Day 56: Score one for the birds

Great egrets thrive after wetlands conservation efforts. Audubon photo

The news was mixed for birds this week, with the appearance of the 2009 “State of the Birds” report — a collaborative effort of the Audubon Society, U.S. Geological Survey, The Nature Conservancy and a host of other groups. They’ve found that habitat destruction and loss are still wreaking havoc on birds that live in our nation’s grasslands, forests, oceans and — most acutely — Hawaii.

But the report issues some upbeat news as well, and offers hope: When we do work to help birds, they respond.

In contrast to all the birds that are struggling, say the authors of the new report, “wetland species, wintering coastal birds, and hunted waterfowl show increasing populations during the past 40 years, reflecting a strong focus during this period on wetlands conservation and management.” 

There’s not much people are going to be able or willing to do for the biggest bird killer — um, us. We’re not going to stop building our homes, or even second homes. And we are unlikely to stop growing our cities. But, recognizing this, there are other measures we can take. We can keep our cats indoors. Cats kill too many songbirds each year. We can avoid the walls of glass on buildings that birds fly into en masse; that’s a point of responsibility for architects, I suppose. (In case any architects happen upon this post, suggestions appear here and here.)

And a lot of the times, we can change our lighting habits in ways that won’t cramp our style much at all. 

The Hawaiian I'iwi is not doing as well; the new report sounds the alarm for birds there in crisis.

A new study in the March issue of the journal Ecological Applications took a closer look at one of the other major bird killers: communications towers. Lead author Joelle Gehring, of Central Michigan University, and her co-authors compared avian fatalities, mostly of tropical migrating songbirds, at towers equipped with different combinations of red and white strobe-like, flashing or steady-burning lights. The researchers found fewer dead birds under towers equipped with only red or white flashing lights. Towers that were lit under the current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations of a combination of red flashing and non-flashing lights had significantly more avian fatalities than those lit only with flashing lights.

The authors point out that a change of this type would be of little cost to the tower owners, since most of the lighting infrastructure is already in place.

And so … that’s all I have to say! It’s been a long day, and I wanted to share an optimistic message for the weekend. Over and out, until Day 57, when there will be — well, another fabulous post about science, of course!