Indianz.Com > News > Yellow Bird: Birds bring magic to North Dakota

Yellow Bird: Birds bring magic to North Dakota
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Filed Under: Opinion

"I feel fortunate for the chance to be around extraordinary, well-informed and dedicated birders and prairie people such as those I’ve met in Grand Forks. North Dakota and this area are amazing when it comes to birds and prairie.

We happen to be in the Central Flyway for migrating birds, which means hundreds of thousand of birds stop or fly over from faraway places such as Argentina. They breed here or farther north, then fly south again when the weather turns.

Meanwhile, other birds migrate here from their home territories in the north — birds such as the startlingly white snowy owl or those big flocks of tiny snow buntings.

On Tuesday, I sat and listened to John Flicker, president of the National Audubon Society, who spoke at a private gathering in town. Flicker was here to see the prairies of the Red River Valley.

Genevieve Thompson, executive director of Audubon North Dakota, and Dave Lambeth, birder and conservationist, also spoke at the gathering. And as I listened, their words brought to mind memories of years on the prairie, and I recalled vivid images of the prairie from years ago.

Thompson wanted Flicker to see our “Alkali Flats” prairie-preservation project west of Grand Forks. It’s an area that might look like a piece of forgotten land, but it has not been forgotten by a large number of birds and some animals."

Get the Story:
COLUMNIST DORREEN YELLOW BIRD: Birds add special magic to region (The Grand Forks Herald 9/17)
Username: indianz@indianz.com, Password: indianz

More Dorreen Yellow Bird:
Yellow Bird: Race a poisonous role in the election (9/15)
Yellow Bird: UTTC powwow keeps getting bigger (9/10)
Yellow Bird: Interview with new president of UND (9/8)
Yellow Bird: North Dakota tribe at turning point with oil (9/3)
Yellow Bird: Committing to a lifetime of sobriety (9/1)
Yellow Bird: Veterans Memorial Wall an inspiration (8/27)
Yellow Bird: Cancer on Indian Country's doorstep (8/25)
Yellow Bird: Good friends and good chokecherries (8/20)
Yellow Bird: Olympics, a war without destruction (8/18)
Yellow Bird: Investing in college students (8/11)
Yellow Bird: Exploring healthy, traditional foods (8/6)
Yellow Bird: Eliminate smoking at all tribal casinos (8/4)
Yellow Bird: On UNITY, Amtrak and North Dakota (7/30)
Yellow Bird: Sundance offers food for the soul (7/23)
Yellow Bird: Watching the sky for hints of danger (7/14)
Yellow Bird: Humbled by Turtle Mountain tornadoes (7/10)
Yellow Bird: Sometimes the media gets carried away (7/7)
Yellow Bird: Smudging room at North Dakota hospital (7/2)
Yellow Bird: Adventures that stir the spirit (6/18)
Yellow Bird: Exhibit focuses on Arikara Scouts (6/16)
Yellow Bird: My heart belongs to the Great Plains (6/11)
Yellow Bird: White buffalo signals hope and peace (6/9)
Yellow Bird: Sen. Barack Obama for president (6/4)
Yellow Bird: There's good and bad in oil development (6/2)
Yellow Bird: Remembering all relatives a big chore (5/28)
Yellow Bird: Oil on the Fort Berthold Reservation (5/26)
Yellow Bird: Recycle and live lightly on the Earth (5/12)
Yellow Bird: Leaps in America's multiracial society (5/7)
Yellow Bird: Diversity in the United States (5/5)
Yellow Bird: Pollution a threat to North Dakota (4/30)
Yellow Bird: Program graduates Indian nurses at UND (4/21)
Yellow Bird: Recovering from brain aneurysm surgery (4/17)
Yellow Bird: A fight for oil on the reservation (03/31)
Yellow Bird: Excitement in North Dakota's weather (3/26)
Yellow Bird: Thoughts on Sen. Obama and race (3/24)
Yellow Bird: Pray for rain in western North Dakota (3/19)
Yellow Bird: Grandchildren are the greatest gift (3/17)
Yellow Bird: UND powwow survives budget woes (3/10)
Yellow Bird: Stereotypes and Hillary Clinton (3/5)
Yellow Bird: Celebrating 125 years of UND history (3/3)
Yellow Bird: High hopes for Indian health bill (2/28)
Yellow Bird: More Plains foods that are good for you (2/25)
Yellow Bird: Chokecherries, the wonder fruit (2/20)
Yellow Bird: Sadness on a trip to Standing Rock (2/18)
Yellow Bird: It's time for a change in music (2/11)
Yellow Bird: 'Sioux' drives Indian students away (2/7)
Yellow Bird: Another cold January in North Dakota (1/30)
Yellow Bird: Tribal casinos should be alcohol free (1/28)
Yellow Bird: Race and gender in presidential race (1/23)
Yellow Bird: Barack Obama is my choice for 2008 (1/16)
Yellow Bird: Artman right on off-reservation gaming (1/9)
Yellow Bird: Barack Obama's big win in Iowa (1/7)