This is Bird Note.

In the shortgrass prairie of Eastern Montana,

it can feel like there's nowhere to hide,

especially in a pasture that's just been grazed by cattle.

But many birds call this region home,

including the thick-billed longsper.

Whistling

The birds' long, burbling song helps create the summer soundscape of the high plains.

Male thick-billed longspers sing in short display flights,

showing off the white undersides of their wings.

Whistling

The species was formally named Macowns Longsper after John Macown,

a Confederate general who participated in genocide against Native Americans.

In 2020, after pressure from the bird names for birds movement and others,

the species was renamed after its distinctive thick bill,

which is pale and pinkish on females and black on breeding males.

Males also have black chests and crowns,

while the females have a faintly colored breast and brown-street heads.

A pair of longspers often raises two broods of eggs together in the summer.

In very low grass, they often tuck their nest behind a prickly pear cactus.

The bird's range has shrunk since 1900,

due to loss and degradation of shortgrass prairie habitat.

...