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Hummingbirds are stunning creatures: not only for their jewel-like beauty and gravity-defying aerial acrobatics but also for their sheer fortitude. Every fall, they migrate thousands of miles to Mexico or Central America. Their wings thrum at up to 80 beats per second. When they sleep, their body drops into a state of torpor: their heartbeat and breathing slow to a state almost near death. Yet when they awake, their first order of business is hovering about trees and...
When the Corps of Discovery passed through Montana in 1805 Capt. Meriwether Lewis described a "new kind of white or silvery trout,"-the Arctic grayling, a member of the salmon family that depends on clean, cold-water streams. Montana is now the only place in the lower 48 states with native populations of fluvial (river-dwelling) Arctic grayling. Over time, its historic range has been drastically reduced due to habitat loss, fragmentation, overharvest, nonnative species, and...
From the beginning, Flathead Lake Biological Station has had a wide-ranging approach to science. FLBS Assistant Director Tom Bansak explained the three parts of the bio station's mission: research, education, and outreach. RESEARCH AND MONITORING Research has always been the station's main function, but FLBS has grown quite a bit since the early days. FLBS has assembled a long history of research and monitoring, which has resulted in much scientific discovery and insight, as w...
The enormity and beauty of Flathead Lake has captured the imagination of Montana residents for generations. As the largest freshwater lake in the western U.S. (outside of Alaska), it's no surprise that people have been asking and trying to answer questions about this body of water for a very long time. Flathead Lake Biological Station, located on the lake's east side, is the second-oldest research station in the U.S. Perched on the peninsula of Yellow Bay, the biological...