Join us March 20-22, 2026
All events located at the Choteau Pavilion (204 1st St. NE Choteau, Montana) and FREE to the public unless otherwise noted.
Planning to attend Wild Wings – please RSVP! Pre-registration (link on top right of webpage) is free and not required. However, the early bird gets a swag bag special for $35 that includes a tote, t-shirt, 5 raffle tickets, event sticker and pin! You can also purchase individual items via the link. Limited quantities may be available at event. Questions – please reach out via the ‘Contact’ link at the bottom of the page. PRE-REGISTRATION WILL BE LIVE FEBRUARY 5
Download a 2026 printable copy of the schedule here.
***Bird watching at Freezout Lake WMA requires a Conservation License, an annual license purchased through Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks licensing page: https://fwp.mt.gov/buyandapply/conservation-license
Friday March 20
2:00-3:00PM: Wildlife Photography For All Workshop. Learn from photographer Talia Azadian on how to get the best photos with the gear you have - whether it’s a phone camera or full camera set. Free at the Choteau Pavilion
4:00-6:30PM: Meet and Greet. Food trucks - El Taco Valle and Jammers BBQ - providing dinner and Choteau American Legion with beverages for purchase. Educational booths from Montana and nationally based wildlife conservation organizations.
7:00PM: ‘Flight of the Swans’ Film. A female conservationist takes to the skies in a paramotor to follow Bewick’s Swans on their annual migration in a bid to understand their dramatic decline; 7,000 kilometers, 11 countries, from Russia to England across tundra, forests, and industrial landscapes, where she encounters people just as passionate about saving and protecting these birds and their wetland homes. Narrated by Academy Award nominee Sophie Okonedo. Shown at the historic Roxy Theatre (25 Main Ave. N).
Saturday March 21
6:30-10:30AM: Free guided tours of Freezout Lake WMA and vicinity targeting light geese activity in the area. Meet at Choteau Pavilion parking lot for van carpool and caravan options. Van space is limited. Please sign up in person at the event registration table Friday afternoon. Anyone is welcome to caravan behind the vans from the pavilion.
10:30AM-5:00PM: Educational booths with Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, Boone and Crockett Club, Ducks Unlimited, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, Montana Audubon, Montana Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Montana Dinosaur Center, Montana Discovery Foundation, Montana Wetlands & Waterfowl, Montana WILD, National Wildlife Federation, Pheasants Forever, Rocky Mountain Front Weed Roundtable, Sun River Watershed Group, and Teton Conservation District.
1:00-2:00PM: Join Rob Domenech, Executive Director of Raptor View Research Institute (RVRI), for a presentation that will include a brief history of RVRI’s long-term Golden Eagle (GOEA) research (when it started and why), blood heavy metals analysis (i.e., blood-lead levels) in GOEA sampled in west-central Montana, a summary of wing-tag encounters, and an overview of our satellite telemetry movements of GOEAs, with some standout stories of some satellite-tracked individuals. Rob graduated from the University of Montana in 2002 with a Wildlife Biology degree. He worked throughout western Montana for much of the 1990s, scouting for suitable sites to establish the first fall raptor migration ridgeline banding study in Montana. He founded RVRI in 2004 to continue and better facilitate his raptor research and migration studies. Domenech is one of the country's leading authorities on Golden Eagle and Osprey ecology. His work includes standardized migration counts, satellite telemetry, wing-tagging and color-banding, eco-toxicology studies, and more. RVRI's data have contributed to over a dozen publications in top-tier scientific journals. When not in the field, you can find Rob promoting awareness of raptor ecology and related conservation challenges to youth, and community groups.
2:00-3:00PM: Join Chris La Tray as he tells an Anishinaabe story about snow geese and the interconnected topic of migration of many relatives, human and older than human. Chris is a Métis storyteller, a descendent of the Pembina Band of the mighty Red River of the North and a citizen of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. He writes the newsletter "An Irritable Métis" and lives near Frenchtown, Montana. He was the Montana Poet Laureate for 2023–2025 and has written three books, most recently “Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian's Journey Home” (2024, Milkweed Editions). www.chrislatray.com
3:00PM: Raffle - Great prizes from our sponsors! Vortex Binoculars, Red Ants Pants tickets and more! Must be present to win.
Check out our other Community Events:
10AM-6PM: Choteau Arts Studio Spring Migration Show. Including live music, refreshments, and activities from 2-5PM. FREE
11AM - 1PM: Conservation Grains -- Hands-on flour milling demo and talk about wildlife habitat and grain farming - 21 2nd St NW, Choteau (around the corner from Choteau Arts).
5:30PM: Doors open for the Old Trail Museum Wild Game Potluck. Museum Fundraiser. Admission is a free will donation. This is a POTLUCK with game and non-game dishes, silent auction, live auction, and 50/50 drawing. Located at the Stage Stop Inn's Rocky Mountain Convention Center.
Sunday March 23
6:30-10:00AM: Free Guided tours of Freezout Lake WMA and vicinity targeting Light Geese activity in the area. Meet at Choteau Pavilion parking lot for van carpool and caravan options. Van space is limited. Please sign up in person at the event registration table Friday or Saturday afternoon. Anyone is welcome to caravan behind the van from the pavilion.
11:00AM-1:00PM: Optics Workshop -- Join Pete Young with Optics4Birding, an online optics business. He'll have some of the latest birding gear to show you and welcomes any questions you have about binoculars, spotting scopes, and everything in between!" At Pavilion. Free.
Noon-3:00PM: Montana Dinosaur Center (120 2nd Ave South, Bynum) open for visitors.
MEET YOUR TOUR GUIDES!
Lisa Hudnutt grew up along the shores of Lake Michigan, where she developed birding skills while working at the local nature center. Warblers in the spring and confusing fall shorebirds were of particular interest to her. After a career as a naturalist, she pursued a career in education. In 2015 Lisa moved to Choteau, where the warblers are more scarce but the raptors are plentiful. She enjoys the pursuit of birds around the world, but gets the most gratification from introducing people to our avian world.
Eric Bergman received a bachelor's degree in biology and master's in science education some years ago. He has guided natural history focused field trips in central Montana for 25 years, sometimes more than other times. Eric cannot claim ornithological or birding expertise, but enjoys teaching and learning and observing and being outside with other people. Alone is very good too. Eric did have the great fortune, also some years ago, of spending a couple of weeks in the field birding with David A. Sibley, which was great.
