Our feathered friends are back! One of my favorite things about spring is all the birdsong I hear when spending time outside. Such happy sounds bring joy to my soul. Did you know that 84 species of Missouri's 170 breeding bird species flock together and leave the state during non-breeding seasons? Of those, 58 species leave the country, wintering in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. About 20 years ago, our Missouri wildlife biologists realized that if we want to continue seeing our favorite migratory birds each year in Missouri, we need to do more than preserve habitat for them here within our own state. In particular, they discovered that the wintering grounds of many of our migratory species were at risk or disappearing. Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation has been funding habitat protection and restoration projects in Mexico and Central America since 2007. Help me raise money for their continued work to preserve habitat for our Missouri birds!