Episodes
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CBS Sunday Morning aired a story a couple weeks ago on people searching out larch trees in the western mountains during the fall to observe their golden colored needles. Although there are no larch native to North Dakota, an introduced species is grown as an ornamental in the state.
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I recently noticed some rose bushes loaded with rose hips. Most people think of rose flowers as adding beauty to the summer months. But the rose hips add interesting color to the fall and winter landscape. Seeing all those rose hips made me think that it is time to brew up a batch of rose hip tea.
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Episodes manquant?
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I recently saw an advertisement for spider web decorations for Halloween. Although real spider webs are common and easily observed, we largely ignore them unless one is located in a prominent position in or near our homes, in which case they are often promptly removed.
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When it comes to the sounds of plants, wind through the conifers and the quaking of aspen leaves are often mentioned. But I suspect that for many North Dakotans, the rustling of cottonwood leaves are even more iconic and may evoke some vivid memories.
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No doubt many North Dakotans hear a loud, gurgling call emanating from overhead during spring or fall, and look skyward in search of the source. After a bit of searching, you finally identify the source as a flock of large birds, way up there! If the flock is lower, long legs might be visible sticking out behind them. Ahh, the call of sandhill cranes!
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Many newspapers and other media will run stories about the leaves turning color on the trees before falling. Many of these news items will explain how chlorophyll breaks down, and the other colors (pigments) that were there all along become visible. They may compare the color change to “removing the chlorophyll mask” from the leaves.
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If you are up for a little stargazing, now might be a good time to do so. There is a new moon coming up on October 2, so with the relatively warm temperatures and clear skies, conditions could be quite good. Plus, the Orionids meteor shower is about to begin.
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It’s that time of year! The fall equinox occurs this year on Sunday, September 22. At precisely 7:43am CT, the sun will be directly over the equator.
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For many, be they native North Dakotans, transplants, or those just passing through, it often takes some time to warm to the wide-open spaces of the North Dakota landscape. Although there is a lot of cropland, I suspect that for many people, the wide-open expanses of prairie are a large part of what calls people to love and appreciation of the landscape.
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Sharp-tailed grouse season opens up on September 14. To quote Morris Johnson and Joseph Knue from their Feathers from the Prairie (1989), “no other upland bird has been in the state so long or in such numbers.”
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September is upon us! As you have probably noticed, the days are getting shorter and cooler. The birds have started migrating, and the fall foliage will soon start to come out.
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Are you seeing yellow? As you look out on the North Dakota landscape this time of year, it seems that there are yellow flowers everywhere. It is the color of the season!
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Much of central and eastern North Dakota is pothole country. As you look out at all those sloughs, it appears that the vast majority of them are dominated by cattails. Those sloughs have been changing more than most people realize.
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When traveling across North Dakota and looking out at the rangeland, some people see just a bunch of grass. However, it is much more than that! An important step in understanding the ecology of our rangelands is to have a working knowledge of what range ecologists call ecological sites and their associated ecological site descriptions.
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Driving down the roads in North Dakota this time of year, particularly gravel roads, one is likely to occasionally see a sunflower in bloom with broad leaves, producing a flower head, and growing to around 3 to 6 feet tall. That is probably the common sunflower (Helianthus annuus), the same species that is grown in the sunflower fields.
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Traveling across North Dakota, particularly areas northeast of the Missouri River, you'll occasionally see signs near wetlands that identify the area as a Waterfowl Production Area, or WPA.
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This time of year, the prairie landscape is awash in color. Two of the more commonly known wildflowers, prairie coneflower and purple coneflower, will soon be flowering across the state.
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When was the last time you laid back and savored the cosmos on a warm summer night? The stars, of course, are brightest during a clear night with a new moon. There was a new moon on July 5, so we are heading toward a full moon on July 21.
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I mentioned in last week’s Natural North Dakota that estimates for how many seeds a cottonwood tree could produce in a year may range up to 48 million. Clearly all those small seeds do not develop into cottonwood trees. But a very small number do fall on the ground with the right conditions of soil, moisture, sunlight, little competition, and other factors to become the next generation of cottonwood trees. It is a different story for some other plants — acorns from oak trees, for example.
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If the cottonwoods in your area have not started releasing their cotton, they will be soon. It is that time of year!
