On the grayest days at the grayest hour a small gray bird sings as the shortest days of December descend on the landscape of Garter Creek; the fictional name of a real stream, as it winds through the landscape of Northwest Montana like the namesake snake.  The dipper is just one of the many birds and creatures that call Garter Creek home.  Garter Creek is not long, perhaps 2-1/2 miles, but there are four beaver lodges, a transient river otter (who later finds a partner), numerous whitetail deer, an incredible array of songbirds and waterfowl, including trumpeter swans, a pack of wolves, a red fox, a great horned owl and a barred owl, which all are found along the creek.  Wintersong centers on the dippers, the otters, the beavers as they make their life in the harsh and almost always gray days in Northwest Montana -- from freezing rain to snowstorms and temperatures that drop one morning to 23 below zero.