Bird Club – Birds & Black-footed Ferrets in South Dakota

March marks our 34th anniversary celebration. Horicon Marsh Bird Club President Jeff Bahls returns to tell us about his trips to Buffalo Gap National Grasslands in South Dakota to survey for Black-footed Ferrets and the birds he encountered during those surveys. The Black-footed Ferret was listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1967 and extinct in 1979. But a residual wild population was discovered in Wyoming, in 1981. This cohort eventually grew to 130 individuals and was then nearly extirpated by sylvatic plague and canine distemper. The 18 survivors were captured from 1985 to 1987 to serve as the foundation for a successful breeding program.

Bird Club is free to all to attend.