Even after raising chickens for the majority of her life, Jean Robocker is anything but bird brained.

The 90-year-old is mentally as sharp as the beaks of the prize-winning Dutch bantams she raises, and the Flathead Valley chapter of the Audubon Society just recognized her with a lifetime conservation award. 

“I’m glad somebody noticed I cared for the land,” Robocker said. “But why not somebody who is active in conservation? I was a little embarrassed, but it’s a very nice thought.”

Getting to meetings is difficult for her, so when she was made the guest of honor at a recent Audubon meeting, it was a flustering experience.

The award was a result not only of her chickens and her bird watching, but placing a conservation easement on her property to help protect the land she so loves.

“Mainly we didn’t want subdivision,” Robocker said. “When you are born a farmer, you hate to see a house built on land where you could grow something. I just think they should choose the land better.”

Robocker, who lives near Egan Slough close to Robocker Lane, is the last of her name. Her daughters have all taken different names. Her husband’s family came to the Flathead in 1905 from Illinois, and their property will pass into conservation after she goes.

But she doesn’t get glum when thinking about things fading from history. Much of Robocker’s life continues to preserve the past.

“I came here in 1950, and it was wonderful,” she said. “It’s still a lovely place, mind you. I’ve been trying to keep small schoolhouses around.”

She believes the smaller schools provide better education and a faster track to higher learning. This is just part of her effort to keep the past’s charm.

Her father, a native New Zealander, served in the Boer War in South Africa, and she tries to keep around the bits of Afrikaans and Maori languages she learned from him, and other cultural highlights from her many travels. Most of her times abroad were spent finding exotic birds in Europe and Japan.

With several pairs of binoculars around her house, Robocker admits she bird watches every chance she gets.

“I bird watch everyplace,” she said. “I’ve birded since I was a child, growing up on a 10-acre farm.”

Robocker grew up close to her mother on the farm in Milwaukee, Ore., now a part of the greater Portland metro. There she learned about botany, ornithology and how to care for the land. During World War II, she attended Oregon State University, where she admits it was slim pickings romantically.

She moved in 1950 to Kalispell as a Girl Scout leader and roomed with the then-community editor of the Daily Inter Lake.

She met her husband, Eugene “Doug” Robocker, while singing in her church’s choir. He died 21 years ago, but Robocker still has visits from her three daughters and six grandchildren to keep her company.

Her parents died relatively young, which Robocker says has left her and her sister in an unusual position.

“We didn’t have role models,” Robocker said. “So we don’t know how to be old.”

Much to the frustration of her daughters, she will still occasionally get on ladders to clean out gutters and make sure bird nests aren’t disturbed. Besides some limited mobility, her biggest annoyance is not an unusual one for Montana’s farmers.

On May 9 of this year, a grizzly bear broke into her hen house and killed most of her breeding birds. The rare (in the United States at least) Dutch bantams were a source of income for her, but also a way to keep active and meet others interested in birds.

“Fish, Wildlife and Parks have been extremely helpful,” Robocker said. “I’m not going to rebuild that house. My birds have been well protected for 20 years, but I just don’t know now. They still keep me in touch with people worldwide.”

She used to ship the birds from Kalispell, but a local ordinance prevents that. Her options now are for a friend to ship the birds from Great Falls or for home pickup — which, she admits, many folks are just fine with doing. Glacier National Park is a good excuse to get to Kalispell.

Those who choose the latter option can see Robocker’s house, built with her husband’s hands, which still has the knickknacks of a life well lived. Included among these is a framed award from a chicken-raising organization proclaiming Robocker “Queen of the Dutch Hobby.”

The queen and her chicks thrive on.

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.