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Flight Lines

Two books to add to your midsummer reading list: Mammals of North Dakota by Robert Seabloom and The Bluebird Effect, Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds, by Julie Zickefoose.

Two midsummer reads worth your time

I buy more books than I read. I'd like to think I will get around to them all at one point in my life but let's be realistic, I won't...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, Jul 18, 2012 - 12:00am

These mute swans, present at the West Fargo lagoons on June 24, represent Cass County's first record of the species.

Keith Corliss / Forum Communications Co.

Flight Lines: Eurasian species shows up, but is it welcome?

Mention the phrase "invasive species" in the presence of a biologist and she'll usually respond with elevated blood pressure, a knitted brow, and a less-than-friendly stare. And for good reason;...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, Jul 04, 2012 - 12:00am

Somewhat camouflaged on a multi-colored granite rock is a painted lichen moth caterpillar. Keith Corliss / Forum Communications Co.

Flight Lines: Little discoveries on the North Dakota prairie

"I doubt it." That was my answer to the question, "Do you think these caterpillars are eating lichens?" Sure there were quite a few of them crawling on the large...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, Jun 20, 2012 - 12:00am

Joe Gregg, Horace, awaits an appearance from a rare Acadian Flycatcher near West Fargo along with other area birders. Keith Corliss / Forum Communications Co.

Flight Lines: Elusive flycatcher found near West Fargo

Last Sunday I asked for a copy of North Dakota's most recent record of Acadian flycatcher (Empidonax virescens); it soon arrived via email. In the dispassionate language of scientific data,...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, Jun 06, 2012 - 12:00am

Very few records of Kentucky warbler exist for North Dakota. This one was discovered in Turtle River State Park, May 23, 2010. Keith Corliss / Forum Communications Co.

Flight Lines: No mystery, now is the height of songbird migration

Dates are important. Always have been; just ask Julius Caesar about the Ides of March. Whether to recognize birthdays or anniversaries, or to memorialize an event for a specific reason...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, May 23, 2012 - 9:27am

Eastern phoebe can be identified by its dark head with no eye-ring, lack of wing-bars, a tail it habitually dips downward, and a voice announcing its own name. Keith Corliss / Forum Communications Co.

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...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, May 09, 2012 - 12:00am

This glaucous gull represents the first recorded appearance in Cass County. Photo submitted by Dean Riemer.

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...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, Apr 25, 2012 - 12:00am

A number of raptor species have increased their presence within the boundaries of cities and towns over the last few decades including merlins, which now nest in West Fargo. Keith Corliss / Forum Communications Co.

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...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, Apr 04, 2012 - 12:00am

Ben Schwartz feeds one of a pair of greater roadrunners that shows up daily at his place near Tucson, Ariz. Keith Corliss / Forum Communications Co.

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...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, Mar 21, 2012 - 12:00am

Indirectly due to the lengthening of days, male house finches have noticeably increased their singing of late. Keith Corliss / Forum Communications Co.

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...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, Mar 07, 2012 - 12:00am

A black-capped chickadee harvests hair from a dead squirrel's tail in an example of what Meinertzhagen calls autolycism. Keith Corliss / Forum Communications Co.

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...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, Feb 22, 2012 - 12:00am

Black-capped chickadees are considered non-migratory and can be encountered in the woods in any season. Keith Corliss / Forum Communications Co.

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. Our orders say the...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 12:00am

Found on 51 percent of past Fargo-Moorhead Christmas Bird Counts, red-breasted nuthatches were not recorded during most recent CBC.
Keith Corliss / Forum Communications Co.

Flight Lines: Recent bird survey exceeds expectations again

It was thought by many experts that the record would never be broken; the human body just cannot accomplish such a feat, a four-minute mile is not possible they said...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, Jan 04, 2012 - 12:00am

Even small areas of bushes in an urban landscape produces cover for a variety of organisms.
Keith Corliss / Forum Communications Co.

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...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, Dec 21, 2011 - 12:00am

One of two recently documented snowy owls found north of Fargo. The heavy barring indicates this is an immature bird. Keith Corliss / Forum Communications Co.

Flight Lines: Sharp snowy owl contrast between last two winters

We are under an invasion. Unlike Orson Welles' 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel, War of the Worlds, this one is real and it's coming from the north...

flight lines / outdoors Wed, Dec 07, 2011 - 12:00am

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