Featured Species
The Hewitt Lake National Wildlife Refuge is home to a black-tailed prairie dog town. Burrowing owls and mountain plovers have been known to nest within the prairie dog town. The uplands are also used by upland-nesting birds such as long-billed curlew, Sprague's pipit. Baird's sparrow, and waterfowl. The mudflats of the lake are heavily used by migrating shorebirds. During the spring and summer months the shoreline is used by nesting Wilson's phalaropes, Black-necked stilts, and American Avocet.
Long-billed Curlew
The long-billed curlew is the largest shorebird in North America. Standing 16 inches tall, this curlew has an extremely long, down-curved bill (5-6 inches for males and 6.5-8 inches for females) and long legs. Their long bills and legs are feeding adaptations for walking and probing for food in deep mud and for probing in soft soil and animal burrows. They feed on insects, marine and freshwater invertebrates, mollusks, amphibians, and wild fruits. When foraging in uplands they feed on grasshoppers, beetles, and other invertebrates in low-growing grassy areas. Curlews arrive in Montana from early to mid-April.
White-faced Ibis
The white-faced ibis is a wader that probes deep in the mud with its long bill and feeds in shallow water or on the water surface. Ibises typically feed on crayfish, frogs, fishes, insects, newts, earthworms, and crustaceans in freshwater marshes. Most white-faced ibises arrive in Montana in May; however, they typically arrive on the Bowdoin Refuge Complex in late April. Ibises nest in areas where water surrounds emergent vegetation, bushes, shrubs, or low trees. White-face ibis do not require colony and roosting site isolation so nesting colonies are often share with black-crowned night-herons and Franklin’s gulls. Most begin their southern movement in August, and by September they are usually gone from the State.
Marbled Godwit
The marbled godwit is a large shorebird with a long; upturned bill. Most nest in prairies of north-central United States and south-central Canada. Godwits require complexes of wetlands that represent a broad diversity of sizes and types, ranging from temporary to permanent. Godwits feed at water depths of 2-5 inches and in dry years, when temporary wetlands are limiting, the birds will shift to semi-permanent wetlands. Godwits typically arrive in the area the third week in April.
Wilson's Phalarope
Wilson's phalaropes are small wading birds that use both fresh and alkali wetlands with three characteristics: open water, emergent vegetation, and open shoreline. The phalarope feeds by swimming or spinning or walking along the shoreline of shallow grassy ponds or lakes and picking insects and crustaceans from the surface. Wilson's phalaropes usually arrive in the area during the first week of May.