North American grassland birds in peril, spurring all-out effort to save birds and their habitat

POTTER, Neb. (AP) — When Reed Cammack hears the first meadowlark of spring, he knows his family has made it through another cold, snowy winter on the South Dakota prairie. Nothing’s better, he says, than hearing the birds light up the area with song at sunrise.“It’s part of the flora and fauna of our Great Plains and it’s beautiful to hear,” says Cammack, 42, a sixth-generation rancher who raises cattle on 10,000 acres (4,047 hectares) of native grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]