Opinion: Snowbirds return

The juncos are back in Glacier National Park. The affable birds nest in shallow burrows in the ground and are some of the first birds to return to Glacier each spring, along with the varied thrush, which have arrived as well.


The snow was falling in huge flakes both Saturday and Sunday when we were there. It’s the annual transitional period in Glacier at low elevations, which is to say not really enough snow to ski (you’ll hit bare patches) and not melted enough to go anywhere up high without postholing.

I hate postholing as much as skiing in mud, so we make due with short walks in the low woods, where the snow isn’t very deep, even after the half-foot or so that fell from Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Lake McDonald had a skim of slush on it and we ran into a guy who had just gone for a polar plunge near the dock. He was beet red, but happy.

I’ve taken more than a couple polar plunges over the years, but none on purpose. When we were kids we fished for northern pike this time of year in the creek near my house. We couldn’t afford waders so we wet waded, which was brutally cold. Still, we caught fish and looking back, it seemed worth it at the time. We’d pee ourselves to briefly warm up.

On Sunday morning the juncos were sticking close to the base of trees and buildings. They particularly liked poking around the base of cabins, where there wasn’t any snow and some seeds and bugs still showing.

They have an apt nickname ­— snowbirds.

I’ve had similar snowy days in April along Lake McDonald when a midge hatch will come off the lake. Midges are tiny aquatic insects and sometimes the lake will be almost black with them. The hatch, combined with the snow, draws songbirds by the dozens and it’s fun to watch small flocks of mountain bluebirds, varied thrushes, juncos and even a few sparrows feeding on the bugs among the flakes. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it’s a sight.

On this Sunday morning we saw no thrushes, but there were a couple of bald eagles scowling in the treetops as the giant flakes fell.

It was a fine sight on a late winter day in Glacier National Park.