Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • W I N T E R 2 0 1 9 88 Occasionally a bird does something truly mysterious within webcam view that requires some investigation to understand. Such was the case with a late autumn visit to the nest from an American kestrel. e smallest bird of prey in North America, kestrels are also one of the most beautiful of all raptors. e males' feathers are "paint by number" blocks of steel blue, light burnt umber, and black and white, with distinct black spots on their backs and chests. Kestrels eat mostly insects and small mammals and birds, such as moles, mice, shrews, bats, and songbirds. ey do not eat vegetation. Yet, that is exactly what a kestrel did for several minutes. He packed around the nest, found small bits of the bark form cotton wood limbs that the ospreys had brought to the nest, and ate them. Before this incident, Dunrovin had hosted a workshop focused on "zoopharmacognosy," which is a big word that can be broken into its component parts: "zoo" meaning animals, "pharma" mean- ing pharmacology, and "cognosy" meaning knowledge. In other words, animals that know about the pharmaceutical properties of plants within their habitats. After watching the kestrel eat the cot- tonwood bark, Dunrovin contacted an expert in zoopharmacognosy to learn that cottonwoods are part of the poplar family of trees that contain varying amounts of salicin, the chemical component most commonly found in aspirin. In Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West, by Gregory L. Tilford he states, "All poplars contain varying amounts of salicin, and preparations of the leaves or inner bark (cambium) can be used to relieve pain, inflammation, and fever." e male kestrel might well have been self-medicating for pain. You can see a video of this incident by going to www.members. daysatdunrovin.com/cottonwoods-magical-trees/. At times the excitement at the bird feeders come not from indi- vidual birds, but from the sheer number of one type of bird. Late winters see the red-winged blackbirds return to Montana in great numbers. Mobbing the bird feeders and creating a noisy cacophony with their distinct trills, these birds are one of the first harbingers of spring. While some overwinter, Montanans know that seeing them numbers means that winter is loosening its grip on the land. Please join us a www.DaysAtDunrovin.com to enjoy winter bird watching made easy by our bird feeders and web camera. Join ornithologist world famous for his work on snowy owls, DENVER HOLT, on one of his Winter Raptor Workshops in Montana's Mission Valley which has some of the highest densities of wintering raptors in the Northwest. www.wildplanetnature- tours.com/tours/winter- raptor-workshop/ EVERYONE CAN ENJOY WINTER BIRDS BY SIMPLY INSTALLING AND MAINTAINING BACK YARD BIRD FEEDERS. Cleaning the osprey nest on top of a 47-foot pole

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