Global climate change is the single biggest threat to birds. Rising oceans will destroy most waterbird colonies, increasing hurricane strength threatens millions of migrants, and changes in plants reduce land bird populations. Lower your carbon footprint at home, drive less and vote for renewable energy. The birds will thank your grandchildren.
Outdoor cats are an enormous threat to wild birds in suburbs and towns, killing a billion or so a year in this country alone. Keep your cat indoors and insist that your neighbors do too.
Many species, such as the whooping crane and red-cockaded woodpecker, are already endangered and require specialized research and conservation action. Contribute some of your charitable donations to the American Bird Conservancy, which is the nation’s only lobbying group specifically representing the interests of wild birds.
The production of seafood kills millions of birds, most dramatically through the drowning of albatrosses in southern hemisphere longline fisheries. Shrimp farms devastate coastal mangrove swamps throughout the tropics to produce inexpensive shrimp for our markets. Eat more farmed fish and less farmed shrimp. Seafood caught in North American waters is the best regulated in the world and kills very few birds.
Birds are running out of habitat and insect food. Maintain unmowed tangles of native plants in your yard, at the community garden, in the neighborhood flower beds and even around the parking lot at work. You will be richly rewarded by more bird song and sightings. Does it really matter what nosy old Mrs. Jones thinks of you?
Baby birds depart their nests two to three days before they can fly. Thus, recent fledglings will be flopping around your driveway and lawn soon, appearing abandoned and helpless. They are fine. They will be fed by adults until they can fend for themselves, and the last thing fledglings need is you worrying about them, taking them inside, and scaring away their parents. Let me repeat my annual spring mantra: Leave baby birds alone.
Birds will only thrive in the future if they continue to have economic benefits for people. Forty million Americans claim to be bird watchers. If you are one of them, unashamedly spend money on your hobby, visit national parks wearing a funny hat, get some expensive binoculars, buy tons of bird seed and purchase an annual duck stamp to fund creation of waterfowl habitat.
Birds need more help in human-dominated landscapes. Feed generously – it’s good for you and it’s good for them. Put up five nestboxes on your property and leave in place the trunk of the next tree that dies. Put out a bird bath and empty it daily to control disease-carrying mosquitoes. Have some fun outside.
Participate in a citizen science project. These require skill and effort on your part, but they have the potential to help scientists better track bird populations without excessive funding. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology website hosts many such projects. Our local Christmas Bird Count (run by the Williamsburg Bird Club) is part of the most important citizen science project ever.
If more people appreciated birds, they would get more political support when votes occur on issues like the farm bill, climate change, the endangered species act and conservation agency funding. Find a special bird experience, such as the snow geese at Chincoteague, the peregrines at Kiptopeke State Park, the pileated woodpecker nesting in your yard, or an eagle’s nest … and share your wonder with someone in the next generation.
Dan Cristol teaches in the Biology Department at the College of William and Mary and can be contacted at dacris@wm.edu. To discover local birding opportunities visit williamsburgbirdclub.org/
