environmental 

 adaplailons 



OF YELLOWSTONE AND 

 GRAND TETON BIRDS 



(1) 



Several species of birds have made behavioral adaptations which allow 

 them to live and breed in Yellowstone's thermal basins. Killdeer feed on 

 the abundant insect life which thrives in the warm runoff channels of 

 geysers and hot springs, and nest on the barren regions of sinter or 

 travertine deposited by the geysers and hot springs. Woodpeckers, 

 bluebirds, nuthatches, swallows and chickadees utilize the dead trees 

 scalded or drowned by thermal waters for nesting sites. 



(2) 



Man's role as a nonconsumptive user of our national parks is unique. 

 Here wildlife populations roam freely interacting with one another as 

 they have for centuries. In thisdynamic interaction, magpies and ravens 

 have developed an important role as scavengers, often in a symbiotic 

 relationship with predators such as the coyote. 



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