In this blog post I have interviewed my dad, Rick Wallestad, about his history with birds – both official work as a wildlife biologist for the Montana Department of Fish and Game in the 1970s and his unofficial work as an emerging birder like Evan and me.  Whether you know him or he’s a complete stranger to you, I think you will find the following interview with my dad to be a fascinating read.  If you are a pure birder and have no connection to us personally, there is some great “bird stuff” in here.  If you’ve known him in any capacity, then you will now have a more in-depth knowledge of his story.  I was familiar with several of his answers, but I also learned a lot of new things in doing this project.  It was important for me to document and preserve this information for Evan’s sake.  A secondary goal would be that you would find this to be an enjoyable read.

How did your interest in birds begin?

As a young boy in Rolette, North Dakota, my buddy Joey Fox and I would scout out any nest we found to see what kind of eggs were there, and how many. It’s just something we did often.

What are the facts of your education and employment history with the Montana Department of Fish and Game? Editor’s Note: This state department is now called the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

I got my B.S. in Wildlife Management from the University of Minnesota in 1966. While there I worked one year for the Fisheries Department, reading fish scales to determine the age of the fish. Then I spent one quarter at the Cloquet Research Center assisting a research student trapping and radio-tagging snowshoe hares.  I spent another summer at Cloquet assisting a PhD student researching Ruffed Grouse broods using radio telemetry, also. These telemetry projects were some of the first in the country. My adviser, Dr. William Marshall, was a pioneer in the development of radio telemetry. As a result of this experience in telemetry, it paved the way to get a job in Montana studying the effects of DDT on Blue Grouse in western Montana.

I attended graduate school at Montana State University, studying habitat requirements and movements of Sage Grouse hens and their broods. Upon completion of my M.S. degree in Wildlife Management in 1970, I went to work for the Montana Fish and Game Department as a research biologist studying effects of sagebrush removal on the Sage Grouse.  Editor’s Note: “Sage Grouse” in Rick’s responses refer to the Greater Sage Grouse.  In the 1990s it was determined that sage grouse found in the Gunnison Basin of southwest Colorado were a distinct species.  Nearly identical looking but 2/3 the size of the Greater, it is called the Gunnison Sage Grouse. During that three-year period that I was a research biologist, I published five articles on Sage Grouse in the Journal of Wildlife Management and one technical bulletin titled “Life History and Habitat Requirements of Sage Grouse in Central Montana” published in 1975 (pictured at right).  I also worked as a management biologist in Broadus, Montana for three years and managed four Wildlife Management Areas around Sidney, Montana for three years.

You mentioned working in Cloquet, Minnesota studying the Ruffed Grouse.  Did you work with Gordon Gullion, arguably the foremost authority on the Ruffed Grouse?

He was there and I visited with him a lot, but I was working for Geoff Godfrey who was a graduate student of Bill Marshall. Gordy was permanent staff and also worked under Bill Marshall because Cloquet was a year-round research station for the University.

How did you capture Ruffed Grouse?

We captured them with a clover-leaf trap. It was chicken wire arranged like a 4-leaf clover. Each circle of the clover was about 4-feet in diameter. There were two leads of 18-inch high chicken wire, each 100-feet long stretched out into the swamps. Since Ruffed Grouse broods travel by walking, the hen would walk up to the this 100-foot section of chicken wire and being blocked, would lead her brood along it until they walked right around one of the clover circles at the end and were then funneled into the trap.

What are some fun or interesting facts you can tell us about the Greater Sage Grouse?

It’s one of the few birds that is totally dependent on sage brush for survival. Without sage brush there would be no Sage Grouse. The entire overall 10-year study, a cooperative study with the Bureau of Land Management, was instrumental in stopping the practice of spraying sage brush.

On the strutting ground (breeding ground) with 20 or more males, only one or two males will do the breeding. The average clutch size for a yearling bird is 5-6 eggs, and for 2+ years is 7-8 eggs. Most Sage Grouse hens nest within 1-2 miles of the strutting ground.

Editor’s Note: All photos of Greater Sage-Grouse and Sharp-Tailed Grouse on this post, with the exception of the photo of the radio-tagged Greater Sage Grouse taken from Rick’s aforementioned technical bulletin, are courtesy of Bob Martinka, a former colleague of Rick at the Montana Department of Fish and Game.  Bob has graciously allowed me to use these photos.  He has his own bird blog at BirdManBob, and his amazing bird photography can be viewed at his Flickr Photo Site. Thanks, Bob!

Describe how you captured Greater Sage Grouse.

We would catch them on the strutting ground using cannon nets which were set with explosive charges. The two 100-foot cannon nets running parallel were set about 40 feet apart. These would cover the main part of the strutting ground, which was identified by the droppings and feathers. When a big group of males assembled and were strutting, a cluster of hens would come onto the ground. The net charges would be deployed and the nets would spread out overlapping each other, floating down on the grouse, holding them to the ground. (Google cannon nets to see some pictures. You can also Google clover-leaf traps to get an idea, even though the ones we found were fish traps.)

Another method of catching Sage Grouse hens was to drive through sage brush areas. When we saw a hen with a brood, Dr. Bob Eng would get out and whistle like a chick which would draw the hen in. Then with a telescoping noose pole, which would extend from 6 feet to 20 feet with a noose on the end, the noose would be slipped over the hen’s head and tightened just enough to bring the hen in so it could be fixed with a leg band and a radio tracking device.

What kind of expert advice do you have in locating and viewing Greater Sage Grouse?

They can be located by driving through sagebrush country, but they are hard to see because they are brown and blend in to the surroundings. Bob Eng would spot them by looking for the eye. They can also be found by listening for the sound of the birds as they are strutting in the early morning, often for a distance of about a half mile.

The distribution of Sage Grouse is found only where there is sage brush. It would be in the west…Montana, Idaho, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, Wyoming, eastern Colorado, parts of Nevada and New Mexico.

How do you locate a strutting ground for Sage Grouse?

Contact a biologist in any of those states’ fish and wildlife departments to ask the location of a strutting ground. 

Besides your extensive studies of the Greater Sage Grouse, what other official duties did you have to perform regarding birds?

We did roadside crowing counts for Ring-Necked Pheasants, strutting ground surveys for Sage Grouse, and dancing ground surveys for Sharp-Tailed Grouse.

What fun or interesting facts can you tell us about the Sharp-Tailed Grouse?

I’ve had very little experience with “sharptails.” Their grounds are called “dancing grounds” compared to “strutting grounds” for Sage Grouse. They are usually located on the top of a hill. I experienced seeing some of these in grassland areas like Kenny Simonsen’s ranch near Sidney, Montana. There are generally not as many males on the dancing grounds, maybe 6 to 15 per ground.

Do you have any fun or interesting bird stories you can share from your days with the Montana Department of Fish and Game?

I was contacted by some birders one spring who had never seen Sage Grouse, and I took them out to a strutting ground. I was able to drive into the middle of the strutting ground with Sage Grouse strutting on all sides of the truck. They were very thrilled because it was another bird on their life list.

We referred to birds in two ways: game birds and “dickie” birds – small songbirds.

What is your favorite bird of all time? Why?

The Western Meadowlark because of the beautiful song, and it reminds me of the prairie where I grew up.

What is the “best” bird you have ever seen? Why?

The Trumpeter Swan because of the rarity of it. As I recall, the only place I’ve ever seen one is in Saunders Bay on Pelican Lake near Orr, Minnesota.

What are your target birds in 2013 that you want to add to your life list?

I’d like to identify all the warblers on our farm in northern Minnesota.

Give us an update on your birding in Arizona. Seeing other snowbirds does not count.

We saw a Red-Tailed Hawk near Maricopa and Common Egrets near Gila Bend. In Oak Creek we saw a large blue bird that we haven’t identified yet. We also saw a bird high up in a tree that had an incredibly beautiful song, but we also haven’t identified it.

What are your impressions of Evan’s birding abilities, and what lasting birding advice can you give him?

Evan’s abilities are amazing in the way he can pick out minor differences in birds. It has been impressive to see his powers of observation.  His enthusiasm is contagious. As far as giving him advice, I’d say I’ve learned a lot from this 5-year-old, and it has encouraged my interest in birding.

To see what Rick is talking about regarding Evan’s “powers of observation” read More Than Just a Name.

If you want to see an amazing Ruffed Grouse video that I shot that includes male grouse on display and Evan as a 2-year old birder with Grandpa Rick, stop by the blog next Saturday.  I couldn’t believe this video that I shot four years ago and how it foretells the adventures we’re having today!

While the intent of this blog is to share and record the joint birding experiences of myself and Evan (and my dad too), I think I would be doing you readers (and Evan) a disservice if I did not document how I became a birder.  This will be my first and last post that details just my experiences.  After all, reading about Evan is what keeps many of you coming back.  As I described in the About page, this pasttime originated with Evan and was encouraged by my wife and me, but I was never personally invested until I had an encounter with a special bird one day last June.  That chance meeting hooked me into this sport, and now I’m “all in” and share the joy of birding with Evan.

So how could a bird possibly flip the switch for me?  How could passion for a new hobby just ignite?  Before I tell you, it is important for you to know something about my love of the outdoors and how that love has evolved over time.  I’ve always enjoyed nature, whether that was growing up on a 10,000 acre lake in northeastern Minnesota, paddling a canoe through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, or traversing  the hills and sage-brush country of eastern Montana in search of wild game.  Growing up, our family did a lot of camping and hiking, and as I got older, my spirit for adventure grew as I found myself becoming an avid fisherman and hunter. Like many young boys who hunt, I liked to hunt anything with eyeballs at first.  Eventually, though, my interests became honed.  I just didn’t find excitement in pursuing deer and small game.  But wingshooting fascinated me.  I enjoyed the challenge of finding game birds and feeling the tremendous excitement of the fury of beating wings explode in front of me.  I loved canoeing silently around bends in shallow rivers hoping for an eruption of any number of different kinds of puddle ducks. Then to have the skill to hit such a fast, unexpected target and to share the comraderie and teamwork of a good bird dog made this the perfect sport.  Game birds and ducks fascinated me. I was never a numbers guy trying to fill my limit with anything that flew; rather I wanted to seek out and shoot the fascinating ones – a rooster pheasant, a drake wood duck, or a drake green-winged teal.  I even did my own bird taxidermy, mounting well over a dozen birds.  That got old, and as I aged my lust for game went away.  I still liked to hunt, but my interests shifted. Not being able to stand the taste of duck meat, I gave up that hunting.  To hunt something you do not use as sustenance is just wrong.  These days my limited outings of wingshooting just involve ring-necked pheasants and ruffed grouse – birds that taste so chicken-like that even my wife will eat them.  Maybe.  So a couple birds all season is enough to satisfy my urge to hunt and more than enough to satisfy my craving for game meat.

But this is not a hunting blog, and I hope I haven’t chased away all my birder friends with my back story. After all, I’m just getting to the good part – a magical encounter with a special bird.  So, one day last summer while staying at my dad’s 80-acre farm in northern Minnesota, I was exercising my two yellow labs, Faith and Chance, by driving around on the four-wheeler and having them chase me.  What can I say? I’m lazy.  As I was maneuvering the four-wheeler through a gravel pit that was surrounded by 10-15 year-old aspen trees, I heard a vibrant, cheery bird call over the revved engine of the four-wheeler.  What in the world was that?  I shut off the machine and listened.  I heard it again, and it was close.  Now I had to see what was making that fantastic song.  I didn’t have to wait long because this is what I saw:

Photo Credit – Chris Thomas

It was gorgeous.  Throughout my life I’ve seen a lot of pretty birds at feeders and have become quite jaded to them, but this, this was new to me!  I couldn’t believe such a bird existed in the region I had been raised, and yet I’d never seen it.  I raced back to the house to find my dad’s tattered bird identification book from the 1960s.  The bird was unmistakable in appearance and easy to ID. It was the Chestnut-Sided Warbler. So cool.  The call of the Chestnut-Sided Warbler is often quoted in bird books as sounding like, “Pleased to, pleased to meetchya!”  What an appropriate greeting to someone just discovering the world of birds.

Even our sportsman, nature-loving President Teddy Roosevelt was captivated by this pleasant, little bird.  His sister, Corine Roosevelt Robinson, documented the following outburst of her brother, “One winter morning the President electrified his nervous Cabinet by bursting into a meeting with, ‘Gentlemen, do you know what has happened this morning?’ They waited with bated breath as he announced, ‘Just now I saw a Chestnut-sided Warbler and this is only February.’ ” I totally get it, TR.  Have a look/listen for yourself by watching the short video below.

This video was shot by Lang Elliott who runs the website The Music of Nature. Lang has been kind enough to let me put this video on my post. Thanks, Lang! Check out the website if you get a chance. It will be worth your time.

Immediately after my encounter with this warbler, the bird hunter in me was hooked.  Hunting now meant something different to me, and hunting was no longer bound by state lines or dates on a calendar nor did it require a gun.  This new hunting, better known as birding, also required an acute attention-to-detail, a skill I have valued and refined in my career as a math teacher. So there I was, a brand-new birder, thumbing through the bird guide, and I discovered that there’s a whole fleet of warblers – each more beautiful than the last!  Then I noticed that a great number of them summer or migrate through northern Minnesota.  My excitement for the sport was growing by the minute.  My dad, a former wildlife biologist, has always enjoyed bids, and my son has been a bird aficionado for quite some time.  Now, I, too, had got caught up in the excitement.  In less than 24 hours from being warmly greeted by the feathery little creature, my dad and I were up early the next morning to go birding on his property.  And these are the beauties that we found that morning.  Absolutely stunning.  I had no idea what lurked in the trees and bushes around me.

Common Yellowthroat – Chris Thomas

Yellow Warbler – Chris Thomas

 I’m sure that I will continue to chase up grouse and pheasants with my labs in the coming years.  The difference now, however, is that I’ll have a pair of binoculars in my hunting vest.  I have no doubt that the pheasants and grouse will flush unharmed as I am peering through the binoculars trying to ID some bird.  Based on my shooting ability, they’ll be safe regardless.

The photos of the Chestnut-Sided Warbler, the Common Yellowthroat, and the Yellow Warbler are courtesy of Chris Thomas Bird Photography.  Chris has generously given me permission to use these pictures to enhance this post. Thanks, Chris!

If you’re a hunter, check out my previous post titled Rooster!

If you want to read more about an experience with another fantastic warbler, check out the post titled A Glowing Flame in the Treetops.