This is bird-note.

The cheerful voiced chestnut-collared longspur

gets along well with the cattle

that share its northern prairie breeding range.

For the most part.

But that relationship is not always an amicable one.

Cows will sometimes step on the longspur's neatly woven nests

in the grass.

And there are records of grazing cattle nudging eggs and chicks

out of the nests and eating them.

In a few cases, heavy grazing appears to have caused adult longspers

to abandon their efforts to breed for the season.

However, if cows are managed properly,

they may be able to help longspers persist.

200 years ago, the birds shared the prairie with bison,

which kept the grasses short enough for the birds to nest.

Today, on the northern great plains,

longspur breeding success rates have been shown to increase

when ranchers carefully manage their cattle to avoid over grazing

and habitat degradation.

And grassland birds need every bit of help they can get.

Even from cows.

...