10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2013

Severe fires create snags, they germinate seeds and sprout fungus, and most of all they create food and habitat for insects that in turn feed birds like Black-backed Woodpecker and Olive-sided Flycatcher , and encourage even some generalists like other woodpeckers and wrens.

Endangered Species 162

Endangered Species South Dakota Woodpeckers Sheep 162

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2012

The species was extinct, a vanished part of the vanishing prairie — and not for the first time. In the 1950s the species was unofficially regarded as extinct by most biologists, a small part lost in the general tumble and disarray of the entire ecosystem they’d inhabited. You couldn’t see it. But the ferrets kept dying.

Ferrets 189

Ferrets South Dakota Wyoming Captive Animal 189

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2014

I didn’t know what species of woodpecker it was, but I knew it was just in the clearing on the other side of the road. ” Note how well camouflaged this bird is atop a snag in its natural habitat of burned coniferous forest. Range map courtesy of South Dakota Birds and Birding. Siegel and, D.

Woodpeckers 173

Woodpeckers California South Dakota Chad 173