Open View, Blue Mountain, Missoula, Montana

A pervasive question this time of year, at least in Western Montana: Is it really spring?

Yesterday, across the brooding, open meadows, I heard meadowlark song. 

I believe.

To hear it for yourself, click here.
The audio sample is to the bottom right of the photo. 

Evening Song, Missoula, Montana

Initially, I got all excited thinking this was a meadowlark, which is the true harbinger of spring in western Montana, and the only bird call I mimic rather well, if I do say so myself.

Living in the great Montana metropolis (woohoo!) for this past year, it’s been a while since my little eye has spied an actual meadowlark, as they prefer less cluttered habitat & keep their distance from urban chickens. It appears time has blurred my memory of their critical markings. After realizing his waistcoat was all wrong & the cheek spot was excess, I decided it would behoove me to discover who really was perched atop the lamp by the river path. Best I can find, it’s a variety of flicker. (Thanks to the Mrs. Casselman, my astonishingly patient juniour high school science teacher, I can recognize a red-winged flicker in flight, since the underside of their wings are - imagine - red.)

Please feel free to share any bird lore or adolescent science inspirations in your story bag!