Pipit

 What an amazing world this is in which I can see a bird I've never seen before - practically in my own backyard - at my age!

As we were leaving Fantan Lake a couple days ago, we caught a bit of movement on the side of the trail. A closer look showed this little guy to the left; an obvious chick of some kind.

A second later we saw mama. She is not a beautiful bird but she certainly was good at her job of catching insects (mayflies, it looks like) for her youngster.

 Ken knew right away they were American Pipits - even though he has never seen one before either. His brain has a way of storing and cataloging bird species that is truly admirable.

These birds summer on the tundra which means most of them are far north of us. But a small group of them elect to make the Beartooths their warm weather residence.


Look at the mouthful of bugs this mama has in her second photo!