Birding the Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS and Arrow Stone Park

Directions: Grant-Kohrs is located at the north end of Deer Lodge and Arrowstone Park at the south.

General information: A Checklist of Birds is available at both locations. At the Grant-Kohrs Visitors Center you can purchase a field guide of the common birds for these sites that includes color photographs and a map of the ranch’s habitats. At Grant-Kohrs there are roads, trails, and the abandoned Milwaukee Railroad right-of-way to walk. There are a series of well-established trails at Arrowstone. More than 150 species have been identified between these two areas, 70 are common, 80 breed and nearly 40 over winter.

Habitats: Arrowstone Park is a riparian area along the Clark Fork River. Shrubs include several species of willow, chokecherry, Wood’s rose, and water birch. There are also a series of small ponds and wet areas with horsetails, rushes, bulrushes, and sedges. Most grasses are non-native. Grant-Kohrs habitats include ponds and wet marshes, riparian/stream, short grass prairie and hayfields.

Species of note: Wood Duck, Gray Partridge, Great Blue Heron, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Virginia Rail, Sora, Sandhill Crane, Black-bellied and American Golden-Plover (fall migration), Spotted Sandpiper, Long-billed Curlew, Wilson’s Snipe, Red-naped Sapsucker, Western Wood-Pewee, Willow and Least Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, Eastern Kingbird, American Dipper, Gray Catbird, Yellow Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Black-headed Grosbeak, Bobolink, Yellow-headed Blackbird, and Bullock’s Oriole. Winter visitors include: Rough-legged Hawk, Northern Shrike, and American Tree Sparrow.

Best viewing season: April - October; November - March for winter species.

Download the Southwest Montana Birding Brochure

Contacts:
Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site
266 Warren Lane
Deer Lodge, MT 59722
(406) 846-2070
www.nps.gov/grko

Deer Lodge Chamber of Commerce
1109 Main St.
Deer Lodge, MT 59722
(406) 846-2094
www.powellcountymontana.com