Three hundred miles northwest of Chisago County, a birding opportunity beckons. Each spring, the great migration of waterfowl and shorebirds passes over the Dakotas, with weary birds dropping into marshes to rest and refuel while in transit to summer nesting grounds. Many of these birds are familiar to most Minnesotans, but many are not. Some breed in the high Arctic or in the northernmost reach of the Canadian prairie where few birders go. The spring, when the males are resplendent in breeding plumage, is a good time to seek out these birds.
My husband Tom and I drove to Jamestown, North Dakota this past May to witness the migration of waterfowl, and those long-legged, gawky avians we collectively call “’shore birds.” We had visited Jamestown fifty years ago when we were college students beginning life lists. I remembered seeing a lot of different ducks. On one mudflat, I our ecology professor showed unusual animation at seeing a rare Hudsonian Godwit. “Mark that bird!” he told us. “You’re not likely to see another one, ever.”
In 2024, Tom and I headed to national wildlife refuges north of Jamestown. This part of North Dakota is termed the “prairie pothole region” with many scattered lakes and marshes dotting a tree-less grassland. The retreating glacier created these wetlands 11,000 years ago. Some of the shallow lakes are temporary, but are rich in nourishing plants and invertebrates that sustain waterfowl on migration. Ducks Unlimited terms this a “duck factory” for the many species that will remain here to raise families.
The land north of town is a patchwork of protection. The Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge, 15, 973 acres, welcomes birders at its visitor center. During the week, staff can point out hot spots and highlight species that are migrating through. In the same area, National Audubon maintains the 2,300 acre Edward M. Brigham III Alkali Lake Wildlife Sanctuary. The entire region is rife with small wetlands and cut with roads, some paved, some gravel. Choose a road—gravel will have less traffic and more opportunity to pull over and observe—and head out. Within minutes of creeping down our first gravel road, we spied an American Bittern standing out in the open in a flooded plowed field a few feet from the roadside. I’d never seen a bittern so exposed, though this bird tried gamely to “hide” by posing with its beak pointed high. Soon, we were seeing small flocks of ducks—blue-winged teal, ruddy ducks, gadwalls and pintails resting on small pools of water, or in low areas of a cultivated field that had once been a temporary wetland. We did not take a spotting scope. They tend to be sources of frustration for us. We relied on binoculars to bring the birds closer.
A second national refuge, Chase Lake, is northwest of Jamestown about 50 miles. It is home to one of North America’s largest nesting White Pelican colonies. The refuge is 4,385 acres, most of it designated wilderness. The pelican colony fluctuates in size from 4,000 to 35,000 birds. The road in to Chase Lake is a rutted hard-packed dirt path, very slow going. On our way into the refuge, we saw the billowing smoke of an untended wildfire. We were unsure of being able to exit quickly if the fire should come our way, so we did not see the pelican colony. We did however, see four pronghorn antelope bounce through the refuge, and nimbly jump a barbed-wire fence.
Here is what we saw:
Common Grackle
Canada Goose
American Crow
Chipping Sparrow
Hairy Woodpecker
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Rock Pigeon
Killdeer
Mourning Dove
Starling
Northern Shovelers
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Red-winged Blackbird
Western meadow Lark
American Bittern
Horned Lark
Franklin’s Gull
Least Flycatcher
Sora
Wilson’s Snipe
House Sparrow
Northern Harrier
Purple Martin
House Wren
Ring-necked Pheasant
Bank Swallow
Song Sparrow
Northern Pintail
Clay-colored Sparrow
Barn Swallow
Northern Flicker
Brewer’s Blackbird
American Coot
Yellow-headed Blackbird
American Avocet
Red-head Duck
Ruddy Duck
Snow Goose
Great Egret
Ferruginous Hawk
Forster’s Tern
Herring Gull
Bobolink
Marsh Wren
Rub-crowned Kinglet
Wood Duck
Ovenbird
House Finch
Nashville Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Black-capped Chickadee
Yellow-rumped Warbler
White-breasted Nuthatch
Yellow Warbler
Double-crested Cormorant
Tree Swallow
White Pelican
Brown-headed Cowbird
Willet
Wilson’s Phalarope
White-faced Ibis
Marbled Godwit
White-rumped Sandpiper
Pied-bill Grebe
Red-headed Woodpecker
Black Tern
Upland Sandpiper
Blue Jay
American Goldfinch
Baltimore Oriole
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Pine Siskin
Swainson’s Thrush
Say’s Phoebe
Turkey Vulture
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Hudsonian Godwit
Least Sandpiper
Baird’s Sandpiper
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Vesper Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Cliff Swallow
Gadwall
Eastern Kingbird
Western Kingbird
Chimney Swift
Hermit Thrush
Northern Cardinal
Pileated Woodpecker
Harris Sparrow
Warbling Vireo
Great Blue Heron
Eastern Phoebe
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