Montana Outdoors
Magazine
Where and When to See
|
Freezout Lake
Snow Geese
- "In recent years, up to 500,000 snow geese
have stopped at Freezout Lake, which lies west of great Falls along the Rocky
Mountain Front."
- "Freezout WMA is 40 miles northwest of Great
Falls, just off U.S. Highway 89. Interior roads are open to vehicles
from March 15 until late September."
- The spring (early April) "snow goose concentration
at Freezout is one of North America's greatest wildlife spectacles, on par
with the famous sandhill crane concentration in central Nebraska."
|
- "When a flock of show geese arrives at Freezout,
the birds settle onto the lake and ponds to rest. The next morning, just
after sunrise, they rise and head for the nearby grain fields to feed" on
spent grain. "A few hours later, around 10 a.m., the birds return from
the fields to the water, where they drink and rest before returning to feed
in mid-afternoon. At dusk, they again return to Freezeout to spend
the night."
- "Amid the sea of white we see many blue geese,
a darker phase that make up roughly 20 percent of the snow geese at Freezout."
- "In spring, an incoming flock of snow geese
remains at Freezout Lake for a average of about four days before heading to
the Arctic."
- "Six months from now, in early November,
these flocks will return to Freezout before heading south to California"
to their wintering grounds on Tule Lake and in California's Sacramento Valley.
"Accompanying the paired adults will be young geese that hatched in
the arctic."
|
- Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area
"attracts more than a million birds each year, from stately tundra swans to
tiny Tennessee warblers."
- "Freezout is also renowned for concentrations
of American avocets, black-necked stilts, and various herons, gulls, terns,
sparrows, and phalaropes."
- "On some days in late March and early April,
Freezout WMA may hold close to one million birds. Visitors will likely spot
American avocets, sora rails, and western grebes, as well as sandhill cranes
and various plovers and phalaropes. Waterfowl abound, including tundra
swans, mallards, pintails, and shovelers, along with the ubiquitous snow geese."
|
Lost Creek State Park Goats
- "Lost Creek State Park, near Anaconda, is
a great spot to photograph mountain goats and bighorn sheep. Located
just 20 minutes off I-15 west of Butte, the park features a 50-foot waterfall
surrounded by spectacular limestone cliffs and pink and white granite formations.
Wildlife, including goats and sheep,
are often seen on the cliffs above the falls. For more information, call 406-542-5500."
|
