Articles

Flight Lines: First flycatcher of spring defies convention

There is any number of ways we can divide birds into groups: Pelagic (oceangoing) vs. land-based, precocial vs. altricial young, cavity nesting vs. nest building, or perhaps vegetarian vs. flesh-eating.

• Eastern Phoebe

Flight Lines: West Fargoan adds species to county bird list

A 2006 poll conducted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service showed North Dakotans among the least likely Americans to be bird watchers on a per capita basis at 14 percent. Only Hawaiians polled lower among the 50 states. I’ve got my own theories as to why this might be the case but let’s put that aside for another time and assume the data are reasonably accurate.

• Gull

City-dwelling raptors no longer things of rarity

On the 18th of December, 1993, I saw my first merlin sitting in a tree in Fargo’s industrial park. By then I had been birding for over 15 years and merlins—those energetic falcons with an attitude I’d heard so much about—were quite near the top of the list of birds I wanted to see. I now realize there were two reasons it took me so long to find one.

• Merlin

Flight Lines: Roadrunner very real, just not here

From the following list of cartoon birds, select the one with the specific real life counterpart and matching name: Big bird, Roadrunner, Woody Woodpecker, Daffy Duck, Woodstock, and Tweety. Woody Woodpecker comes close, I guess, and Daffy Duck even includes the word “duck.” But only roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) meets the specifics called for in the first sentence.

• Roadrunner

Flight Lines: Morning, lengthening days lead to singing birds

“In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love,” wrote British poet Alfred Lord Tennyson in his work titled, Locksley Hall. Indeed there is something about the slightly warming weather, the ever longer days, and the slow greening of the landscape which stirs the hearts of not only young men, but young organisms of all types.

• Finch

Flight Lines: Sorting through natural relationships not always easy

The other day I received an email with an attached video showing scenes of a crow and a house cat frolicking and carrying on in a playful and friendly manner. Strange as it would seem, these two normally antagonistic creatures were boldly defying nature in a peaceful, even affectionate, fashion. Or at least defying nature as we typically recognize it.

• Chickadee and squirrel fur

Flight Lines: Black-capped chickadee everyone's favorite

Just for fun, let’s say we’ve been asked to manufacture a bird species using a list of certain characteristics, as if something like this were possible.

• Chickadee

Flight Lines: Seeing more clearly with young eyes

Every now and then, we all need reminding as to just what it was that led us here in the first place, and why we love what we do.

• Birding
• Keen eyes

Flight Lines: Recent bird survey exceeds expectations again

Local birders round up 54 species during annual count

• Nuthatch

Holiday gift ideas for the birder in your life

Christmas shopping has never been a strong area for me. I’m not entirely sure why, it just happens to be that way. I think the hype and hustle of the season blur my ability to reason clearly and I end up buying something spontaneously, something a little odd, or – worst of all – something unwanted.

• Bushes

Columns

Flight Lines: Tree swallows are a nice second choice

Matt is a friend who lives on a nearby rural farmstead. He’s not a farmer, mind you, but he and his wife prefer the quieter atmosphere of country living. It also allows her to keep her horses at home instead of boarding them somewhere else.

• Tree Swallows

Flight Lines: By nature or man, a wing must produce lift

You’d think by now this whole flying thing would be figured out. It’s not. Credit to the first great thinkers to ponder the possibility of manned flight goes to the venerable names we all learned, the Aristotles, the Galileos, the da Vincis, and others. That’s only because they preserved their thoughts with written words and drawings. I’m confident the first humans to walk the earth also wondered and wished. With creatures all around them plying the air with moving wings, how could they not? Insects and bats were doing it. And birds, those magical feathered beasts, were doing it too.

• Vermillion flycatcher

Mystery of bird migration part of the charm

There is much yet to know about bird migration. Oh sure, we’ve come a long way since the days of faulty beliefs such as swallows hibernating underground or hummingbirds riding upon the backs of flying geese. Still, many questions of how, why, when and where remain largely unanswered.

• Tennessee warbler

Streams of raptors are possible in fall; Identifying hawks on the wing a challenge

Sometimes they come in bunches, often they are singles. Some are neatly packaged in a tight, folded tuck piercing the air like a missile while others are in full sail displaying to the world beneath their every feature. Some fan the air with their wings rather lazily, others frantically. Pete Dunne calls these migrating birds “wind masters.” Most folks refer to them simply as hawks.

• Turkey vulture

Memories of college class still relevant

The passing years tend to dull memories somewhat. This is no less true with our schooling as well. I probably couldn’t pass a statistics test today nor could I stand a chance in organic chemistry. But certain classes taught by certain instructors somehow defy this notion of lost information. For whatever reason, I actually remember a few of these classes with some clarity. I think it’s the right mixture of an interesting subject, a dynamic and capable instructor, and course material that grabs the student a certain way.

• Beaver damage

Killdeer relative known for long-distance migration

The nesting season is all but over for the vast majority of birds in the Northern Hemisphere. Many finished the business of gene perpetuation some months past. About a week ago, songbirds began to show movement away from territory, starting the process of migration. But for birders, the star attractions during this late summer lull have been shorebirds. Since the middle of July, these skinny-legged water lovers have been putting on quite a show upon their return to our area, often from high Arctic nesting grounds.

• American golden plover

Strong connection between Internet and birding

Type the word “birding” into the popular Google search engine and hit the enter key. The results show about nine million web pages available to users of the Internet. No one can possibly view them all.

• Curve-billed thrasher

Some colors dependent on food source

You are what you eat. Or at least that’s what we’ve heard all our lives. Of course it’s not meant in a literal sense. I don’t consider myself a pizza although I indulge in the vegetable, meat, and cheese pies with some regularity. A quick Internet search of the phrase’s origin reveals a 19th century French origin. We English borrowed it sometime later and it’s come to represent the notion that food controls our health according to phrases.org.uk. Good enough.

• Franklin's gull

Frothy mass visible on plant stem hides curious bug

The concept itself can be identified as far back as Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War,’ although he didn’t use the term. It purportedly stemmed from WWI aviators. But it was air crew members fighting in Korea and Vietnam who are mainly given credit for mainstreaming the short phrase. The idea has gained some spread, having been popularized by human factors scientists more than a decade ago.

Detailed rules govern the counting of birds

Collections mean things to people. I’m no psychologist but I suppose they represent order for folks; some way of making sense of disparate items by lumping them together in a tidy package. My neighbor has some Hummel’s for instance. Walk into my mother’s home and a person will find boxes of Precious Moments. People will collect just about anything and everything from matchbooks to classic cars.

• Drake duck