March is a Tease

l took advantage of the recent lack of snow and headed north of town to explore a new area around Lake Mason National Wildlife Refuge. The west-of-the-divide reports of a wide variety of waterfowl migrating through the Flathead Valley got me itching to go see what I could find on the eastern plains. The answer was - not much. I checked out a few areas of native prairie I plan to return to later in the spring and then headed towards the wetland portion of the refuge. I wish I could have got there. The road turned to a slippery sinking mess well before I could get to the refuge boundary so rather than tempt getting stuck I turned around with plans to get back after it dries out a bit. Horned Larks were setting up territories throughout the drive and there was a number of large flocks of Canada Geese tacking north against the strong west wind. One small flock of Tundra Swans flew over me and a few Mallards littered the occasional puddle. I also found scattered herds of Pronghorn along one stretch of road. There was a lot of standing water north of Billings in the Broadview flats and maybe more waterfowl will start to arrive in the next couple of weeks. Guess I will just have to try it again.