Field Notes8 Stories

Data Stories

Exploring wildlife data from NatureServe and USFWS. Stories the numbers tell about the species we pursue and the landscapes they inhabit.

01
Conservation803 designationsUSFWS8 min

Mapping the Sacred: Critical Habitat in America

What 527 species and 803 critical habitat designations tell us about the creatures we've nearly lost.

02
Waterfowl4 flywaysUSFWS7 min

Flyways and Faith: The Geography of Migration

Four flyways, thousands of miles, and the ancient rhythm that connects a duck hunter in Arkansas to a birder in Saskatchewan.

03
SpeciesG1 - G5 scaleNatureServe6 min

Ranks of Reverence: What Conservation Status Really Means

From G1 to G5, the strange, precise language scientists use to measure how close a species is to gone.

04
AcousticsSoundscape dataUSFS7 min

The Long Quiet: What Forest Silence Tells Us About Biodiversity

Acoustic ecology is teaching us to hear the difference between a healthy forest and a degraded one.

05
WaterOgallala -30%USGS6 min

Water Beneath the Surface: Aquifer Depletion and the Fish That Depend on It

The invisible connections between groundwater, spring-fed streams, and the trout that cannot be seen.

06
Habitat70% within 1km of roadUSGS7 min

The Edge Effect: Where Habitat Fragmentation Meets the Hunter

Roads, development, and agriculture are carving the forest into pieces, and the edges are where everything changes.

07
Citizen Science125 yearsAudubon CBC8 min

What the Count Shows: A Century of the Christmas Bird Count

For 125 years, ordinary people have counted birds every winter, and the data they gathered is a portrait of a changing continent.

08
Water68°F thresholdUSGS6 min

Trout and Turbulence: Reading the Hydrology of Cold Water

Stream temperature and dissolved oxygen are the invisible boundaries of trout country, and the gauges are telling us they are moving.