valley, is largely a backcountry affair. The longest route is a 14-mile ski. This was the 42nd year of the count. The top bird species counted was the old standby black-capped chickadee, with 60 recorded. Ducks and geese were also abundant with  53 Canada geese, 50 common goldeneyes and 49 mallards.

One common loon was noted on Lake McDonald, but no swans were found.

The count had new record highs for two species in 2015. Four belted kingfishers and two black-backed woodpeckers were detected, up from a count of three and one, the previous year. The feeder count gave four additional species — northern pygmy owl, northern flicker, dark-eyed junco, and song sparrow.