Flint Hills prairie, Kansas — Flint Hills prairie, KansasBuffalo at Konza Prairie in Kansas · Public domain

Every upland season, mapped by the country and the bird.

38 species tracked across 50 states — open dates, access notes and this year's outlook, organized the way you actually plan a trip: by where you're going, or what you're chasing.

Featured species

Birds worth building a season around

Ranked by national prominence

Ring-necked pheasant

#1Ring-necked pheasantRing-necked pheasant is an adaptable bird with no single cover type: grassy roadsides and ditches for spring nesting, hayfields as they green up, and dense cattail marsh or stiff native grass for winter. Cover use shifts by season more than any one habitat matters.44 statesUpland

Northern bobwhite quail

#2Northern bobwhite quailNorthern bobwhite needs early-successional habitat: weedy fields, thinned pine woods, fallow field borders, and hedgerows, wherever disturbance has reset the ground to brushy young growth. Birds shelter in dense cover and walk out into adjacent open ground to feed.42 statesUpland

Ruffed grouse

#3Ruffed grouseRuffed grouse depends on young, dense deciduous forest, especially aspen roughly 6 to 16 years past a cut or disturbance. Birds concentrate at edges, where young regrowth meets older timber or a brushy swamp, rather than in open ground.39 statesUpland

Greater sage-grouse

#4Greater sage-grouseGreater sage-grouse is entirely sagebrush-dependent, using open leks within dense sagebrush stands for breeding, wet meadows and irrigated pasture for brood-rearing, and tall, dense sagebrush on windswept ridges for winter. It can't persist where sagebrush is removed.11 statesUpland

Sharp-tailed grouse

#5Sharp-tailed grouseSharp-tailed grouse uses a grassland-brush-woodland mosaic: mixed-grass prairie with shrub patches for cover through the growing season, then a shift to riparian corridors and woodland edge for winter food and shelter. Leks need open ground with clear sightlines.14 statesUpland

Greater prairie-chicken

#6Greater prairie-chickenGreater prairie-chicken needs large, contiguous tracts of tallgrass and mixed-grass prairie bordered by cropland, with short display ground, taller nesting grass, and disturbed brood ground all close together. Fragmented small patches don't hold a viable flock.13 statesUpland

Chukar

#7ChukarChukar live in steep, dry, rocky country: canyon walls, talus slopes, rimrock, and cheatgrass hillsides, usually within reach of a spring or seep. This is terrain-first hunting; expect a serious climb wherever chukar are found.24 statesUpland

Gray (Hungarian) partridge

#8Gray (Hungarian) partridgeGray (Hungarian) partridge is an edge species of open farm country: hayfields, small grain, and row crops broken up by fencerows, shelterbelts, and grassy margins. Coveys are sedentary, rarely ranging more than a mile from home.23 statesUpland

Mourning dove

#9Mourning doveMourning dove is a habitat generalist found wherever open farmland, scattered trees, and reliable water meet, from cut grain fields to riparian edges. Birds travel daily between a roost, a feeding field, and water, so activity concentrates along those flight lines.49 statesFederal framework

American woodcock

#10American woodcockAmerican woodcock favor damp, early-successional cover: alder swales, regenerating cuts, and creek-bottom edges where the soil stays moist enough to hold earthworms. Look along the margins of young aspen or hardwood regrowth rather than deep in the thickest brush.38 statesFederal framework

Featured states

Country worth walking into

A slice of the fifty

South Dakota10 species on record

Nebraska10 species on record

Kansas8 species on record

Iowa8 species on record

North Dakota9 species on record

Michigan6 species on record

Montana11 species on record

Idaho14 species on record

Two ways in

Start from what you already know

States

Every state, its agency, and what's classified this season.

Species

Every tracked species, and where its season runs.