The only mammals that fly, bats use a 

 sort of sonar to locate insects. They send 

 out a series of high-frequency sounds and 

 then locate the echoes, finding swarms of 

 moths, mosquitoes, and other small prey. 



Young bats are born in June, and can fly 

 at 6 weeks. Each female usually has only 

 one offspring. Bats return to the same 

 summer roosting spot each spring, usually 

 in April. 



Birds 

 Waterfowl 



The western third of Montana is on the 

 Pacific Flyway; the rest is part of the Cen- 

 tral Flyway; both are migration routes for 

 hundreds of thousands of waterfowl each 

 year. Montana is home, at least during the 

 summer months, to over 30 species of 

 ducks, and four species of geese. Some are 

 "fair weather friends"— wild tourists that 

 head for warmer places when autumn 

 comes. The Canada goose (shown on the 

 cover) winters on lakes and open water 

 throughout the state. Mallards, golden- 

 eyes, and redheads also are year-round res- 

 idents. 



Good places to watch these and other wa- 

 terfowl are the waterfowl management 



areas— Fox Lake, Warm Springs, Pablo, 

 Ninepipe, and Freezeout, and the federal 

 waterfowl refuges, including Medicine 

 Lake, Benton Lake, Bowdoin, and Red Rock 

 Lakes. Many farm ponds and reservoirs 

 also provide homes and resting places for 

 these birds, often with grain fields nearby. 



Among the migratory birds, pelicans, 

 swans, and sandhill cranes are the largest. 

 Smaller waterfowl include grebes, teal, and 

 wading birds such as sandpipers, killdeer, 

 rails, and snipe. 



Often seen near bridges, the gray-blue, 

 crested kingfisher is a solitary watcher 

 over trout streams. This water bird has a 

 most unusual nest— a burrow in the creek 

 bank, where the young are hatched and are 

 fed partly-digested fish. Later they gradu- 

 ate to minnows and frogs. 



Probably the most unique water bird is 

 the lively ouzel, a year-round resident eas- 

 ily identified by its bobbing walk as it 

 forages under rushing water to feed along 

 the bottoms of mountain streams. Smaller 

 than a robin, this slate-gray, short-tailed 

 bird often builds its nest near or behind wa- 

 terfalls. 



Osprey 



MnntaiKi DrpitrtiiH-nt o( Kish, U'ildlifc & Parks 



11 



