The Future of Some Birds in Kansas and Missouri is a Concern

By Bill Graham, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Dec. 9–The Greater Prairie Chicken spends winters pecking for food in grasslands and crop fields, while the Cerulean Warbler migrates to the Andes Mountains in South America.

But the birds share a place this winter on the National Audubon Society and American Bird Conservancy “watch list” of most-imperiled species. They are among the 47 species in Kansas and 41 in Missouri showing steep population declines nationally.

“These are species that we are concerned about their extinction,” said Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation for the National Audubon Society.

The two private conservation groups recently released the list, based on surveys and scientific data. More than a quarter of the nation’s 700 bird species need immediate help, Butcher said.

But the new watch list includes birds that are endangered or rare — or could become so — because habitat is shrinking in quantity and quality, invasive species are competing for food, and global warming is altering ecosystems.

Grassland prairie chickens and woodland warblers illustrate the problems.

The once-common Greater Prairie Chicken is on Audubon’s most-imperiled “red list.”

“For Prairie Chickens, if we don’t act now, they’re going to disappear from Missouri,” said Andy Forbes, an ornithologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Fewer than 1,000 remain in the state, primarily because 97 percent of their native grassland habitat is gone. An intensive management effort on the remaining prairies is under way.

Kansas is a stronghold for Greater Prairie Chickens and is one of four states that still allow hunting for them.

But their numbers are declining in the Flint Hills, the nation’s largest unbroken tallgrass prairie area, said Jim Pitman, small-game coordinator for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

“In the Flint Hills they’re in a downward spiral,” Pitman said, “and that’s the core of our prairie chicken range.”

A primary reason is that the rangeland is burned every spring to encourage summer grass growth and then is grazed by cattle, he said. Little cover is left for nesting or raising broods.

Kansas offers one bright spot.

A closely related cousin, the Lesser Prairie Chicken, ranks in Audubon’s top 20 imperiled birds. But its numbers have increased in southwest Kansas because of the federal conservation reserve program that pays farmers to convert crops to native grasses, Pitman said.

Overall though, Butcher said, “the grassland birds are suffering some of the worst declines in the United States.”

Woodland and wetland birds face similar problems.

Cerulean Warblers are small, bluish songbirds that nest in the Missouri Ozarks and migrate to South America in winter. They are on Audubon’s “yellow list,” with numbers not yet critical, but rapidly decreasing.

“We don’t have the large, unbroken blocks of forest that we once did for these birds to nest in,” Forbes said.

Roads, new houses and conversion of forest to grazing land have fractured the Ozark forests and hurt songbird reproduction. Besides fewer trees, there is easier access for predators and a nest parasite called the Brown-Headed Cowbird that lays eggs in other birds’ nests.

Plus, the warblers’ South American wintering grounds are being converted from timber to cocoa cultivation.

The future for all birds will depend on better habitat management on private and public lands, Butcher said. Everything from more financial support for federal wildlife refuges to volunteers restoring habitat is needed, he said.

“Whether it’s on a house lot or working on an important public area, people can help,” Butcher said.

——

Red list (Most imperiled in Missouri or Kansas)

Waterfowl: Mottled Duck.

Land birds: Greater Prairie Chicken, Lesser Prairie Chicken, Bell’s Vireo, Baird’s Sparrow, Henslow’s Sparrow, Bachman’s Warbler, Golden-Winged Warbler, Bachman’s Sparrow.

Marsh birds: Black Rail, Whooping Crane.

Shore birds: Piping Plover, Mountain Plover, Eskimo Curlew, Buff-Breasted Sandpiper.

Water birds: Least Tern.

Yellow list (Species in sharp decline or trying to recover from low numbers in Missouri, Kansas)

Waterfowl: Trumpeter Swan.

Land birds: Scaled Quail, Swainson’s Hawk, Short-Eared Owl, Red-Headed Woodpecker, Olive-Sided Flycatcher, Willow Flycatcher, Wood Thrush, Varied Thrush, Sprague’s Pipit, Prairie Warbler, Bay-Breasted Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Canada Warbler, Blue-Winged Warbler, Swainson’s Warbler, Lark Bunting, Le Conte’s Sparrow, Nelson’s Sharp-Tailed Sparrow, Smith’s Longspur, Painted Bunting. Rusty Blackbird.

Marsh birds: King Rail.

Shore birds: American Golden Plover, Snowy Plover, Long-Bill Curlew, Hudsonian Godwit, Marbled Godwit, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, White-Rumped Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper.

Water birds: Thayer’s Gull.

——

On the Web –The National Audubon Society watch list and tips for the public are at web1.audubon.org/ science/species/ watchlist/index.php.

–Volunteers for the Kansas City Wildlands program restore critical habitat on public land. Information is at www.kcwildlands.org.

–Missouri Department of Conservation programs are at www. mdc.mo.gov/nathis/ helpconserve.htm.

–Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks programs are at www.kdwp.state.ks.us/ news/other_services/ threatened_and_ endangered_species.

To reach Bill Graham, call 816-234-5906 or send e-mail to bgraham@kcstar.com.

—–

To see more of The Kansas City Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kansascity.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.