Ticking a few more off, hitting the Flathead and Bitterroot. Surprise Ruffed Grouse and Northern Goshawk in McClain Creek drainage and Evening Grosbeak with Brown Creeper (finally!) at Maclay Flat. Winter is briefly reasserting its grip, keeping water features frozen and giving Northward migration of waterfowl a pause. Northern Pygmy Owl continues to elude me, the first year in my 11 years of birding that I haven’t seen one within the first week of January. Birds are showing up and things are about to get rowdy.
