MISSOULA — With much of the state seeing odd winter weather, we’ve gotten some questions about how it could affect all sorts of Montana seasonal staples. We were curious about birds, so we caught up with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP).
FWP does not anticipate the warmer weather will have much of an impact on migrating birds that pass through and land in Montana. Changes to migration patterns tend to happen slowly.
“Any one year won’t necessarily make a huge difference,” said Allison Begley, an avian conservation biologist with FWP.
Begley said bird migration relies on a number of factors, like daylight and food availability.
“In general, in a given year, if there's potential for, say, food to be more available on the northern part of their range, you might see birds moving,” she said. “But, it's really going to end up being more of a long-term shift, as we see, say, changes in temperature on the regular.”
As we fly into spring, the birds should start coming back. There are plenty of resources to keep an eye on what is happening with birds in the Big Sky.
The FWP website has information about birds, and there are Facebook and local groups of Big Sky birders.
Begley also pointed to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Institute for Bird Populations for more information about migrations on a larger scale. Cornell even offers migration maps and forecasts.
