(Cervus elaphus) on 26 May in the big sagebrush 

 flats west of Tepee Creek, apparently heading for 

 the lush vegetation adjacent to the southern edge 

 of the sandhills. A lone doe Mule Deer 

 {Odocoileus hemionus) was seen in dense big 

 sage in the East Hills on 1 July. 



Birds 



We observed 29 bird species in the sandhills 

 (Appendix 8), of which 7 were recorded only as 

 flyovers. Most resident species (those encoun- 

 tered daily in the sandhills) were typical of shrub 

 steppe-grassland habitat elsewhere in Montana 

 (Feist 1968, Best 1972, Bock and Bock 1987), 

 and included two Montana Partners In Flight 

 (PIF) Priority II species, both sagebrush obligates: 

 Sage Thrasher and Brewer's Sparrow (Paige and 

 Ritterl999). Of particular note were daily 

 observations of at least 3 singing Grasshopper 

 Sparrows in the West HiUs (T13S,R2W,S22 and 

 23) fi-om late May to early July, in extensive 

 patches of grass with little low-shrub cover. This 

 species is listed on the refuge checklist as rare or 

 accidental in the Centennial Valley, but our obser- 

 vations indicate a small breeding population may 

 be established in the Sandhills. Grasshopper 

 Sparrow is a ranked as a Priority n grassland 

 species by Montana PIF, experiencing range-wide 

 declines. 



We observed Sage Thrasher only in stands of 

 mature (ca. 100 cm tall or taller) big sage. Al- 

 though we saw this species daily, it was present 

 only in low densities and we found no nests. 

 Much more abundant was Brewer's Sparrow, 

 which we found widely associated with sagebrush. 

 We found four nests of Brewer's Sparrow (on 28 

 May a nearly completed nest in a 72 cm tall big 

 sage; on 29 June with 4 eggs in a 45 cm tall three- 

 tip sage; on 30 June with 1 egg [later 3] in a 9 1 

 cm tall big sage; on 2 July with 3 eggs in a 42 cm 

 tall three-tip sage). 



Two nests of Vesper Sparrow, found on 30 June, 

 contained 4 eggs and 4 young, respectively. Both 

 nests were built on the ground, one at the base of 

 a 24 cm tall rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus) and 



the other in a small bunch of grass. One Homed 

 Lark nest was found on 25 May, containing 3 

 eggs; the cup was sunk in the ground next to a 

 thick tuft of grass in an early-seral site with sparse 

 grass and no shrub cover 



Other shrub-steppe grassland species fi^equently 

 noted included Short-eared Owl, Savannah 

 Sparrow, and Westem Meadowlark; we failed to 

 find nests of any of these species. Pairs of Long- 

 billed Curlew also appeared twice; one was very 

 vocal near drift array 2 in the East Hills on 29 June 

 and probably had a chick nearby. Ferruginous 

 Hawks were seen on two occasions, and an old 

 ground nest atop a high dune in the West Hills 

 indicated this species sometimes nests in the 

 sandhills. All five species are on the reftige list as 

 confirmed breeders. Ferruginous Hawk and 

 Long-billed Curlew are Montana PIF Level II 

 Priority grassland species. 



Amphibians and Reptiles 



We documented 2 amphibian species. Tiger 

 Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) and Striped 

 Chorus Frog {Pseudacris triseriata), and one 

 species of reptile, Westem Terrestrial Garter 

 Snake (Thamnophis elegans), in the Centennial 

 Sandhills in 1999 (Appendix 7). The Nahiral 

 Heritage Program database had no previous 

 records of these species for the sandhills (Roedel 

 and Hendricks 1 998), but each has been docu- 

 mented previously on refiige lands and elsewhere 

 in the upper Centennial Valley It seems likely that 

 the chorus fi"og and garter snake have been 

 encountered previously in the sandhills but not 

 reported. None of these species is of special 

 concern in Montana, as all are widespread in the 

 state. 



Tiger Salamanders were captured in pitfall traps in 

 the East Hills. On 28 June, 2 adults were recov- 

 ered fi-om pitfall line 5 and a single adult fi-om 

 pitfall line 6 (see Figure 1 and Appendix 3 for 

 locations). Another adult salamander was recov- 

 ered from drift array 3 on 22 September These 

 animals belong to the group called mole sala- 

 manders, named for their use of burrows as adults. 



13 



