Nesting Brewer’s sparrows are rare in the Helena Valley of west-central Montana. But five years ago, I found four of them singing from a small patch of sagebrush near Devil’s Elbow Campground, along the eastern edge of the Valley. In June 2022, I went back for another look.

I didn’t find any Brewer’s sparrows, which raises some great questions about what makes good-quality sagebrush habitat. I did find many other creatures, though: mountain bluebirds feeding young, a violet-green swallow building a nest, desert evening-primrose flowering on the slopes…

This podcast is the story of that day.