This is Bird Note. Why do so many species of birds choose the northern great plains to raise their young?

Like the lark bunting, sprague's pipet, the chestnut-colored long spur, or bared sparrow.

After months of frigid cold and snow, warm spring days spur vigorous plant growth across the

prairies of Montana, the Dakotas, and southern Canada.

These grassland habitats are flush with insects that birds capture easily from the fresh grasses

and wildflowers. The open plains are ideal breeding areas for grouse and shorebirds whose

active offspring must forage for themselves while their parents guard them.

Like these upland sandpipers.

Migratory birds connect the northern Great Plains with many parts of the Western Hemisphere. Sprague's Pippet and Chestnut-collared long spurs, for example, winter in

central Mexico. And those upland

sandpipers fly thousands of miles to the pompous of Argentina and Uruguay. Disrupting any part

of a bird's annual life cycle at their breeding habitats, migration stopover sites, or wintering

grounds, reduces the survival of the species.

We can help these migratory marvels thrive by conserving the rich grasslands they depend on to survive.

For Bird Note, I'm Ariana Rimmel.