The wide-open spaces of the Flint Hills may no longer provide a secure home on the range for several familiar grassland birds, according to research by a Kansas State University ecologist and her colleagues.

By Michael Pearce and Beccy Tanner, The Wichita Eagle, Kan. Apr. 20--They gather on prairie ridges while most of us are still asleep, humming a haunting three-note song that carries for miles in the pre-dawn stillness.

By Jennifer Smith, Newsday, Melville, N.Y. Mar. 2--On a recent winter afternoon in Calverton, two short-eared owls swooped low over coppery stands of waist-high broom sedge, on the hunt for rodents as meadowlarks sang out in the fading light.

By David Hendee, Omaha World-Herald, Neb. Feb. 3--LINCOLN -- Like ringneck pheasants darting out of the end of a field ahead of hunters, acres are slipping out of one of the nation's most successful conservation programs.

By David Hendee, Omaha World-Herald, Neb. Jan. 20--ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Efforts to preserve and enhance America's wildlife habitat for everything from butterflies to bears got a boost Saturday. Chuck Conner, acting U.S.