Tribes host Community Bird Festival
courtesy photo
Live falcon exhibits have been a part of past community bird days.
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PABLO – Many furred and scaled beasts roam the Flathead Reservation, but the valley floor is well-known to outsiders for hosting an abundance of feathered flyers that typically places the destination among the top bird watching habitat in Montana.
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have found that local residents love learning about avian friends, and will host the third annual Community Bird Day Festival at Salish Kootenai College on May 7 from 4:30 until 7 p.m.
Tribal Wildlife Program Manager Dale Becker said the event’s goal is to raise community awareness about the diversity of migratory birds.
“This is one of the premiere areas in the west,” Becker said. “There is just real diverse habitat on the reservation. We’ve got all the way from sub-alpine habitats at the top of Missions to dry sagebrush grassland west of the Flathead River. All of those niches have their own species that have adapted through time. It’s a good time to inform people what they have in their back yard and enhance their appreciation for it.”
Displays will include information from many different agencies and vendors that will blend the bird theme with tribal culture and art. The winners of the Tribes’ third grade Migratory Bird Coloring Contest will be announced during the festival. Short bird films will be also be screened.
“It’s kind of a multi-faceted event that provides people with a lot of contact with migratory birds that they otherwise might have to search around quite a bit for,” Becker said.
Some of the displays are hands-on, which beckon to young children. In the past a falconer has brought a live bird for viewing, and the Tribes typically set up mounted bird species that people might otherwise not be able to get up close and personal to in everyday life.
“We have adult trumpeter swans and kids can go up and see how big they are compared to them,” Becker said.
The event is sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Natural Resources Department Wildlife Program, Salish Kootenai College Natural Resources Department, the Montana Audubon and the Mission Mountain Audubon Chapter.
