Hornaday's Bird

BirdNote^® 

Hornaday’s Bird

Written by Ashley Ahearn

This is BirdNote.

[Gulping sounds of Greater Sage-Grouse]

There used to be millions of Greater Sage-Grouse across the West, but the birds’ numbers have been in decline pretty much ever since settlers arrived from the East. Today, scientists and environmentalists are sounding the alarm about the shrinking population, but they aren’t the first to do so. 

Back in 1916, a man named William T. Hornaday wrote this bulletin titled, “Save the Sage Grouse from Extinction: A Demand from (quote) Civilization to the Western States.” In it he says:

“We are issuing this final warning as a matter of duty to the people of the West, for the benefit of their sons and grandsons, and also as a duty to the harassed and persecuted birds that can not speak for themselves. It has become a case of now or never.” 

Hornaday said it was a “last call” to limit hunting and development in order to save the “cock-o-the-plains,” as sage-grouse were called back then, from certain extinction. He loved these birds — and was worried about them — more than a hundred years ago. 

There are a lot of people still fighting to keep these birds around today. And you can learn more by subscribing to Grouse: a special podcast from BirdNote Presents, wherever you get your podcasts. Or head over to BirdNote.org.

I’m Ashley Ahearn.
                                                             ###
Producer: John Kessler
Production Manager: Allison Wilson
Editor: Ashley Ahearn
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. GRSG ML50119 recordist G Keller
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2020 BirdNote   September 2020            Narrator: Ashley Ahearn
 
ID# GRSG-11-2020-09-18         GRSG-11