Wildlife Notes

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department manages our state's fish and wildlife, including those species like aquatic invertebrates that often go unnoticed. Learn more in this week’s NDO News.

Did you know that North Dakota has 2 species of crayfish? Learn more in this week’s NDO News with fisheries biologist Mike Johnson. 

Unlike marbled godwits, which breed in North Dakota, Hudsonian godwits can only be seen in the state during their spring migration. 

Breeding waterfowl depend on the prairie pothole region. Find out why.

Sage grouse are disappearing from North Dakota. Learn more in this NDO webcast (2024).

Once an endangered species, bald eagle populations are increasing in North Dakota. Learn more in this NDO news video (2024)

During breeding season, male ring-necked pheasants will defend a territory against other males. Conflicts sometimes get a little heated...

Long-billed curlews are one of the 13 shorebird species known to nest in North Dakota. Learn more about these neat little birds here.

Bluegill spawn late May and June when water temperatures near 22 C (71.6F). Large males build nests in colonies where they spawn and protect eggs. Some smaller males will mimic females to fertilize eggs instead of nest building and defense.

North Dakota is home to two deer species, whitetail and mule deer. Learn more about their similarities and differences in this video.

River otters can be found in certain river corridors in North Dakota. Learn more about this species in this short video.

Contrary to popular rumor, there are prairie rattlesnakes east of the Missouri River in North Dakota. Learn about one population in this video.

Did you know that yucca moths are the yucca plant's only pollinator? Learn more here!

Ticks sit on the tips of vegetation with legs outstretched waiting for dinner to wander by. Learn more about one of North Dakota's least favorite insects here.

American coots are a fairly common water bird in North Dakota. Check out this short video to learn more.

So is that ground squirrel you see in the North Dakota countryside a Flickertail or a Franklin's?

Wild turkey, a popular upland game species in North Dakota, are not native to the state. Learn more in this Wildlife Notes post.

If you want to see one of the state’s most impressive wildflowers in full bloom, you need to know not only where to look, but when.

Did you know that North Dakota's two hare (white-tailed jackrabbits and snowshoe hares) and three weasel (long-tailed, short-tailed and least) species turn white in the winter.

Stories about ghost moose are being told with increased frequency across the southern portion of moose range in North America. Winter ticks are the cause.

Newly hatched killdeer chicks, while not the most graceful of creatures, are arguably one of the most adorable. These chicks were filmed in a gravel area right outside of one of the Department's offices.

Watch this short video for some facts on bison in North Dakota.

Eastern kingbirds (Tyrannus tyrannus), which can be found across North Dakota in the summer, feed primarily on insects during the breeding season. Like owls and some other birds, eastern kingbirds regurgitate pellets of indigestible prey parts, in this case insect chitin. Here is a series of photographs demonstrating this behavior (because we knew everyone would appreciate this visual to start your day out right!)

Did you know that sagebrush lizards (found in the North Dakota badlands) can drop their tail to distract an attacking predator? They escape while the predator goes after their still twitching tail. Later their tail grows back.

Sights and sounds of spring advancing across our North Dakota

One strategy sharp-tailed grouse use to survive winter is to burrow into the snow. Find out more in this post.

Plains gartersnakes can be found across North Dakota and can be identified by three stripes, with the middle stripe often being bright orange or yellow. 

All birds molt - shedding their old, weathered feathers with new ones. Some birds molt once per year, others two or three times per year. Sometimes the molt process is simultaneous, such as with waterfowl when they lose all of the primary feathers at once, leaving them flightless for 3-4 weeks. You’ve probably seen them this time of year in a wetland doing a breast-stroke swim to escape to cover.

Burrowing owls nest underground. Learn more in this Wildlife Notes post.

For humans, sleeping involves closing their eyes and drifting away into a state of rest for the mind and body. In the safety and warmth of their home, this is typically accomplished in about eight hours. For teenagers, sometimes it takes much longer.

On the northern Great Plains, seasonal movements of white-tailed deer are highly variable. Find out more in this Wildlife Notes post.

To the Lakota, the sharp-tailed grouse was called “Cansiyo” or the “Fire Bird”, because of its need for fire to keep the grasslands open. Learn more about this iconic bird in the Wildlife Notes post.

The western prairie fringed orchid is North Dakota's only federally listed plant under the Endangered Species Act.

How do you tell the difference between mountain lion and coyote tracks? Watch this short video for some tips.

Red-eyed vireos typically sing high in tree canopies in short little bursts of 2-4 syllables, altering back and forth between ascending and descending tones so it sounds like a 90's Valley Girl on the phone saying, "Hello?" "Where are you?" "That's cool" "I'm up here." "Totally."

Moose are tall, gangly creatures that normally eat from the trees. When a food source is on the ground things get challenging. Learn more in this post.

Red-bellied snakes can be found in the eastern half of North Dakota and are the state's smallest snake reaching lengths of only 8-10 inches. 

Did you know a hummingbird has about 1,000 feathers on its body, whereas a Northern pintail has nearly 15,000? Feathers vary in structure and function. Check out this cool interactive learning tool, All About Feathers.

Have you ever wondered how a bony fish can be aged? Biologists count the growth sections of their otoliths. Learn more in this post.

The plains spadefoot (Spea bombifrons) is the most easily recognized toad in North Dakota. Its skin is smooth like that of a frog, and it has a distinct vertical pupil like that of a cat. Its color varies from a light cream, to gray or brown, and may have small orange spots.

The whooping cranes that make their way through North Dakota each spring are part of a population of about 500 birds that are on their way from their wintering grounds at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas to their nesting grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada, a distance of about 2,500 miles.

Channel catfish are aptly nicknamed swimming tongues. Find out why in this Wildlife News post

Department Upland Game Management Supervisor Jesse Kolar took this awesome video of a bull elk bugling in the badlands (Fall 2019).

Did you know that Canada geese will sometimes appropriate old nests of tree nesting birds like eagles? How do the goslings get down from these nests? Find out here. 

The northern hawk owl is a unique looking creature that can occasionally be found in North Dakota in the winter. 

Is it a monarch butterfly or a viceroy? Viceroy, along with many other species, use mimicry to aide survival. Find out more in this post.

What is a leopard pike? Find out here!

Did you know that the eyes on an American Bittern are set in their face so they can easily focus downward? Bittern eat a wide variety of prey like fish, insects, small reptiles and mammals which they use stalking behaviors to capture.