This past weekend (Mar 27 - 29) I spent, with friends, at the world-famous - or at least Montana-famous - Freezeout Lake. This shallow string of ponds is located on the Rocky Mountain Front, near Choteau, Montana (about 40 miles from Great Falls). The “Front” is a dramatic and unusual landscape: the rolling wheat-basket plains of eastern Montana run hard and abruptly against the Rocky Mountains, making for a rich and unique landscape. It’s the only place in the lower 48 where grizzly bears still venture out of the mountains onto the flatter ranching country.
Getting to Freezeout from Missoula takes about 2.5 hours on the beautiful two-lane MT 200. But - why go there?
Freezeout is a major snow-goose staging area on the spring migration route from California (I have photos of the wintering geese at Sacramento NWR) to their summer grounds in Alberta and Saskatchewan. There can be gazillions at Freezeout, but just for a few days each spring; there will be some thousands present over several weeks, but the huge mass of the birds only stops over for 3 or 4 days.
The bulk of the migration comes at the end of March; MT FWP (Fish Wildlife & Parks) has a hotline with the current estimate of bird numbers present. During the 48 hours we spent at Freezeout, there were approximately 110,000 snow geese; we also saw tundra swans (a first for me), wigeon, pintail, mallards, mergansers, redheads, goldeneye, canvasbacks, and I can’t even remember what else. We had some sunshine but it was mostly bone-chilling wind (typical of the Front), and on Sunday a blizzard of snow moved in, making for hair-raising moments driving home. And the majority of the geese had already flown by the time we left - such an ephemeral thing.
I shot, oh, at least a thousand images (thank heaven for digital!!!). A couple:
The lake itself, with snow geese by the thousands on its surface, and - over the mountains of the Front - countless more thousands migrating northward.
A blizzard of snow geese - spooked up by a golden eagle.
Pintails in flight - they’re like a squadron of fighter pilots, they move so swiftly and turn so abruptly.
There are so many reasons I love Montana, and the weekend at Freezeout added to that list.
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April 1st, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Oh I am so jealous! I have not been north of Missoula-such great images! I guess we can expect some waterfowl paintings coming soon huh? Oh it is not fair that I am here at my cubicle in Detroit, surrounded by blight and unhappiness, when there are such beautiful areas to be in! You are very lucky to live in Monitana!
April 1st, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Hey guys, not sure how often folks check back to older posts, but I added some info about that Gervais guy to the last entry. Hope it helps.
April 1st, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Kathy - I’ve been monitoring all the posts - I’m so, SO glad that we started the thread on Gervais! The internet ensures that bad apples get exposed to the light of day.
Lori - yes, I’ve already started a snow goose painting! I know I’m lucky to live here. It has its drawbacks, and sometimes I wish I were nearer to more amenities (like a great art supply store, or an extensive wine store, or more agility trials) or that winter weren’t quite so long….BUT. It’s a helluva place to live if you’re an artist inclined to animals.
April 2nd, 2009 at 7:15 am
Hi Julie, in your previous post, I added the link to the online Wildlife Art Journal that Todd Wilkerson is involved with.
We also get thousands of wintering snow geese on the East Coast, primarily at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, about 3.5 hours from where I live. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it down this winter to see them. It is a truly amazing sight (and sound) when they all take to the sky at one time! Alas, we don’t have all of the other great wildlife that you mentioned…golden eagles, grizzlies, and not quite as wide a variety of waterfowl. I’d love to deal with the “drawbacks” to live out there!
Tundra Swans come in too but not in great numbers. We are also getting quite a comeback of breeding Bald Eagles and Ospreys. If anyone is interested, Blackwater Refuge has an Eagle Cam http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm2.html with two nestlings right now, as well as links to other cams. They also have an Osprey Cam but the ospreys haven’t decided if they really want to nest there yet. One last cam site (and it’s a live cam) if you love to watch the nesting and feeding like I do. Here in Harrisburg, we have a breeding pair of Peregrines on the DEP building that have four eggs in the nest right now. It is a thrill to watch the eggs hatch and the feeding and growing of the babies. It’s at http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/falcon/.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:08 am
One day John and I do plan on moving out west…so hopefully I can share in your daily joys of abundant wildlife! (besides pigeons and rats!LOL!)
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Sandra - thank you for sharing all those great links! one of the joys of being an animal artist and talking to other animal artists is learning where to go for material.
Lori - hmm, rats and pigeons?? not sure how much call there is for paintings of those, unfortunately :-)! Come on out and take a workshop with me - it’ll get you into a Montana frame of mind. Half the people who come to any given summer workshop decide they want to move to Montana - it’s pretty special. (Winters are a little long, though).
April 4th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Julie- I have been to Montana 3x, and I love it so!! Unfortunatly, living in Detroit (for now) does not give one ready access to much wildlife besides some birds, rats, squirrels, and the occasional possum,raccoon and coyote!LOL!
I would LOVE to take a workshop with you…I am trying to save up the $ to do so. If not this year, then next for sure!!! Do you still have openings for your summer one?
April 4th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Lori - I have just 2 openings in my June workshop this year. I kept the price lower - I’d been planning to raise it - due to the economy. It’d be a delight to have you attend!