Spring offers a return of wildlife activity in Montana, spanning from Yellowstone National Park’s baby bison born each May to Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge’s sharp- tailed grouse dance in the late spring.
At the end of March, thousands of snow geese make their annual migration to Freezout Lake in Central Montana. You can track the migration using an online migration tracker.
Additional wildlife viewing locations to add to your itinerary include:
- CSKT Bison Range (Charlo, MT): Originally founded in 1908 as the National Bison Range, the CSKT Bison Range is a historical wildlife conservation area home to roughly 350 bison, including newborn calves, antelope and deer.
- Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area (Fairfield, MT): Freezout Lake is a rest stop for large numbers of snow geese and tundra swans on their spring migration journey from California to their nesting grounds in the Canadian arctic, making this Central Montana spot a premier stop for observing the huge migration.
- Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge (Stevensville, MT): The Kenai Nature Trail and Wildfowl Lane offer opportunities to see plenty of species. Neotropical bird species best describe what birders could look for here along with migrating waterfowl, bald eagles and blue-winged teals.
- Warm Springs Wildlife Management Area (Anaconda, MT): This is the largest area for waterfowl production in the upper Clark Fork Valley and features wetlands with sandhill cranes, herons, ducks and otters.
- Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (Glasgow, MT): The second-largest wildlife refuge in the lower 48 states (about 1.1 million acres) lines 229 miles of the Missouri River Breaks and surrounds Fort Peck Lake with 1,520 miles of shoreline. The refuge offers topographical features like canyons, buttes and coulees, and animals such as elk, bighorn sheep, antelope and prairie dogs.
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