Articles

ALWAYS IN SEASON: Unusual visitor from the tundra provides a birding highlight

There’s a rock in a field along Grand Forks County Road 33 just east of Gilby. It’s a good-sized rock, and the landscape is pretty close to completely flat. That makes the rock a kind of landmark. It’s also an attractive perch for birds.

• Gyrfalcon illustration

OUR OPINION: Vigilant as the rivers rise

It’s clear that 1997 was a watershed year in the Red River Valley. No pun intended. It was water that brought a new awareness of risk and reward to valley residents. The Red River delivered an enormous volume of water that spring.

• Our Opinion

MATTERS AT HAND: Let’s review the new cast in N.D. politics

The last two election cycles have brought a new cast to North Dakota’s politics. True, today’s politicians are familiar names, but their new positions help us to get to know them better.

• Mike Jacobs

ALWAYS IN SEASON: Sharp-tailed grouse react to weather, habitat loss

Sharp-tailed grouse were back on their dancing ground in the middle of last week — but their dancing was desultory — perhaps because their feet were cold.

• Mike Jacobs
• A Sharpie

ALWAYS IN SEASON: Crows entertain, challenge and remind us of bygone days

The crows show up about St. Patrick’s Day every year. This is no coincidence. St. Patrick’s Day occurs just ahead of the spring equinox, when days and nights are equal in length.

• Mike Jacobs
• A crow on a clear day

MATTERS AT HAND: Lack of legislative harness gives zealots free rein

Watching the 2013 edition of the North Dakota Legislature makes a body pine for the days when Earl Strinden was in charge.

• Mike Jacobs

ALWAYS IN SEASON: Gull provides diversion during global wait for pope

The bird of the week would be the Sistine seagull, except there is no such bird species. A gull — or a series of gulls — did perch on the chimney for much of the time Wednesday that the world waited for word of a new pope.

• Mike Jacobs
• The sistine seagull

ALWAYS IN SEASON: March brings bluebird weather — and bluebirds — to the valley

It might be rushing the season to talk about bluebird weather — but not by much. Bluebirds are early migrants, and bluebird weather refers to a fine spring day after a spell of nasty weather. Weather like we had last week.

• Mike Jacobs
• Mountain bluebird on lilac

ALWAYS IN SEASON: An intimate glimpse reveals the waxwing’s real ID

Waxwings present an identification challenge — though happily, there are several good ways to separate the two species.

• Mike Jacobs
• Bohemian wax wing

ALWAYS IN SEASON: Several species make news in the bird world

The week brought a lot of news from the bird world: About shrikes: I’ve had several reports of Northern shrikes haunting feeder operations.

• Northern shrike

Columns

MATTERS AT HAND: A remarkable couple, the Franks left a big legacy in Grand Forks

Richard and Mary Margaret Frank are among the most remarkable people I have ever known — remarkable as individuals and remarkable as a couple. Richard Frank was born in 1900. He died in the early 1990s. Mary Margaret Frank was born in 1912. She died last week. Her obituary appeared in Friday’s Herald.

• Mike Jacobs

ALWAYS IN SEASON: Red-tailed hawks come in many variations

A couple of weeks ago, I confessed confusing a red-tailed hawk for a goshawk, another raptor. But goshawks and redtails are not particularly closely related nor very similar in appearance or habits.

• Hawk illustration
• ‘The hawk guy’: Raptor expert Tim Driscoll has a passion for his research
• Mike Jacobs

MATTERS AT HAND: The boogiemen compete in North Dakota Senate race

Many days, it seems to me that the U.S. Senate campaign in North Dakota is a contest between the boogiemen.

• Mike Jacobs

MATTERS AT HAND: Internet offers a tool to imagine the future

Our towns have a chance to test the power of the Internet through something called “Engage the Forks.” That’s not all, though. The project could help the community make decisions that shape the future.

• Mike Jacobs

MATTERS AT HAND: A careful trap catches a candidate by the tail

As Republican U.S. Rep Rick Berg tells it, North Dakota politics reached a new low last week. As Democratic Heidi Heitkamp, who’s running against him for the U.S. Senate, sees it, if Berg brags about his business acumen, it’s fair to examine his business record.

• Mike Jacobs

ALWAYS IN SEASON: Even a common bird can present a mystery

Last week brought a considerable bird mystery. Two actually. We’ll deal with one of them today and the other next week.

• Mike Jacobs

ALWAYS IN SEASON: Movement of birds remains a mystery

Perhaps invasion is too strong a term, because it implies malevolent intent. Nevertheless, it is the word that scientists use to describe what’s going on. The species in question is the red crossbill. Its invasion may be abetted by its close relative, the white-winged crossbill.

• Mike Jacobs

MATTERS AT HAND: Politics ramp up as autumn advances

In a way, Potato Bowl put a period on a remarkable fortnight in the political world. The past two weeks have delivered two national political conventions, the first debates in both the marquee races in both North Dakota and Minnesota, and a genuine political scandal in North Dakota, a state that’s pretty much unused to such phenomena. The parade might also have raised the stakes in a strictly local contest.

• Mike Jacobs
• In case you missed it: The Berg-Heitkamp debate
• OUR OPINION: Stronger action needed at NDSU

MATTERS AT HAND: Political discourse disappears in America

Something has happened to political discourse in America. It’s disappeared. This is hardly an original insight, of course, but it seems especially pertinent this week, in the wake of the Republican national convention and on the eve of the Democratic convention.

• Mike Jacobs

MATTERS AT HAND: Western N.D. may be catching up with oil boom

It may be that western North Dakota is catching up with the oil boom. For me, the first indication was a pile of gravel.

• Mike Jacobs