December 15, 2021, via Zoom If you visit Mark Twain National Forest in the near future, you may hear a birdcall that hasn’t been in the Missouri Ozarks since the early-1900s. What may sound like the squeak of a rubber ducky is actually the Brown-headed Nuthatch, a songbird that was extirpated in Missouri at the turn of the century. The state lost millions of acres of pine woodlands through widespread logging at that time, which also happened to be the Brown-headed Nuthatch’s ideal habitat. Luckily for us, and for this squeaky songbird, conservation efforts have restored the Missouri pine woodlands leading to the Brown-headed Nuthatch returning to the Show-Me State. In this talk, Sarah Kendrick, the Missouri State Ornithologist, discusses bird conservation research and the work being done to reintroduce the Brown-headed Nuthatch to the Missouri pine woodlands. The speaker: Sarah Kendrick is a Missouri native and the State Ornithologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation where she works across the state, Midwest region, and internationally to focus bird conservation work at varying scales. She wrote and coordinated the Missouri Bird Conservation Plan with partners, which acts as a reference to public and private land managers to promote bird habitat management for our most-threatened species and focuses bird outreach messages. Sarah also coordinates the Great Missouri Birding Trail, conducts bird monitoring on the state’s priority lands, organized the reintroduction of the previously-extirpated Brown-headed Nuthatch to the state, and acts as the public and agency contact bird topics and issues. She serves on national and international committees to address threats to migratory birds and works to inspire action in Missouri’s citizenry to learn more about how they can help declining bird populations.

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