32-page illustrated booklet lists bird species reported at Midewin

A new booklet called “Birds of Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie” by Jim Herkert summarizes 24 years of field research on grassland birds and will help Midewin staff manage grassland areas, according to a news release from Illinois Audubon Society.

Herkert, along with staff and volunteers at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, performed the research as part of the Annual Grassland Bird Survey, according to the release.

“Birds of Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie” updates the list of bird species reported at Midewin to 234 and contains a section of the future of birds at Midewin, categorized by habitat type: grasslands, wetlands, shrublands and savannas, according to the release.

A PDF of the 32-page booklet, which contains photos and descriptions of birds, is available at bit.ly/3vtVIXY.

“As ‘Birds of Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie’ makes clear, one restoration and management prescription will not conserve all grassland birds,” Jeff Walk, director of conservation for The Nature Conservancy of Illinois, said in the release. “Midewin is large enough to provide thousands of acres of vital grassland habitat, as well as adjacent and interspersed wetlands, shrublands and savannas.”

When Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, a unit of the U.S. Forest Service, was created on February 10, 1996, by the Illinois Land Conservation Act, the management plan said to establish 10,260 acres of the 19,165-acre site as unfragmented grasslands to benefit breeding birds.

Midewin’s bird species include the three-state threatened species – black-billed cuckoo, least bittern and osprey – and the eight-state endangered species: king rail, common gallinule, upland sandpiper, American bittern, black-crowned night-heron, northern harrier, short-eared owl and loggerhead shrike, according to the release.

“Birds of Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie” also “details the status, habitat requirements and management recommendations for 10 grassland-dependent species: upland sandpiper, short-eared owl, loggerhead shrike, grasshopper sparrow, savannah sparrow, Henslow’s sparrow, bobolink, eastern meadowlark, red-winged blackbird and dickcissel,” according to the release.

The Illinois Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy published “Birds of Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.”

The Audubon Council of Illinois, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Illinois Wildlife Preservation Fund, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board also provided support for the field research included in “Birds of Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.”

For informationm visit illinoisaudubon.org, nature.org/en-us/ and fs.usda.gov/main/midewin/home.