This is Bird Note.

The Intermountain West was once rich in native grasslands and in grassland birds.

One in particular played an important role in the creation story of the Nimi Poo or Nespur's people.

And that's Meadowlark.

Meadowlark was coming up the Columbia River and told coyote that there was a monster in the

Camioi Valley.

This is Elliot Moffitt.

In our language, we'll talk about Metal Arc, what the Mental Arc characteristics were,

because they were always talking, you know, and they were passing on information, so they were kind of the reporter.

Meadowlark is a talkative bird. You can often see them singing from the top of fence posts or trees.

In this story, Meadowlark warns coyote about a monster.

The monster was eating up all the animals in camei.

And coyote was our superhero too.

And this was before people. So he went there.

He developed this plant to kill the monster. and he did. And from the monster was created at Nesperse people, the Nimi Poo. And you can still see the heart of the monster in Kamiye.

The heart of the monster is a small rocky butte in what is today designated as a national park site in the Camilleye Valley of North Central Idaho.

Meadowlark continues to sing there today.

For Bird Note, I'm Monica Goki.