As we prepare for the Great Backyard Bird Count February 14–17, birdwatchers will be flocking to fields, parks, streams, and yards to spot some of the 305 bird species that call our state home. However, these hobbyists are seeing more than just local fauna through their binocular lenses; they’re witnessing Missouri history in action. The presence (or lack) of certain bird species in our state tells a centuries-old tale of humanity’s impact on our natural environments.
Birding Bellwether
The state of Missouri covers only 2 percent of the continental United States’ landmass, but it ranks No. 21 in terms of the number of native plants and animals within the state, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. Our vast diversity of natural landscapes facilitate a wide variety of bird species. The state’s location along the Mississippi Flyway also accounts for a large number of the bird species in our borders. An estimated 40 percent of all North American migratory birds utilize this flyway, which follows the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio rivers and offers plentiful water, food, and shelter along its path.
"When birds don’t have what they need, we don’t either.” — National Audubon Society
Birds are especially sensitive to pollutants and environmental change, making them critical bellwethers for monitoring the health of our shared environments. Since 1970, North America has lost 2.9 billion birds, about 29 percent of its bird population. Per the Network in Canadian History & Environment: “One of the biggest indicators of historical change in the places we study is changing biodiversity: the abundance, range, and composition of plant and animal species in a particular area.”
Missouri is home to wetlands, grasslands, glades, woodlands, cliffs, caves, waterways, and built environments that birds call home. The species we spot in each are not only the result of changes in these local environments, but they also indicate where we’re heading. In the words of the National Audubon Society, “When birds don’t have what they need, we don’t either.”
Wetlands
Studies of Missouri’s topography divide the state of its natural communities into two distinct eras: before European settlement, and after. Few environments reflect that divide more starkly than Missouri wetlands. As of the 1770s, Missouri had 4.8 million acres of wetlands, which made up about 10.9 percent of the state’s surface area. Just over a century later, by 1890, that wetland base had been reduced to a mere 643 acres — a loss of 87 percent. Wetland soils are rich in nutrients, carbon, and organic matter, making them highly productive soils, which is why nearly half of Missouri’s native plant species are associated with wetlands. However, European settlers found the soil too water-logged for farming, so they built dams and levees to drain the wetlands. As the water left the soil, with it went entire ecosystems of food, water, and shelter.
Missouri wetlands play a critical role in migration for waterfowl, shorebirds, songbirds, marsh birds, wading birds, and raptors. More than 100 bird species in the state utilize wetlands for at least part of their lifecycles, and more than 200 state species of concern use wetlands as their primary habitats. Located along water sources, these ecosystems take the form of marshes, swamps, and the uniquely Ozarkian fen — a critically endangered wetland fed by seeping groundwater. Wetlands combine shrubby shores, forested edges, mud flats, and open waters, making them home to a variety of avian life. Missouri birdwatchers commonly spot great blue herons stalking muddy shores and red-winged blackbirds roosting in cattails.
Our tangled history of wetland habitat loss is perhaps best told through king rail populations. Of the semi-amphibious rail family, the king rail was the state’s only breeding rail species and nested and fed in wetland waters less than 6 inches deep. Before the 1960s, the king rail was a common sight, but drastic habitat loss has made the bird an endangered species in Missouri. Lucky birders who hope to spot a king rail might have better luck putting down the binoculars — these elusive birds are more often identified by their distinctive call than by sight.
Savannas
Savannas are a unique form of grassland, existing where prairies transition into woodland. Resembling natural parks, savannas have small clumps of trees amid lush expanses of native perennial grasses. Because of their existence on the edges of woodlands, savannas are susceptible to the process of succession — the idea that, without disturbances such as fire, grazing, or other intervention, land progresses, or “succeeds,” into one dominating habitat. In Missouri, fires sparked by lightning or Indigenous American tribes curtailed the encroachment of succeeding shrubs and woodlands, preserving our prairie and savanna habitats. Unfortunately, succession, development, and agriculture have claimed the majority of Missouri grasslands, making savannas a critically endangered landscape. A history of Springfield and Greene County published in the Springfield Weekly Advertiser on December 19, 1875 documents this shifting landscape: “In [the early days of Greene County] there was considerably more prairie land than at present, much of the timber having spread out into the prairies since the first occupancy of the country — the result of restraining the annual prairie fires. We are told that many fine groves have grown up since the original survey.” As of today, Missouri savannas are considered a critically imperiled habitat, according to Natural History of Ecological Restoration, with an estimated 6.5 million acres now reduced to less than 1,000.
Prairies and savannas are rich ecosystems supporting a variety of birds, wildlife, and plant species who call these dwindling landscapes home. Wide open grasslands are optimal hunting grounds for eagle-eyed predatory birds, who can perch in small tree clusters to hunt for insects and small mammals that live among the lush grasses. Missouri birders will often spot American kestrels or red-tailed hawks perched in tree clusters. Conservationists are working to restore populations of native grassland species, such as the northern bobwhite, a quail species that forages on the seeds, berries, and insects within the savanna’s food web.
Glades
The Ozark Highlands sit atop a base of limestone and dolomite, giving the Springfield region its hilly, rocky landscape. In certain areas, this bedrock is close to the surface, creating glades. Glades, also called balds or barrens, are rocky openings in forested areas with thin, dry soil. The exposed rock and arid landscape are typically home to xeric, or drought-tolerant desert-like, plant and animal life.
Glades are categorized by their bedrock. The Ozarks are home to limestone and dolomite glades, but rare chert glades can also be found in Joplin. Chert is a slow-weathering bedrock that takes much longer to wear down and expose itself, making these glades a unique habitat in Missouri. Only 200 acres of chert glades exist in the state. Much like savannas, glades are susceptible to woodland succession. Traditionally, grazing and occasional fires kept woody vegetation like invasive eastern red cedars at bay, but fire suppression has impacted some of Missouri’s glades. Before European settlers, the state had 500,000 acres of glades. Since that time, we have lost about 100,000 acres of these habitats.
Glades border prairies and woodlands, giving their wildlife ample food and shelter sources. Colorful painted buntings and prairie warblers are common sights on Missouri glades. As Missouri’s natural environments have changed and human-built infrastructure has increased, some birds have adjusted their habitats. The common nighthawk once used the warm rocks of sunny glades for nesting, but they now make themselves at home on flat gravel rooftops in cities and towns. Other species have taken refuge in the glades as their native environments change. For example, Bachman’s sparrows were once common in Missouri’s shortleaf pine forests. As those forests disappeared due to clearing and succession, this now-endangered species can only be found on Missouri’s limestone glades.
Forests & Woodlands
Forests and woodlands are considered a climax community in Missouri — meaning that, if left undisturbed, woodlands would become the dominant landscape. Unlike many of the other natural environments detailed above, the amount of forest and woodland cover has grown since European settlement of the state, now covering about 15.5 million acres. Forests consist of closed canopies, overlapping layers of trees, and very little light, whereas woodlands have a more open canopy. Forests and woodlands can be bottomland or upland. Bottomland forests grow along floodplains in rich, damp soil and are critical for absorbing the impacts of floods. Less than 20 percent of presettlement bottomland forests remain, as many were drained and converted to agricultural land because of their nutrient-rich soils. Upland forests make up 90 percent of the state’s wooded cover. Their developed understories and groundcover offer plentiful shelter and nesting sites, the nutrient-rich soils support a diverse foodweb of insects, plants, and animals, and even downed trees support cavity nesting bird species. Missouri forests are home to a variety of avian life, including predatory birds like barred owls, grouse like wild turkeys, and songbirds like the pine warbler and yellow-throated warbler.
Many Ozarks forests are now oak, but small sections of native shortleaf pine forests remain in the eastern Ozark region. Missouri’s only native pine species, shortleaf pines were once abundant along glades and dry upland forests, covering 6.6 million acres. But extensive logging from 1890 to 1920 devastated pinelands. As these forests disappeared, bird species that depended on them became endangered or expatriated entirely. One such species is the red-cockaded woodpecker, which builds intricate nests in the bodies of living shortleaf pine trees. When the last stand of virgin shortleaf pine was cut down in 1946, the last reported red-cockaded woodpecker colony disappeared with it. This once-native Missouri species can now be seen in the western Ouachita region of Arkansas.
However, just as human activity contributed to the decline of shortleaf pine forests, our intervention is also what’s saving them. Like the red-cockaded woodpecker, the brown-headed nuthatch was similarly expatriated from Missouri in the early 1900s when cleared shortleaf pine forests regrew as oak-hickory forest. Ongoing efforts since the late 1930s have been restoring shortleaf pine growth in the Mark Twain National Forest. As these forests reestablish, the Missouri Department of Conservation has led successful efforts to reintroduce the brown-headed nuthatch to the state in 2020, 2021, and 2024.
Cliffs
As anyone who has floated a Missouri river can tell you, bluffs and cliffs are prevalent in our state. Formed by an escarpment (an erosion or faulting), these rocky monuments have thin soil at their top edges and little vegetative life on their faces. Bluffs are headlands with a more rounded edge and typically border a stream or body of water, but otherwise exhibit the same characteristics as cliffs. Despite having limited vegetative life, cliffs and bluffs have multiple outcroppings and crevices that provide nesting and overwintering sites for many bird species.
Cliff and barn swallows can be seen building large clusters of mud nests under outcroppings on cliffs. As built environments have increased, these swallows have made themselves equally at home under overpasses and bridges, too. In some cases, built environments prove to be an even more enticing environment for native cliff dwellers. For example, efforts to reintroduce peregrine falcons to bluff habitats have mostly failed. The species had all but disappeared from the state by the late 1880s due to pesticide poisoning, but restoration efforts have successfully reintroduced the fastest animal on earth to Missouri — with one caveat. Previously native to bluffs along the Mississippi, Missouri, and Gasconade Rivers, these falcons have come to prefer nesting on skyscrapers in cities, which have high populations of their favorite prey: rock pigeons.
Caves
We may be known as the Show-Me state, but did you know that Missouri is also called the cave state? Home to more than 7,000 caves, Missouri sits atop a karst landscape of soluble dolomite and limestone. As slightly acidic groundwater seeps through cracks in that bedrock, it dissolves rock, widening cracks to form cavities or caves. Sometimes, when enough soil and rock accumulate above a cavern, the walls collapse, forming a sinkhole. Caves can be dry when they occur above the water table or wet when they occur below the water table, and they can have water flowing out of (cave springs) or into (swallets) them.
The presence of water and their deep network of tunnels keep caves a consistent 55 degrees Fahrenheit yearround. Because of their lack of sunlight, minimal soil, and cool temperatures, little vegetative life grows in caves, but they are far from dead. More than 900 species call Missouri caves home. Their deep interiors provide shelter, and detritus that blows or falls into caves forms the basis of a complex food chain. Bird species don’t typically live or venture into caves — that is reserved for trogloxenes like bats — but some species are known to use cave entrances as shelter for their nests. In the spring, birders can commonly see eastern phoebes or turkey vultures rearing their young in cave entrances.
Caves, caverns, and sinkholes are often miles deep and part of an intricate system of tunnels and passageways far underground connected to our water table. All of the area surrounding a cave through which water moves is called a recharge area, and these regions are highly susceptible to pollution from agricultural and roadway runoff, leaking septic systems, and other contaminants. These seep through porous layers of limestone and dolomite and into streams and groundwater. The springs and streams that flow from caves feed wetlands, woodlands, and waterways on which birds depend.
Waterways
Since the early 1800s, our state’s waterways have been an integral part of life in Missouri. Mineral springs were believed to have “healing waters” and even attracted tourists to the state. The constant 55-degree temperatures of cave springs helped settlers store food, and salt springs even offered a valuable source of salt for preserving food in early frontier life. Missouri has nearly 4,000 mapped streams and more than 110,000 miles of flowing water in addition to lakes, ponds, and reservoirs.
This plethora of fresh water makes Missouri an attractive destination for bird species. Flowing springs oxygenate habitats, supporting a variety of plant and animal life, including trout and other coldwater fish species on which birds feed. Lakes and reservoirs provide large bodies of water with plant-filled shallows, and cold, deep centers that support larger fish and aquatic species for feeding. Some of these lakes are even large and deep enough to catch winds and form waves, creating sandy, rocky shorelines on which shorebirds can peck for food. Creeks, streams, and rivers also demarcate flyways. Migratory bird species travel north and south along rivers throughout their journey because of the consistent access to food and water.
Although common species spotted along Missouri’s waterways include Canada geese, snow geese, and colorful waterfowl like wood ducks and common goldeneyes, perhaps our state’s most noteworthy water-adjacent species is the bald eagle. Formerly an endangered species, our national bird (so named in 2024) has made a dramatic comeback thanks to decades of conservation efforts. Currently about 200 pairs nest in Missouri, favoring freshwater lakes and deep rivers and marshes where fish are plentiful. Birders of all skillsets can spot these mighty hunters during Eagle Days events at various eagle hotspots around the state from late December through early February.
Built Environments
Although Missouri is home to a diverse range of natural habitats, our human-built environments are their own form of habitats, too. A built environment is a habitat that has been created or altered by people. These include dams, roads, construction sites, houses, yards, buildings, cities, lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. Some of these are disturbed habitats, or ones in which the natural development of plant life is continually interrupted — such as a roadside, crop field, or construction site. Disturbed environments can be naturally occurring, too, in the form of stream beds or river banks where sediment and plant life are continually swept away or deposited with the water, or prairies and grasslands which rely on occasional grazing, burning, or mowing to delay succession of woodland species.
Several bird species that are considered “generalists” have adapted to built and disturbed environments, scavenging for food, insects, seeds, and plants from place to place. Other species have found that built environments adequately mimic their natural habitats, making themselves at home in cities, towns, and suburbs. The previously mentioned nighthawks have often traded glades for warm gravel roofs when building nests, and eastern phoebes who use cave entrances for raising young have also learned to build nests beneath eaves and decks on homes and buildings. Other species like finches and sparrows thrive in residential yards and city parks, which typically have a mix of grasses, trees, shrubs, and brush. These spaces provide ample access to shelter, perches, and food (both naturally occurring and from birdfeeders), making them great places to spot species like the white-throated sparrow, the chipping sparrow, and the house finch.
Keep Your Eyes on the Skies
Missouri’s rich variety of natural habitats and landscapes support a wide-ranging ecosystem of plant and animal species. Over time, our human impact on these landscapes is reflected in the wildlife within them. Learning to see and identify the creatures (birds especially) around us can help us understand our region’s history, both natural and human. If you’d like to learn more about bird identification, join us for our Identifying Missouri Birds program on Saturday, February 8 at the Republic Branch Library. Once you’ve learned the basics of birdwatching, put your skills to work during the Department of Conservation’s Missouri Birding Challenge, taking place May 1–15 this year. Happy peeping!