I am heading to Petersburg ND to pick up a puppy we are getting. I land in Grand Forks and have two days to play with. This is my first trip to this area. Any nice photo spots for either scenery or wildlife in that general area?
Thanks
Don Gorczynski
Posted by Terry Sohl on January 2, 2007 at 8:18 PM
If you're interested in birds, check out this for the latest bird sightings:
http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NDAK.html
Certainly good chances for Snowy Owls and other winter specialties.
As for scenery...well...did I mention there are good chances for winter birds?
Posted by Kent Staubus on January 2, 2007 at 11:58 PM
I used to cover Grand Forks once a month (3 days per month) for two years, up until last year. The land is flat farmland, formerly the sixth Great Lake Aggasisz. Flattest place I've ever been and I am very well traveled.
You have three basic options. One is to photo ice fishermen at Devils Lake, about an hour to the west. They are friendly and interesting charecters. While driving on the ice is safe, driving on HWY 2 out there is very tricky if the weather is rough. Keep a very close eye on the weather, such as three times a day. Do not go out onto Devils Lake at night without a compass and rough map. It is huge. Think twice about venturing very far out if temps dive under 30 below if you aren't prepared for it. Do not shut your car off if it's that cold. (Has been 46 below zero when I was there once.) The second option is to photo the many wonderful Lutheran churches out in the countryside, and small towns untouched by time. Finally, Grand Forks is an excellent place to photo BNSF freight trains. The most active rail line runs from Fargo to Grand Forks. There is a line that runs out west of town towards the air base. If you are lucky you can get a shot of a train running under the Northern Lights.
While eastern ND is super in April for migrating birds, you have picked the worst place I could imagine for critter photos in the winter. There are regular old white tail deer, but they are skittish. Birds are mostly pigeons, starlings, sparrows, and crows that time of year. The crows are even skittish. When people can't shoot at deer, they shoot at crows. Best subjects can be found in the small towns and the railroad. I know Grand Forks and area about as well as the area around my own town due to spending many nights there. Winter nights can give great photos if you are prepared clothing wise and lens wise. Be sure to eat at Whiteys, in East Grand Forks.
I once had some pesky office person who lived in Dallas, TX who kept wanting to come out and work with me. I told her to come work with me in the coming February and meet me at the airport in Grand Forks. She said, SURE! She had no clue. Absolutely no clue. She actually followed through, much to my surprise. I picked her up and deliberately went into the airport not wearing a coat. (I did have on my heaviest duck hunting underwear tops/bottoms of course.) We walked towards the door. When she stepped outside, she literally screamed an obscenity. She looked as if she had been hit with a 2x4! She had on a light jacket suitable for maybe 30 degrees, which was the warmest thing she owned. Trouble was, it was 32 degrees. Below. I ended up feeling sorry for her and gave her my coat to wear. She never came back, and neither has anyone else for that matter. No one from the office comes up to to ride with me in the winter.
So, what kind of puppy are you picking up? Siberian husky?
Kent in SD
Posted by Dan Baumbach on January 3, 2007 at 10:49 AM
I second what Kent says. Grand Forks is just extremely flat farmland. I remember taking the interstate down to Fargo and the whole landscape was the same.
If you have sometime to go south east into Minnesota, you'll find some beautiful landscapes.
- Dan.
Posted by Steve Foss on January 3, 2007 at 9:35 PM
Don:
Wow, someone on NPN inquiring about good ole G.F. Now I've heard everything. It's not really the armpit of the world, though many think it is. Don't know just when you're leaving, so I hope this gets to you in time.
I grew up in Grand Forks and probed its environs while birding for more than 20 years. Many years later, my spouse and I also lived on a farm for awhile near Niagara, which is not far at all from Petersburg.
For birds, check in with Mike Jacobs at the Grand Forks Herald for good spots nearby. He's a lifelong birder, and is publisher/editor at the Herald and writes a bird column. He'll have his fingers on the hot spots. Get the number for the Herald and call and ask for him. Also get the number for David Lambeth, who is a very longtime birder in GF, as well. He'll know good spots, too. I worked with Mike at the GFH for six years, and have birded with him and Dave. There are a lot of great feeding stations in town that hold winter birds, and GF is in a transition area, within striking distance for birds from both prairie environs to the west and forest environs to the east.
Kellys Slough NWR is only five minutes west of GF on Hwy 2, right on your route to Petersburg, and may hold a few snowy owls. That's one possibility. But if you're driving to Petersburg, take the blue highways and your telephoto and keep your eyes peeled for snowy owls, snow buntings and snow/fence/field stubble scenics. While it is only one of a few places in America where you can watch the sunset while laying under your pickup changing your oil, there ARE photo opps to be found. And it's not like there's anything to ruin the view. As you head west toward Petersburg, you'll come up and out of the Agassiz plain about 25 miles west of G.F. and into rolling hills with scrub forest in the draws and prairie on the exposed hills. It can be great stuff with the right light. I believe there's also a big operating wind turbine a few miles outside Petersburg, which can offer some interesting images.
Any river/creek you cross will have timber along its banks. It's called "gallery forest," a fancy term for woods that advance into prairie country by staying along waterways, where there's enough water and shelter from the wind to build trees. Those waterways draw a lot of wildlife that avoids the open prairie in the windy cold winter.
If you have more time to play, head into NW Minnesota near Thief River Falls, less than an hour from G.F., and check in at Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge. The folks there will tell you what they've got hanging around.
It's certainly true that April through June are better for wildlife in that area. It's a tremendous migratory corridor for huge numbers of birds and a great variety of species. But winter offers some nice possibilities, too.
You might find a recording on tape or CD of a screech owl and play it on a portable in mature forests near waterways. If one responds, it's worth trying to track it down. In daylight, they hunker against tree trunks and in tree cavities, and can make really nice subjects.
While deer can seem run of the mill, there are big concentrations of them in the fields right outside Warren, Minn., within half an hour of G.F. They congregate in winter out in the sugarbeet fields, where the wind keeps the fields blown pretty clean and the deer take advantage of the broken chunks of sugarbeets left by the combines of fall. I've seen herds of more than 200 all within a few acres out in those fields. When you get that low light in the late afternoon in winter painting the deer red, well, there's nothing wrong with that.
And don't forget the sky. It's one of the dominant features in any prairie landscape. They call Montana "big sky" country, but you go through a whole state of big sky before you hit Montana. Difference is, in N.D. there's not much else BUT sky unless you look closely.
Don't worry much about the weather. Just check the forecast and remember the wind almost NEVER stops going from one place to the other in the eastern part of that state. So when you think you've got enough layers (one at least should be windproof in winter), add another one.
Oh, and one last note. There are buffalo ranches between GF and Devils Lake. One is just west of GF. If you're heading west on Hwy 2 out of town, when you hit the stoplight at the airport road, turn left instead of right, and a half mile up on your right is one of those ranches. Buffalo on a windswept prairie in winter? Hmmmm.
In years past, there was a sweat lodge near that ranch maintained by Lakota and Ojibwe students and older traditional tribal members who went to the University of North Dakota in G.F. UND has a strong and true Indian Studies department. The Lakota affinity for buffalo as both a traditional means of sustenance and as a religious/cultural connector is well known. I participated in several inipi ceremonies at that lodge years ago (one on a VERY cold January day). I don't know if it's still there.
There's also another buffalo ranch near Hwy. 2 about an hour west of GF, but I can't remember its exact location.
All this casting back over my years in G.F. is bringing back a lot of memories. If anyone tells you there's nothing to shoot in that area, they just don't know that area.
What man doesn't clutch fondly to his heart the imprints and intimacies of the land he prowled as a boy?
Posted by Kent Staubus on January 3, 2007 at 11:24 PM
Steve--
I always found stuff to photo. Winter is my favorite time of year out here. But then, I do love desolation! Old abandoned farmhouses, abandoned cars/machinery, country churches--these are long time favorites of my mine and in abundance there. There are some very nice railroad shots to be made also. My favoriteis to photo at night. I just never found much for wildlife in the winter though. Four months from now, WOW! Something I forgot to mention is that I've never once been turned down for permission to photo on private land. Actually, I think it's totally legal to go onto land that isn't posted. I know for a fact you can hunt on any unposted land there.
Most farmers/ranchers don't mind if you photo their buffalo, but be advised that not even they will get inside the fence with them unless in a vehicle! Stay outside the fence!
Forcast through next Monday stays above zero the whole time. You lucked out. There is decent snow cover in the region and that should stay for the forseeable future.
Kent in SD
Posted by Steve Foss on January 4, 2007 at 7:58 AM
Kent: I agree about those friendly people. Never had anyone turn me away, either, and plenty of them invited me in for dinner. There's something about the informal hospitality of farm/ranch country folks, isn't there?
While it is legal to hunt unposted land in N.D. without permission (the exception is cropland yet to be harvested), things have tightened up a lot in the last 10 years, and N.D. landowners seem to be moving a bit in the direction S.D. landowners have gone with hunting land.
As far as I know, no one in either state is charging photographers or asking them the lease land to shoot on. God forbid.
Discussion
6 repliesThanks
Don Gorczynski
http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NDAK.html
Certainly good chances for Snowy Owls and other winter specialties.
As for scenery...well...did I mention there are good chances for winter birds?
You have three basic options. One is to photo ice fishermen at Devils Lake, about an hour to the west. They are friendly and interesting charecters. While driving on the ice is safe, driving on HWY 2 out there is very tricky if the weather is rough. Keep a very close eye on the weather, such as three times a day. Do not go out onto Devils Lake at night without a compass and rough map. It is huge. Think twice about venturing very far out if temps dive under 30 below if you aren't prepared for it. Do not shut your car off if it's that cold. (Has been 46 below zero when I was there once.) The second option is to photo the many wonderful Lutheran churches out in the countryside, and small towns untouched by time. Finally, Grand Forks is an excellent place to photo BNSF freight trains. The most active rail line runs from Fargo to Grand Forks. There is a line that runs out west of town towards the air base. If you are lucky you can get a shot of a train running under the Northern Lights.
While eastern ND is super in April for migrating birds, you have picked the worst place I could imagine for critter photos in the winter. There are regular old white tail deer, but they are skittish. Birds are mostly pigeons, starlings, sparrows, and crows that time of year. The crows are even skittish. When people can't shoot at deer, they shoot at crows.
I once had some pesky office person who lived in Dallas, TX who kept wanting to come out and work with me. I told her to come work with me in the coming February and meet me at the airport in Grand Forks. She said, SURE! She had no clue. Absolutely no clue. She actually followed through, much to my surprise. I picked her up and deliberately went into the airport not wearing a coat. (I did have on my heaviest duck hunting underwear tops/bottoms of course.) We walked towards the door. When she stepped outside, she literally screamed an obscenity. She looked as if she had been hit with a 2x4! She had on a light jacket suitable for maybe 30 degrees, which was the warmest thing she owned. Trouble was, it was 32 degrees. Below. I ended up feeling sorry for her and gave her my coat to wear. She never came back, and neither has anyone else for that matter. No one from the office comes up to to ride with me in the winter.
So, what kind of puppy are you picking up? Siberian husky?
Kent in SD
If you have sometime to go south east into Minnesota, you'll find some beautiful landscapes.
- Dan.
Wow, someone on NPN inquiring about good ole G.F. Now I've heard everything. It's not really the armpit of the world, though many think it is. Don't know just when you're leaving, so I hope this gets to you in time.
I grew up in Grand Forks and probed its environs while birding for more than 20 years. Many years later, my spouse and I also lived on a farm for awhile near Niagara, which is not far at all from Petersburg.
For birds, check in with Mike Jacobs at the Grand Forks Herald for good spots nearby. He's a lifelong birder, and is publisher/editor at the Herald and writes a bird column. He'll have his fingers on the hot spots. Get the number for the Herald and call and ask for him. Also get the number for David Lambeth, who is a very longtime birder in GF, as well. He'll know good spots, too. I worked with Mike at the GFH for six years, and have birded with him and Dave. There are a lot of great feeding stations in town that hold winter birds, and GF is in a transition area, within striking distance for birds from both prairie environs to the west and forest environs to the east.
Kellys Slough NWR is only five minutes west of GF on Hwy 2, right on your route to Petersburg, and may hold a few snowy owls. That's one possibility. But if you're driving to Petersburg, take the blue highways and your telephoto and keep your eyes peeled for snowy owls, snow buntings and snow/fence/field stubble scenics. While it is only one of a few places in America where you can watch the sunset while laying under your pickup changing your oil, there ARE photo opps to be found. And it's not like there's anything to ruin the view. As you head west toward Petersburg, you'll come up and out of the Agassiz plain about 25 miles west of G.F. and into rolling hills with scrub forest in the draws and prairie on the exposed hills. It can be great stuff with the right light. I believe there's also a big operating wind turbine a few miles outside Petersburg, which can offer some interesting images.
Any river/creek you cross will have timber along its banks. It's called "gallery forest," a fancy term for woods that advance into prairie country by staying along waterways, where there's enough water and shelter from the wind to build trees. Those waterways draw a lot of wildlife that avoids the open prairie in the windy cold winter.
If you have more time to play, head into NW Minnesota near Thief River Falls, less than an hour from G.F., and check in at Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge. The folks there will tell you what they've got hanging around.
It's certainly true that April through June are better for wildlife in that area. It's a tremendous migratory corridor for huge numbers of birds and a great variety of species. But winter offers some nice possibilities, too.
You might find a recording on tape or CD of a screech owl and play it on a portable in mature forests near waterways. If one responds, it's worth trying to track it down. In daylight, they hunker against tree trunks and in tree cavities, and can make really nice subjects.
While deer can seem run of the mill, there are big concentrations of them in the fields right outside Warren, Minn., within half an hour of G.F. They congregate in winter out in the sugarbeet fields, where the wind keeps the fields blown pretty clean and the deer take advantage of the broken chunks of sugarbeets left by the combines of fall. I've seen herds of more than 200 all within a few acres out in those fields. When you get that low light in the late afternoon in winter painting the deer red, well, there's nothing wrong with that.
And don't forget the sky. It's one of the dominant features in any prairie landscape. They call Montana "big sky" country, but you go through a whole state of big sky before you hit Montana. Difference is, in N.D. there's not much else BUT sky unless you look closely.
Don't worry much about the weather. Just check the forecast and remember the wind almost NEVER stops going from one place to the other in the eastern part of that state. So when you think you've got enough layers (one at least should be windproof in winter), add another one.
Oh, and one last note. There are buffalo ranches between GF and Devils Lake. One is just west of GF. If you're heading west on Hwy 2 out of town, when you hit the stoplight at the airport road, turn left instead of right, and a half mile up on your right is one of those ranches. Buffalo on a windswept prairie in winter? Hmmmm.
In years past, there was a sweat lodge near that ranch maintained by Lakota and Ojibwe students and older traditional tribal members who went to the University of North Dakota in G.F. UND has a strong and true Indian Studies department. The Lakota affinity for buffalo as both a traditional means of sustenance and as a religious/cultural connector is well known. I participated in several inipi ceremonies at that lodge years ago (one on a VERY cold January day). I don't know if it's still there.
There's also another buffalo ranch near Hwy. 2 about an hour west of GF, but I can't remember its exact location.
All this casting back over my years in G.F. is bringing back a lot of memories. If anyone tells you there's nothing to shoot in that area, they just don't know that area.
What man doesn't clutch fondly to his heart the imprints and intimacies of the land he prowled as a boy?
I always found stuff to photo. Winter is my favorite time of year out here. But then, I do love desolation!
Most farmers/ranchers don't mind if you photo their buffalo, but be advised that not even they will get inside the fence with them unless in a vehicle!
Forcast through next Monday stays above zero the whole time. You lucked out. There is decent snow cover in the region and that should stay for the forseeable future.
Kent in SD
While it is legal to hunt unposted land in N.D. without permission (the exception is cropland yet to be harvested), things have tightened up a lot in the last 10 years, and N.D. landowners seem to be moving a bit in the direction S.D. landowners have gone with hunting land.
As far as I know, no one in either state is charging photographers or asking them the lease land to shoot on. God forbid.