The central Appalachian region is experiencing the country’s most rapid growth in shale gas development, or ‘fracking,’ but we’ve known almost nothing about how this is affecting the region’s songbird populations — until now. A new study demonstrates that the nesting success of the Louisiana waterthrush — a habitat specialist that nests along forested streams, where the potential for habitat degradation is high — is declining at sites impacted by shale gas development in northwestern West Virginia.