South Dakota bird life is highly diversified due to varied habitats consisting of rivers, potholes, lakes, ponds, riparian woodlands, man-made woodlands, sagebrush, shrublands, croplands, haylands, Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) planted cover, virgin mixed and tallgrass prairies and, in western South Dakota, the Black Hills. South Dakota's midcontinental geographic position constitutes a transition zone where both western and eastern species occur (Tallman et al. 2002). The southerly drift of northern species brings owls, longspurs, sparrows and shorebirds. In addition, thousands of migrating waterfowl and warblers pass through South Dakota in the spring and fall.

In 1916, South Dakota's bird list consisted of 320 species (Over and Thoms 1932). When additional records were added in 1932 the list included 349 species and subspecies of birds for the state. In 1991, due in part to taxonomic changes as well as additional species in the state, the list contained 395 species (SDOU 1991), 219 of which were known to breed in South Dakota (Peterson 1995). Today, the list has grown to 414 species (Tallman et al. 2002), mainly due to documentation of new breeding species, such as Great-tailed Grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus) (Swanson and Liknes 2001), Virginia's Warblers (Vermivora virginiae) (Swanson et al. 2000) and Whip-poor-wills (Caprimulgus vociferus) (Dean et al. 1995). Two exotic species that were rarely seen historically, the Rock Dove (Columbia livia) and the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) are now common throughout South Dakota (Tallman et al. 2002).
Research has been conducted on some level in all habitats in South Dakota. The following is a synthesis of much of this research, including broad management recommendations proposed by the authors and research needs.