I recently had the joy of spending 2 full days at the Sula Country Store & Campground, which seems to be *all* of Sula, Montana, located near the MT-ID border on Hwy 93 south of Missoula. We paid $75 a night for a cottage that had a full-size bed, a pair of single-size bunk beds, and an indoor bathroom, plus a stove inside, a brazier outside, and a nice stock of dishes & cookware! For $85, as expensive as it gets, you also get a tv, a VCR, and free run (I think it's free, anyway) of the tape library up at the store, which is surprisingly extensive. They have a restaurant for breakfast and lunch, with bison burgers from MT ranches included among the specialty items. It is also a birding PARADISE, especially for some of our signature western favorites! In 48 hours, never going more than 1/4 mile from where we slept, with terrible rainy weather and dying for good rechargeable batteries forcing me to rely on inadequate non-rechargeables, I recorded:
17 species that I photographed and have identified
3 species I photographed but am not sure about
4 species I saw or heard and identified but did not photograph
This list included favorites like the Clark's nutcracker, western tanager, cedar waxwing (BEST shots I have ever taken of them bar none), and Steller's jay. Life Listers for me included the violet-green swallow, Townsend's solitaire, cliff swallow, and possibly one of the 3 unsures, which may be a northern rough-winged swallow. Birds I did not photo were the common raven, varied thrush, and 2 others that have slipped my memory at the moment. My mind swims at imagining what it would be like with strong batteries, good weather, and longer hikes!
Included is a pic taken 8 feet from the bed we slept in: a cedar waxwing doing something I've never seen one do before. They were perching in the evergreens beside the river, flying out kingbird style to nab large insects, which they then perched to eat. It seemed to be primarily a dusk behavior, though I must admit the relief of being away from kids, traffic, and assorted neighbor-noise had me sleeping in until well after sunrise...
