Side Tracks: Inside Winter Song

In this episode, Daily Inter Lake reporter Taylor Inman sits down with Hungry Horse News editor Chris Peterson to break down his stunning documentary Winter Song — a year-in-the-life look at a small river ecosystem in northwest Montana. Learn what it takes to film wildlife in one of the harshest environments in the country.

Over the course of more than 200 days in the field, Peterson and his son captured intimate, never-before-seen moments of wildlife surviving and thriving through brutal winter conditions, spring runoff and the quiet rhythms of summer. 

From American dippers diving beneath frozen water to rare encounters with otters, wolves, and foxes, Winter Song reveals a side of Montana nature documentaries you don’t often see.

Peterson shares the realities behind the lens — hours of stillness, unpredictable wildlife behavior, technical challenges with gear and the patience required to capture just seconds of usable footage. 

He also reflects on the deeply personal experience of making the film alongside his son, the evolution of the project from concept to PBS broadcast, and what it means to tell authentic, place-based stories in an era of polished, big-budget nature films.

If you're interested in wildlife filmmaking, documentary storytelling, Montana’s natural landscapes, or the raw process behind capturing nature on camera, this conversation delivers rare insight from someone who lived every season of it.