Even in protected areas, birds are disappearing from America's prairies, and unpredictable weather isn't helping. That's the takeaway from a new study by researchers at Michigan State University, Oklahoma State University and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The study, published in the journal Ecological Applications, analyzed 16 years of bird survey data at 40 tallgrass prairie sites in western Minnesota.

Researchers returned to the same spots again and again between 2008 and 2023, watching and listening for bird species that appeared during the summer breeding season.

these losses aren’t just happening for rare species