American White Pelican (White Pelican) Great Egret (Common Egret) Greater White-fronted Goose (White-fronted) Snow Goose (both Snow and Blue) American Black Duck (Black Duck) Common Pintail (Pintail) Eurasian Wigeon (European) American Wigeon (Widgeon) Northern Shoveler (Shoveler) Black Scoter (Common Scoter) Red-tailed Hawk (includes Harlan’s Hawk) Northern Harrier (Marsh Hawk) Merlin (Pigeon Hawk) American Kestrel (Sparrow Hawk) Lesser Golden Plover (American Golden Plover) Upland Sandpiper (Upland Plover) Red Knot (Knot) Little Tern (Least Tern) Common Screech-Owl (Screech Owl) Common Flicker (combines Gilded, Yellow-shafted, and Red-shafted) Willow Flycatcher (Traill’s, FITZ-bew race) Alder Flycatcher (Traill’s, fee-BEE-o-race) Eastern Pewee (Eastern Wood Pewee) Western Pewee (Western Wood Pewee) American Crow (Common Crow) Marsh Wren (Long-billed Marsh Wren) Sedge Wren (Short-billed Marsh Wren) Gray Catbird (Catbird) American Robin (Robin) European Starling (Starling) Northern Parula (Parula Warbler) Yellow-rumped Warbler (combines Audubon’s and Myrtle) Common Yellowthroat (Yellowthroat) Northern Oriole (combines Baltimore and Bullock’s) Northern Cardinal (Cardinal) Northern Junco (combines Oregon, Slate-colored, and White-winged) American Tree Sparrow (Tree Sparrow)
SOUTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA
Ruddy Ducks
The southeast sector is probably the least glamorous as far as birders are concerned. It cannot offer the western specialties of the southwest nor the northern species of the northeast, and it does not have the reputation of the northwest for prairie species. Despite these deficits, the southeast quarter offers some of the best birding in the state.
Contained within its boundaries is some of the finest prairie-pothole habitat in the country. This is the breeding ground for thousands of ducks and other marsh species. Adjacent to the countless seasonal and permanent ponds are broad expanses of mixed-grass prairie, which support large numbers of Upland Sandpipers, Sprague’s Pipits, Baird’s Sparrows, Chestnut-collared Longspurs, and other prairie specialities of great interest to the birder.
This quarter also offers excellent bottomland habitat along portions of the Red, James, and Sheyenne Rivers. These floodplain forests support an avifauna typical of eastern deciduous forests, thus making it attractive to western birders. Large numbers of eastern warblers pass through during migration, and on good days one may find as many as twenty species (possibly more).
Marshlands in the southeast corner attract southern species, such as the Little Blue Heron and King Rail. All in all, the southeast sector offers a very diverse avifauna, and it should not be ignored by the visiting birder.
a) [Cass] County
