Complexities of the forest food web are also illustrated on a very small scale by the red-backed vole in Glacier Park's west-side old growth forests. The voles eat mostly fungus, so they flourish in the dark undergrowth-free ancient forests of the McDonald Valley. By eating fungus they also spread fungal spores in their travels. The mycorrhizal (rootlets) of fungus permeate the soils in ancient forests, about 2 tons of it per acre, and allow the roots of conifer trees to gather nutrients.

McDonald Creek Glacier Park is perhaps the best place to see harlequin ducks in the lower 48 states. These "clown ducks", painted in a gray-orange-black-white costume, seem to frolic as they swim and dive in the turbulent water of McDonald Creek. They walk the bottom in search of mollusks and aquatic insects. Their peculiar barking call can often be heard above the roar of rapids when feeding and they emit a squeaking sound during courtship rituals.  In the old growth forests of the McDonald Creek area, swifts often appear at dusk to feed on hatching insects. They bathe while skimming calm water and splash themselves with their tails; they even mate in flight.

Credits and Sources:

“Glacier: Birds,” National Park Service,  http://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/nature/birds.htm, Accessed on June 10, 2015.

“Glacier: Mammals,” National Park Service http://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/nature/mammals.htm,Accessed June 10, 2015.