By attaching beacons to the birds' backs, researchers tracked the kite to a single prairie tree in Brazil, where some 300 were roosting. Sidney Gauthreaux, professor of biological sciences at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C., finds this situation precarious. We are now starting to realize how vitally important these habitat issues are. This realization has spawned a shift in the way migratory conservation is being carried out. Armed with this new focus, researchers are concentrating on identifying areas of critical habitat to ordinary birds.
Migrants are very sophisticated about choosing where they stop.
They have to refuel, they have to rest for the next leg. They need a motel, and in some ways taking interest in migrants is building motels for them. But Dr. Rosenberg sees this as a novel and important move away from the push for listing birds as endangered species. That's all we did for 20 to 30 years. Today, we are taking a new direction and looking for common ground.