North Dakota is a fairly large state (17th among the states in total
land area) but a sparsely populated one (45th). Most of the people live
in rural areas, because there are few cities of any size; even these
are, for the most part, widely scattered. The largest urban area (the
tri-city area of Fargo, West Fargo, and Moorhead, Minnesota) has a
combined population of under 120,000.
Most people visit North Dakota on their way to someplace else. They rush
through because of the lack of big cities and scenic areas. Although it
is true that much of the state is anything but scenic, there is great
beauty awaiting those who explore the prairie, the rolling, wooded hills
of the Turtle Mountains, or the rugged badlands along the Little
Missouri River.
Over the years some of the greatest names in ornithology have visited
North Dakota on birding expeditions. At the head of the list is John
James Audubon, who made one of his last painting-and-collecting
expeditions here in 1843. The most celebrated birder ever to visit the
state, though, has to be our twenty-sixth president, Theodore Roosevelt.
Roosevelt established a large cattle-ranching enterprise in the Little
Missouri badlands in 1883. In doing so he established two ranches: the
Maltese Cross Ranch (about seven miles south of Medora) and the Elkhorn
Ranch (about thirty-five miles north of Medora). Although not an
ornithologist in the strictest sense of the word, Roosevelt kept written
records of his bird sightings in the badlands. These records represent
some of his most colorful and interesting writings.