In Alabama’s Black Belt, Scientists Are Banding Birds In Rare Patches of Prairie to Aid Restoration Efforts

Last winter, Lianne Koczur traveled to Central Alabama to glimpse a landscape of the past—and perhaps one for the future. Dense, dormant grass covered the 100-acre field. “Most people would walk up and wonder, ‘What’s so special about this? There’s nothing here,’” says Koczur, science and conservation director at Alabama Audubon. She knew better: As the sun rose, the glowing prairie fluttered to life with Sedge Wrens, Common Yellowthroats, and a variety of sparrows.

Koczur is working to understand how birds use these prairie patches and to justify why their preservation and restoration matters. The Black Belt tallgrass prairie, a crescent-shaped swath across Alabama and Mississippi, once made up the largest grassland in the eastern United States. In the 1800s, however, cotton growers depleted its rich soil by the forced labor of enslaved people, leaving behind a poor landscape and even poorer communities. Today less than 1 percent remains of the historic prairie.

Although degraded and rare, the Black Belt prairie still attracts a diverse array of grassland birds, and efforts are growing to restore this essential ecosystem while also revitalizing local economies. To build momentum toward that goal, in 2021 Alabama Audubon began hosting the annual Black Belt Birding Festival, which celebrates both the wildlife and rich civil rights history of the area. During festivities each August, visitors take tours to spot birds such as Swallow-tailed Kites, Painted Buntings, and Dickcissels and to see how private landowners maintain and revive rich avian habitats. “We have this beautiful property,” says Mitchell Bell, whose family owns Wild Horse Prairie. “It’s an obligation, given climate change and all the bad things that are happening in the world, to be part of a wider conservation effort.”

To gauge the quality of such habitats, Koczur now wants to know whether overwintering grassland birds are loyal to these prairie plots. “Just because birds are present in a location doesn't necessarily mean that location is good for birds,” says Alabama Audubon director R. Scot Duncan. He likens an unfit habitat to a bad restaurant: People will stop, but if the food isn’t good, they won’t return. “If birds are staying over the winter and especially if they’re coming back year after year, that tells you that this is a really high-quality site,” Duncan says. 

Since 2024, between November and February, Koczur’s team has banded birds at three sites in the Black Belt: a 100-acre prairie remnant on the Bells’ property that preserves a piece of the original landscape; a 5-acre site at Contentment prairie restored by another landowner; and 15 acres of grasslands within a public preserve. At each site, the team sets up a row of mist nets and volunteers move in a line toward the nets through hip-high grasses, shaking gallon jugs of pebbles that sends startled birds into the mesh. Researchers identify, age, weigh, and band the captured birds before releasing them, repeating this exercise every two weeks. 

So far, they’ve banded 294 birds in total, including many sparrows such as Savannah, LeConte’s, Field, White-throated, and even the rare Henslow’s. Of those, they’ve recaptured 79 individuals during the same winter they were banded, plus two Swamp Sparrows returning the next year—suggesting that these habitats are high-quality enough to attract many birds and are retaining at least some.

This past winter, the Bells worked with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to install a Motus station on their prairie remnant, which will detect when birds outfitted with radio transmitters pass near their property. Koczur plans to use the technology to get more details on the birds’ whereabouts. Going forward she also wants to understand how factors like temperature and rainfall patterns, prescribed burn cycles, and the presence of specific prairie plants influence whether birds regularly return to each habitat.

As landowners realize the value of the prairie’s scenic beauty, opportunities for recreation, and biodiversity, more of them are investing to restore these rich landscapes, Duncan says. The researchers hope their data can support their efforts and help turn these patches into the best homes possible for birds.

 This story originally ran in the Summer 2026 issue as “Patching Up the Prairie.” To receive our print magazine, become a member by making a donation today.