[Vanishing birds]

Short news segment about the disappearing prairies in Illinois and the species who inhabit them.

0:05Copy video clip URL Shots of a prairie and two women enjoying the various birds. Voice over from Elizabeth Brackett explains that they consider themselves ‘Citizen Scientists’.

0:33Copy video clip URL Jenny Vogt explains the importance of counting the birds they see. “We can see trends, we can look back on numbers, and see declining trends…” Brackett and Vogt elaborate on Vogt’s work as a volunteer.

1:12Copy video clip URL Brackett talks about the results that the Audubon Society has gathered from the data of Vogt and others.

1:28Copy video clip URL Judy Pollack shares that the populations of many common species of birds have declined drastically. Pictures show the ten bird species who have declined the most nationally: Northern Bobwhite, Evening Grosbeak, Northern Pintail, Greater Scaup, Boreal Chickadee, Eastern Meadowlark, Common Tern, Loggerhead Shrike, Field Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow.

2:02Copy video clip URL Pollack specifies her concerns for the Bobolink and the Meadowlark, two common Illinois grassland birds.

2:29Copy video clip URL Discussion of the loss of habitat for these birds. Stephen Packard elaborates on the issue. “If the grasslands are going, and the woodlands, and the shrublands, and the wetlands, what confidence to we have that we are maintaining a habitat that is a fit habitat for ourselves as a species?”

3:16Copy video clip URL Brackett talks more about the disappearance of prairies. Doug Stotz explains that it’s easier and less expensive to take care of birds before they become endangered.

4:28Copy video clip URL Volunteers keep up the prairie land in Illinois. Tom Vanderpoel notes that persistence and patience is needed to keep the land thriving.

5:09Copy video clip URL Footage of the prairie shows that some progress has been made in bringing back wildflowers and grassland birds. Brackett gives statistics that reflect the improvement.

5:36Copy video clip URL Vogt talks about the connection this has made between her and the Earth. Packard and his volunteers harvest seeds and spread them among the prairies, and he notes the small improvements that sometimes get looked over.

7:15Copy video clip URL Pollack speculates about the future of the prairie land. “It’s a question of ‘will enough people understand how important this is?'” Brackett closes out the segment

8:14Copy video clip URL End