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Fire and Rain

10,000 Birds

Later on — after seven years at most, in the case of the Black-backed Woodpecker — these first responders are gone and the holes in the snags serve as nesting cavities for martens, and squirrels and Mountain Bluebirds and Flammulated Owls. They are still scary on a primal level, these high-intensity fires; and not for nothing.

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Where Are You Birding This Third Weekend of March 2011?

10,000 Birds

All conditions are perfect here in central South Dakota for the waterfowl travelers. Fish & Wildlife Service expects sea levels to rise due to global warming, swamping beaches on which Snowy Plovers currently nest, it is good news that the number of beaches proposed for protection as Snowy Plover nesting habitat has doubled.

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