Mountain Lions Feeding on Wolves (article link)

Mountain Lions Have Killed 2 Wolves Since January

(KECI photo from article)

"LOLO, Mont. -- An encounter between a mountain lion and a radio collared wolf left the wolf dead and its carcass mostly consumed. Since January of this year, mountain lions have killed two radio collared wolves. The most recent kill was just discovered just last week."

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Article Link: Massive Bighorn Sheep Found on Wildhorse Island

Link to Flathead Beacon Article: Massive Bighorn Sheep Found on Wildhorse Island

The fourth-largest bighorn sheep skull on record in Montana will be put on display next fall at the Montana, Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 1 office in Kalispell. - Justin Franz/Flathead Beacon

By Dillon Tabish, 05-26-12

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Mother's Day ~ Spring Loon Census ("Loon Day") with my kids

I was busy at our local Family Forestry Expo this past Saturday, which fell on the same day as Loon Day (an annual census of breeding lakes in western Montana, coordinated by the Montana Common Loon Working Group, supported by the Montana Loon Society).  So I had to get to some of my lakes on Mother's Day, instead; it was a long but fun and sunny work day for me and the kids.

We (the area coordinators from multiple state and federal agencies) monitor or coordinate monitoring of our respective lakes throughout the breeding/chick rearing season (roughly May to September).  On Spring and Summer census days, we try to see every lake on one day (or at least within a couple of days) to see which lakes are occupied and which pairs are nesting.

We cover some of our lakes on these censuses through 'citizen science' (use of local volunteers) but also usually still have lakes to cover ourselves and/or through our "loon rangers" (hence our Mother's Day work day).

Here are a few of our Mother's Day/Loon day photos.  These lakes are way up the North Fork of the Flathead River, just across the river from Glacier National Park.  We didn't take any Polebridge photos, where we stopped for cookies, but there are a few pictures of that beautiful spot in another post.

One of two loons on a private-access remote lake

Long-toed salamander eggs, Tepee Lake

Loon nesting on platform

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‘A Community To Which We Belong’ ~ Aldo Leopold Blog

‘A Community To Which We Belong’ | Wisdom Voices

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

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