# Bird Populations Are Down



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/14/ap3823359.html

Populations of Some U.S. Birds Said Down
By SETH BORENSTEIN 06.14.07, 6:06 PM ET

The populations of 20 common American birds - from the fence-sitting meadowlark to the whippoorwill with its haunting call - are half what they were 40 years ago, according to an analysis released Thursday.

Suburban sprawl, climate change and other invasive species are largely to blame, said the study's author Greg Butcher of the National Audubon Society.

"Most of these we don't expect will go extinct," he said. "We think they reflect other things that are happening in the environment that we should be worried about."


Last month a different group of researchers reported that seven species had dramatically declined because of West Nile virus. The species harmed by West Nile are different from those listed in the new study - except for the little chickadee, hard-hit on both lists.

Many of the species listed as declining in the new study depend on open grassy habitats that are disappearing, said Butcher, Audubon's bird conservation director.

Some of the birds, such as the evening grosbeak, used to be so plentiful that people would complain about how they crowded bird-feeders and finished off 50-pound sacks of sunflower seeds in just a couple days. But the colorful and gregarious grosbeak's numbers have plummeted 78 percent in the past 40 years.


"It was an amazing phenomena all through the '70s that's just disappeared. It's just a really dramatic thing because it was in people's back yards and (now) it's not in people's back yards," said Butcher.

For the study, researchers looked at bird populations of more than half a million which covered a wide range. They compared databases for 550 species from two different bird surveys - the Audubon's own Christmas bird count and the U.S. Geological Survey's breeding bird survey in June. The numbers of 20 different birds were at least half what they were in 1967.

Today there are 432 million fewer of these bird species, including the northern pintail, greater scaup, boreal chickadee, common tern, loggerhead shrike, field sparrow, grasshopper sparrow, snow bunting, black-throated sparrow, lark sparrow, common grackle, American bittern, horned lark, little blue heron and ruffed grouse.

The northern bobwhite and its familiar wake-up whistle once seemed to be everywhere in the East. Last Christmas, volunteer bird counters could find only three of them and only 18 Eastern meadowlarks in Massachusetts.

The bobwhite had the biggest drop among common birds. In 1967, there were 31 million of this distinctive plump bird. Now they number closer to 5.5 million.

"Things we all think of as familiar backyard birds ... they appear in books and children's stories and suddenly some of them are way less familiar than they should be," said John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell ornithology lab, who was not part of the study.

Audubon Board Chairman Carol Browner, former head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, called the declines "a warning signal."

"We are concerned. Is it an emergency? No, but concerns can quickly become an emergency," she said.

While these common birds are in decline, others are taking their place or even elbowing them aside. The wild turkey, once in deep trouble, is growing at a rate of 14 percent a year. The double-crested cormorant, pushed nearly to extinction by DDT, is growing at a rate of 8 percent a year and populations of the pesky Canada goose increase by 7 percent yearly.

Many of the birds that are disappearing are specialists, while the thriving ones are generalists that do well in urban sprawl and all kinds of environments, Butcher said. In a way it's the Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people )-ization of America's skies, he said.

"The robins, the Carolina wrens, the blue jays, the crows, those kinds of birds, are doing just fine, thank you," Butcher said. "They really get along in suburban habitats, most of them even like city parks, so they are not as susceptible to the human changes in environment."

But nothing matches the take-over ability of one invading bird.

"Right now the Eurasian collared-dove is conquering America," Butcher said. A dove-like bird that first entered Florida in the 1980s, it now is the most prevalent bird in the Sunshine State and is in more than 30 states.

"Soon you'll be seeing Eurasian collared-doves in any city in the world," he said.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/14/ap3823359.html Associated Press


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## flitsnowzoom (Mar 20, 2007)

So do you supposed the Eurasian collared dove will be greeted with the same cold shoulder as the pigeon?

The study is so sad and a reminder of what poor stewards we've been. 
Can you imagine the same repeated world-wide? Somehow, if you're hungry, or if there's only a few left in the world and someone is willing to pay $$$ to have it in a private collection, laws mean nothing.
The US and our hemisphere neighbors have some fairly strong protections, if not enforcement, for migratory species; I'm not sure about non-migratory ones.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Terry, I read about this in our paper and was honestly shattered by the report. The 78% decrease in the evening grosbeak really got to me. They used to be so abundant and are so very beautiful. Our first rehab was an evening grosbeak - at a time when no rehabber was licensed but we did have to get written permission from the US Dept of Interior to care for him. I have written about him several times. It was a joy to keep him for several years and we always enjoyed his friends each winter at our feeder.

The tern decrease bothered me too - their nesting sites on beaches jeopardized because of the increase in people going to the beach. 

It is just terribly sad.


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

..."HAARP", "chemtrails" and other very large scale and clandestine government projects have likely also taken terrible tolls on Bird's Health and migratory success...as well as possibly effecting various Insect populations.

Too, 'GMO' Crops are widely known to cause many health problems for whoever consumes their portions.

Cell Phone Towers and other modes of ambient microwave radiation also, are likely having a very bad influence and effect on Bird populations.


These will not be mentioned in the media...



Phil
Las Vegas


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

That is a very sad report but also very worrying as far as pigeons and collared doves are concerned. The collared dove isn't responsible for the decline, it is just taking advantage of the "vacuum" left by other birds that cope less well with spread of humankind and everything that we carry with us.

Cynthia


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## flitsnowzoom (Mar 20, 2007)

cyro51 said:


> That is a very sad report but also very worrying as far as pigeons and collared doves are concerned. The collared dove isn't responsible for the decline, it is just taking advantage of the "vacuum" left by other birds that cope less well with spread of humankind and everything that we carry with us.
> 
> Cynthia


The collared dove has been extremely successful and I guess is more assertive than our mourning doves in the same niches (nesting and feeding spots). I hear them all the time now and don't hear so many mourning dove calls. 

Just in our town a wonderful federal wildlife refuge was turned over to the local government and is being sold off piecemeal to developers for offices, light retail, bus and transit center, -- you get the picture  
The semi-natural environment will be replace with "hardscape" (concrete, buildings, asphalt) and greenscape -- groomed plantings of grass, "appropriate" trees and shrubs, with a narrow strip of wild (about 50 yards wide) running along a ditch -- for the wildlife. How considerate of them.  It's the only place left in town where you can even hear meadowlarks and see an occasional vulture. We've pushed out or eradicated everything out as we've covered over the open areas in the town. 

I've been to every meeting I could (as an affected citizen) since I heard about the project and what is scary is that the young people (late teens, 20's-30's) think it's a great idea while those in the late 30s and up are very unhappy with the project. One of the biggest complains is "what about all the wildlife, the deer, coyotes, prairie dogs, birds, and the green place in our city??" Why. And of course, we all know the answer $$$$$$$$$$.
When one of the developers tried to compare the project to the redevelopment of an abandoned mall a couple of miles to the east, well, you could practically see the steam rising from my ears. 

By the time these people learn, how many wonderful species will vanish?

Vent -- vent


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

Flitsnowzoom,

It is the same here in California. The developers grab any piece of land they can and the open land is disappearing at an astounding rate. Southern California is nearly all concrete from Los Angeles to the Mexican border. We live in an isolated little island of land that is less developed. If it weren't for Camp Pendelton on one side and several Indian reservations on the other, this would be concrete as well. It is only a matter of time before the agricultural areas left succumb to the developer's $$$$$$. Makes me sad,sad, sad!

Margarret


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## george simon (Feb 28, 2006)

*Some Thing To Think About*

I find it odd that they do not mention hawks as one of the birds that has made a come back in the last 40 years. These hawks while they do kill pigeons ,they also kill smaller birds. Forty years ago the hawk population was down,now hawks have recoverd.What I am trying to say is if a hawk kills an adult bird that is feeding 5 chicks, then in fact you can say that the hawk realy killed 6 birds.THINK ABOUT IT.........In the book Birds of North America in the section on Falconiformes it lists under each hawk what they eat, almost all will kill small birds The Coopers Hawk it says will take young nestlings out of the nest. We have no way to determine how many song birds are killed in a years time by hawks but it must be a substantial amount.I don't know what the answer is........I would also point out that many of the birds that have increased in the last 40 years are large birds that the hawks do not prey upon,and therefore were able to increase in numbers.YES all of the reasons stated are part of the picture but I do believe that birds of prey are also part of the big picture. .GEORGE


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

George, I think you're right about that but I think there are other things like the telephone towers that contribute. I remember Terry, or someone on the forum, mentioning last year that thousands of small migrating birds were being killed when they fly into these things. I don't know if the signals being emitted are throwing them off or not. Skyscrapers with massive amounts of mirrored windows take their share too.

This is only vaguely connected to the topic but it would be so nice if birds could adapt to their regions more. We've had something going on in our backyard this spring that has puzzled me. We keep food out for the birds, soaked dog or cat food, chicken, hamburger, etc. most every day. A wide variety eat out of this dish but never, in all the years we've done this, have I seen the eastern bluebird eat soaked dry dog food. This year, they are the most frequent visitor, grabbing food and obviously flying back to a nest. I don't know if this means they are adapting to a diet to supplement insects or not.


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

I, too, will post my vent about the loss of habitat. 

In my opinion, from what I've seen in our "Valley of the Sun" area since I moved here, there are few open spaces left. Many have bemoaned that Arizona is run by developers who only see profit. I concur...

I will NOT be surprised to see a megatropolis of buildings/houses all the way to Tucson within my lifetime! The developers are well on their way! Even the Indian reservations are joining in...*SIGH* 

I also read a report about the various bird species decline and those who are making a comeback. Mankind is so capable of doing the most wonderous things...BUT, will we wait too long to save our home? We have nowhere else to go.

IF we spread out into space without more "maturity," heaven help the other worlds!


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## flitsnowzoom (Mar 20, 2007)

Along with natural predators like hawks, we have introduced the cat, dog, hog, and rat. The smaller species are very vunerable to these animals, either through predation (cat, dog, rat) and / or destruction of habitat (rat and hogs). We've also introduced non-natural green environments that are not supportive of wild birds. The large grassy slopes and verges along the roads are mowed to prevent "weeds", seeds, and make it look pretty. Even large open fields are mowed to keep the fire potential down (at least in our area). Every time a field or verge is mowed, that destroys nesting habitat, kills anything that can't get out of the way and eliminates a natural food source.


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

And the "green zones" that are incorporated into development take an enormous amount of another scarce resource, water. The idiocy of trying to make desert or chapparal into golf course green grass confounds me. Especially when zeroscaping with natives is just as attractive and available. 

Margarret


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