Wyoming’s Ucross Ranch: Its Birds, History, and Natural Environment

This book profiles 60 of the most abundant, characteristic, and interesting birds that are regularly reported from the 20,000-acre Ucross Ranch and the adjacent Powder River Basin of northeastern Wyoming. Ucross is a textbook example of the prairie grassland/ shrubland habitat type referred to as the sagebrush steppe, a landscape that is an icon of Wyoming’s vast open spaces. We focus especially on those species that occur year-round or are present as breeders during the summer months, and we place emphasis on a unique group of sagebrush steppe–adapted birds. We provide information on each profiled species’ identification, voice, status, and habitats. An introduction describes the history of the Ucross Ranch, followed by essays on the natural environment and habitats of the ranch, including the characteristic sagebrush steppe and its associated bird species. There are 60 color bird photographs, a map of the vegetation communities in the Great Plains, and a Bird Checklist of the Ucross Ranch.