Natural North Dakota

The comings and goings at our bird feeders has been rather routine this winter. We are getting the usual chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, pine siskins, downy and hairy woodpeckers on a regular basis. But we are seeing a few red-breasted nuthatches coming in for the suet and sunflower seeds.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is coming up February 12-15. As some of you may know it is an effort between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology National Audubon Society, and Birds Canada to help scientists better understand the population dynamics and movements of birds during the winter.

Clear summer nights are great for looking up at the heavens. But there is something about clear winter nights that makes the night sky even more awe inspiring. I am not sure why. Maybe it has something to with the cold crisp air. I was thinking about one night recently when I happened to look skyward and saw the Milky Way in all its glory. What a sight! We need to look up more often at night.

It never ceases to amaze me how quiet the prairie, woods, and marshes can be during the dead of winter here in North Dakota. Oh, there are the occasional sightings, such as that of deer and coyotes, plus the sighting or calls of chickadees, nuthatches, and other birds. But it often seems hauntingly quiet during the winter. That is a bit deceiving. A closer look reveals that many animals are quite active during the winter. I was thinking about that recently while taking a walk in the Turtle

If I had one wish, it would probably be time travel. And one of the first places I would go would be the Great Plains of North America before European influence to see for myself those immense herds of bison on their native range. There may have been up to 30 million or more bison on the plains of North America. What a sight that must have been!

Some of you longtime North Dakota residents may recall the old North Dakota tourism campaign, North Dakota-Mountain Removal Project Completed. That campaign, back in the day, was complete with highway billboards. But any knowledge of the present-day North Dakota geography would indicate that the mountain removal project was not completed.

Happy New Year! I suspect that most of us were ready to see 2020 in the rearview mirror. Here is hoping 2021 is your best year ever. Things are getting brighter! Most of us might not have noticed it much yet, but the days are getting longer!

The winter finch forecast predicted that the pine siskins were likely to stay up north to take advantage of a good conifer seed crop across much of western Canada. As some of you may know, they are one of our more adventurous and erratic winter visitors, unpredictably moving considerable distances in search of food. I do not think there are enough of them at our bird feeders to indicate an irruption this winter. But they are keeping me busy stocking our feeders with sunflower and thistle seeds.

As I drove down the highway past a pond shortly after ice-up a few weeks ago, I noticed a few small piles of what looked like mud and vegetation on the ice. I suspect that some of you may have noticed something similar. What is that all about? They were mud and vegetation! In short, they were muskrat push-ups. These push-ups are often constructed by muskrats shortly after ice-up on area ponds and marshes. The muskrats chew through the thin sheet of ice, creating a hole large enough for them to

The Holiday Season is coming quickly. Consider giving a gift that helps someone to better enjoy nature. When I was a kid, I gave my parents a bird feeder for Christmas. In retrospect, it was probably more than a bit self-serving, but it got my mom and dad interested in birds and kept them entertained for years. A bird feeder can do that! They come in a variety of types and prices, so it should be easy to find a good fit. A bird house or a bird guide could also make a good gift. There are several