Dinosaurs are vanishing again. Except this time, they’re disappearing in the form of modern birds. According to a paper published in Science and co-authored by researchers from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, 2.9 billion birds have been lost in Canada and the United States—a 29 percent decline—since 1970.
Conservation Nation purchased tiny high-tech GPS tracking devices to outfit eastern meadowlarks in order to help Smithsonian researchers know the path of a depleting population of songbirds as they migrate up and down the East Coast.
The song of the Eastern meadowlark sounds like a flute that drops its pitch—beautiful and distinctive. These days bird enthusiasts hear the meadowlark’s sweet call
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Conservation Nation is an initiative of Friends of the National Zoo, the registered 501(c)(3) non-profit partner of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. Contributions to Conservation Nation are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
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