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Energy development has increased over the last decade in North Dakota with the use of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling altering the amount and type of traffic on unpaved roads throughout the largely rural Bakken region of the state. Previous research on traffic and dust deposition effects has primarily focused on plant performance, which overlooks potential effects on bird and insect communities within impacted agro-ecosystems. Prompted by increased signs of bird activity in dust collectors further from unpaved roads, we hypothesized that birds either (1) respond directly to traffic and/or dust deposition or (2) respond indirectly to differences in prey abundance along dust deposition gradients. We installed trail cameras to observe bird activity and used sweep nets to sample potential insect prey communities along transects used to monitor dust deposition at increasing distances from unpaved roads. Our objectives were to determine: (1) the species, relative abundance, and behavior of birds perched and using the dust collectors; and (2) the abundance and coarse taxonomic classification of insects. We compare bird and insect abundances with dust deposition rates at their collected distances.� Habitat fragmentation and landscape industrialization are concerns for rural areas undergoing energy development, and attention to the less-obvious effects of increased traffic and dust deposition can help landscape and civil planners mitigate environmental impacts.