Ever wonder how your feathered friends are faring in
the face of deforestation, farming and other formidable foes? You
can find out in the National Audubon Society’s State
of the Birds 2004 report.
Using 40 years of
data collected from the U.S. Geological Survey’s national
Breeding Bird Survey, the National Audubon Society assessed
population changes for 450 imperiled non-game species in five
habitats across the nation. Birds include species like the
bobolink, whose numbers have decreased by half although it still
has a widespread range, and the mountain plover, whose small
populations are confined to increasingly restricted ranges.
“The fact is, grassland and shrubland species, which are
predominantly Western birds, are getting nailed by habitat loss or
misuse,” says John Bianchi, a spokesman for Audubon. Woodland birds
fare worst in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho, while
wetland bird populations are suffering the most dramatic declines
around Arizona and New Mexico.
Readers might not find
their favorite Aves listed in the report, which is a good thing:
Only those species whose survival is threatened are analyzed. Check
out www.audubon.org/bird/stateofthebirds.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Calling all birders.
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