Best Of: Birding To Help Revitalize Conservation Efforts

0:07It's spring, which means you're probably hearing more of this.

0:16hundreds of millions of birds make their annual migration to north america starting in early march but even as many fly back into our neighborhoods to wake us up bright and early a new report reveals that bird populations are on the decline populations are declining across nearly all habitats and more than a third of bird species need conservation help that's according to the 2025 State of the Birds report. It's a joint effort between a coalition of science and conservation organizations. But it's not all bad news. An increased interest in birding is leading to more volunteer data, and that helps shape the report.

0:52Spending more time with the birds is something many of you can relate to. Hi, my name's Alicia, and I'm calling from Chicago. My name's Kate Scales from Asheville, North Carolina. My name is Matt Relaford. I'm 39 years old and I've been into birding since I was eight years old, starting with a white egret that I saw in Ohio as a kid and most recently finally seeing whooping cranes. I began birding during the pandemic when everything was shut down. So my friend and I would go out to the woods and walk around and it was a very relaxing way to de-stress and be in nature. I've been an avid backyard birder for many years.

1:33But last February, I was able to take a trip to the Amazon and was overwhelmed by the incredible birds that I saw there. Thanks to all the 1A birders for leaving those messages. We'll hear from more of you throughout our conversation. What can we learn about the health of our environment through our bird populations and how our community-led efforts helping bird conservation? We get into it after the break. I'm Jen White. You're listening to the 1A podcast, where we get to the heart of the story. We'll be back in just a moment. Stay with us.

2:09Let's meet our panel. Amanda Rodewald is a professor and the senior director of the Center for Aviation Population Studies at Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology. She's also the chair of the State of the Birds Report. Amanda, welcome back. Thanks so much for having me. It's great to be here. Joining us in studio is Bradley Wilkinson. He's the Bird Conservation Program Manager at the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. He's also the coordinator of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative. Bradley, welcome to the program. Thanks for having me. And Drew Lanham is a professor of wildlife ecology and a certified wildlife biologist at Clemson University.

2:47He's also a poet and the author of Sparrow Envy, The Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts. Drew, it's always great to have you. Great to be here. Now, Amanda, the 2025 report showed that birds across all habitats in the U.S. experienced major population losses over the last 50 years. The report looked at population losses by habitat. What kinds of birds saw the largest declines? Yeah, that's a great question. So what we're seeing once again is that grassland birds are among the most steeply declining species. they've lost about 43 % of their population since 1970. And they're followed pretty closely by arid land birds.

3:27These are species that are in the Great Basin area of the west and the desert southwest, and they've lost 41%. But we're really seeing, as you noted, shorebirds down a third, about a quarter of eastern forest birds lost. So the fact that we're seeing these declines really spanning almost all of the habitats that we have in the U.S. does warrant more attention. You know, we need to take steps to reverse those losses. And what's contributing to these population losses, Amanda? Well, there are a variety of different factors that can drive changes in bird populations. Overwhelmingly, though, we know that habitat loss and degradation are the biggest contributors to these declines.

4:12So habitats are lost when we convert them from one form of land use to another. So turning grasslands into row crops, for example. But degradation can be a lot more subtle. So that can happen when we intensify some of our agricultural practices. Maybe it's adding more chemicals to the landscape or doing more quick rotations of forestry. Intensification also can, or degradation can also result from more indirect changes that result from climate change, right, when we have extended droughts or if temperatures are increasing to levels where we're really compromising the food or other resources that birds are getting from these areas.

5:00Well, some of you shared that you're noticing bird loss in your backyards. I became an accidental birder about 20 years ago, and now I have about four different type of bird feeders outside. I see a myriad of magnificent birders outside, but I'm sad because I know with all the development that we have, we're losing birds. I know I used to see a lot of the scrub jays. I see absolutely none now. In the spring, there used to be so many birds through my yard, and it was just at 5 a.m. It was just this wonderful cacophony of bird song. And now there's hardly anything. And my bird feeder takes several days to get empty.

5:39Birds visit it. But, I mean, it's just really sparse. So many birds we have lost. Katie, Martha, thanks for those messages. Bradley, the report also found that 229 bird species are now in need of conservation help. And that's about a third of the bird species in the U.S. What are some of the species that are of most concern? We have a list of those species. We call them tipping point species. Those are birds that have undergone at least a 50 % decline in the past 50 years and are projected to lose another 50 % in the next 50 years if nothing changes. And those are broken down into three categories, red alert birds, orange alert birds, and yellow alert birds.

6:17And those correspond to the kind of recent declines and trends that we've seen recently. The red alert species are the ones that have declined the most precipitously. the yellow alert species we may have seen more of a stabilizing over the past couple of years. But throughout that list, I think something that's really striking is that there's nothing really unifying about all of the birds on that list. It's across the board. As Amanda mentioned, we see a lot of grassland birds, a lot of arid land birds, a lot of shorebirds, but really every group of birds has some of those tipping point species on it.

6:49It includes some species I think listeners will be pretty familiar with, like Eastern Tohe or Chimney Swift. Those are birds that you can still see around with some effort, but like your listeners noted, that they might be seeing less of. You know, here in D.C., Chimney Swifts are kind of ever-present throughout the summer, but through the participatory science work that we've used to create this report, we know that people are seeing less Chimney Swifts. They are seeing less Eastern Tohe. And when you add all those observations together, we get the kind of data that we can use in this report.

7:23Drew, what was your reaction to this report and to these reported population losses? Well, you know, it is the science that is giving us so much of this information of these precipitous declines. I've been birding since I was about eight years old as well. and it's striking to me that you began to feel the absence of birds as some of the callers I think were relating that birds aren't in the backyards of many folks as they used to be. They're hearing fewer birds. The springs have gone silent as Rachel Carson would want to say as she wrote. And so I think as important as the data is telling us that people's hearts and their minds are giving us a different sort of feel to what's going on.

8:23And I think that's important because reports like this give us the data, what many of us have known in our own research. But then I think especially as volunteer efforts and folks are out there watching, hopefully begin to feel that we need to do more than just watch, that we need to act to save many of these birds that were once common that are becoming uncommon. Amanda, walk us through how volunteers and birder hobbyists contributed to this report. Yeah, it's actually really exciting to see this development. So, you know, like we've talked about, I mean, there are so many elements of this report that are very sobering, but fundamentally, we have reason to hope because so many people are engaging not only in bird feeding and bird watching for just their own personal enjoyment, but they're contributing those observations to these participatory science projects.

9:21So whether it's the breeding bird survey that's led by the USGS or eBird, which Cornell Lab of Ornithology runs, or Audubon's Christmas Bird Count, those are providing the data we need, the information we need to detect changes in bird populations sooner than we ever could before. And knowledge is power, right? When we have that information, we can detect these declines, and that gives us the opportunity to act sooner, right? And being proactive means that it's going to be more efficient, the steps we take. They'll be more cost effective, and fundamentally, they'll be less disruptive to human activities.

10:03So really, it's because of the generosity of people around the world who contribute their observations to these projects that we're better poised than ever to actually make some real changes that benefit not only birds, but also people. Bradley, how does more people birding assist in conservation efforts? So there's the recording of the data and reporting that data, and that helps us understand what's happening. But when it comes to actual conservation work, how do birders help that? Yeah, that's a great question. I think in a number of ways. I think the more people get interested in birds and the outdoors in general, there's a stronger desire to help the things that they care about.

10:47So we see an increase in people volunteering their time to remove invasives from a local park or to plant native trees, things like that. We also see, you know, with a growing large constituency of birdwatchers, a group that's willing to use their voice to speak on behalf of birds more frequently and hopefully more forcefully. You know, we see over 96 million American adults are birdwatchers. That's one out of every three U.S. adults. They're spending a lot of money birdwatching. Their total economic output of$279 billion per year. They're contributing billions of dollars to the GDP. They're contributing billions of dollars to state and local tax revenues.

11:30So there's also an economic voice that they use to speak with as well. And then the last thing I would say, you know, when you join a conservation organization like Audubon or like American Birkenstein or any of the number of different groups that have contributed to this report, you're joining a collective of people who are doing great work on behalf of birds. And getting involved that way I think is also really important. Well, we got this email from Claudia in Ohio who says, please highlight the homegrown national park for a viable response that homeowners and communities can use to develop good habitats where they've been destroyed.

12:04First, we should get serious about removing non-native plant material. And Drew and Amanda, I also want to hear from you on this idea of people getting involved in local conservation efforts. Drew, I'll come to you first, then Amanda. Go ahead, Drew. Well, you know, we can talk about grassroots as conservation sort of impetus. And here I think we can talk about flight feathers, right, and how we get started, how we fledge to some state beyond watching and appreciating, which is absolutely critical to being activated. And that frequently occurs in the backyard, which is our first place, right? It's grassroots.

12:44It's where many folks fledge into becoming bird watchers and birders. And so to first think of your backyard as that first place of activism, and that's a word that I really want to push forward into conservation in that it's not a conservative act, but it's an activist thing. to not just see birds and watch them and list them, but to actually feel for them, to love them, to know that their plights are tied to ours, same air, same water, same soil, same earth, and ultimately, again, same fate. And so that happening in your backyard, the birds that you see that are homebodies, that are there all year round, that you come to know.

13:29But then in the spring as migrants begin to stream north from the neotropics. And they tie us to the rest of the world. But that begins in our own backyards, in our own communities. So we don't have to travel far to be activists. We can start where we are. And in that way, we begin, I think, sort of a compounding and an empathy that takes us to places that hopefully bring the birds from that are far away, close in. And then we can begin to think about how to multiply our backyard efforts into larger efforts. Amanda, your thoughts? Yeah, those are really great points that both Bradley and Drew have raised.

14:16And I guess I'll just add to that that there are some really practical sorts of decisions that are informed by the volunteer data that are submitted. So if we think about the range of decisions we're making about where and when to locate human activities, where do we put up a wind development project? Where do we invest in restoration? Those are decisions that can be guided by evidence now. And the data from like eBird, for example, is that so fine a spatial resolution that it's allowing us to be more strategic and precise and flexible. And so by strategic, I mean, you know, really we can aim for not only benefits to where we put conservation actions that sort of flow to birds, but also where are we getting more bang for the buck, so to say, you know, like improving coastal resilience or reducing risk of wildfire, those kinds of benefits, right?

15:16Because we have limited resources. We also can be more precise, which minimizes disruption to human activities. Let's take a quick pause here. Still to come, what bird loss means for you and how more people can get started checking off birds on their list. Back with more in a moment.

15:38Let's get back to the conversation with these messages we got from some of you. I have admired birds since I was young, and I am considered a senior now. I started birding for my love of birds. I continue because it gets me into nature. It's my antidote to the stresses at home and in the world. Hi, my name is Marletta Williams and I'm from Glen Carbon, Illinois, and I am an African-American woman and a bird watcher, an avid bird watcher. And I have traveled around the world looking at birds, and it's taken me to some amazing and unusual places. Thanks for those messages. We also heard from Rebecca in Baltimore, who emails, I've loved birds all my life, thanks in part to my mother.

16:25Her favorite was redbirds or cardinals. I volunteer with Cornell's Project Feeder Watch at a local park. It's an important resource providing ornithologists with good data on the ground and in the air. But for me, it's more. Our birding community is a support group helping me grieve my mom's death. Birding creates bonds. Thanks for sharing those messages. Now, Bratley, the 2025 State of the Birds report also found some conservation success stories. What are we learning from the conservation efforts that are working? Yeah, great question. The conservation efforts that are working are almost always grounded in strong partnership.

17:00It's very rare to see one group or one organization being able to make this kind of scaled change that's needed. without relying on a diverse set of partnerships to make that happen. A couple examples that we've provided in the report, I think, speak to that. One was an American oyster catcher working group that was formed that really has seen a dramatic on-the-ground success for that species. It was because they brought together disparate plans, separate plans under one umbrella and started working together to make their work more efficient and more impactful and more unified. And it's that sort of partnership building that we've seen that has really helped specific species across broader scales.

17:46The partnerships that we have are great, but they need further support, whether that's monetary, whether that's capacity building, whatever it is, we need to scale up kind of the status quo of things that we've been doing. And we also need to provide incentives for your private landowner, your regular person to help out with the things that they can control for birds as well. So another great program that I think we've highlighted was the Audubon Conservation Ranching Program. And this is a program developed for ranchers to implement bird-friendly practices on the land that they own as they produce their cattle with an aim of not only helping birds but helping those ranchers too.

18:25Audubon gives them a label that they can sell their beef under. It says this was produced in a way that helps birds. But once again, it's those types of programs that are helpful and incentivizing, but they need further support. We're getting some questions asking about the bird flu. Bob, in Michigan emails, we stopped feeding the songbirds in our area last year because of bird flu concerns. Our bird feeder has brought us much joy in the past. And Steve says, is it safe to use bird feeders because of the bird flu? Bradley, what can you tell us? Bird flu is a very major concern, I would say, for bird populations.

19:00You know, the report is looking at bird populations across an extended time frame, and so we haven't yet seen population-level impacts from bird flu with the things that we've been looking at. That being said, I think something that's really important to mention is, you know, we need strong, vibrant, healthy, large populations of birds to overcome these acute events that can happen that can drive down bird populations. I would say it is still safe to feed your birds with the caveat of cleaning your bird feeder regularly if you see something unusual in the birds that are coming to the feeder take it down for a week, 10 days, make sure that everything is sanitized and clean but it is something to be concerned about but like I said, I think the larger point is that birds only are going to continue thriving so long as their populations are large enough to overcome these events Another one that we've highlighted in the report was a recent death of 4 million common mers, which is a type of seabird in Alaska, as a result of a marine heat wave.

20:03It was, I think, the largest wildlife mortality event that has been documented in history. 4 million birds is incredible. But it's those type of events that might keep happening with greater severity. And a resilient population is able to overcome an event like that and recover. A non-resilient bird population isn't. And we need to make sure that the populations of birds that we have across the spectrum can overcome those acute events. Well, Amanda, I think that points to this larger question because birds are part of an ecosystem. They're not just standalone species that exist in a bubble. So what do they tell us about the general health of our environment?

20:46Yeah, birds are really great environmental indicators. I mean, many of us have heard of the phrase, right, birds are canaries in the coal mines. And that's because they can provide us with these early warnings for changes in the environment that can affect us as well, right? If we think about it, right, we live in the same environments as birds. So if they're not healthy for them, they're unlikely to be healthy for us too. And it's even, you know, beyond that, like just going from one of the examples that Bradley shared about the Audubon ranching. You know, those kind of partnerships, for example, with the greater sage grouse, you know, one of the common things they say is what's good for the bird is good for the herd.

21:26Because, again, what we care about in systems, even for those people who aren't really sort of twigged on to bird watching, we benefit as well. Let's go to this message we got from Mary Beth. This is Mary Beth. I'm calling from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Birds are not a hobby for me. They're a devotion. I tell you, if it were only a hobby, I would have been spared such profound pain over the past seven decades as I have witnessed the utter crash of hundreds of avian populations. It's as if humanity set out systematically to destroy them, and they need so little to survive. Ground nesters, just a bit of unmowed meadow.

22:08Cavity nesters, a few dead trees left standing. I'm not powerful, but I have done everything in my power to try to help them to survive. I have failed utterly. Mary Beth, thanks for sharing that with us. I mean, Drew, you've been birding since you were a young child. What are your biggest concerns when it comes to environmental losses and what it means for bird populations? Well, as Bradley and Amanda have stated, this sort of shared plight and that we do not want to go past the point of resilience of wild populations being able to overcome the impact that nature brings and certainly that we bring.

22:52And so my concerns in large part are that we, for a while, we had this divergence in lines of the popularity of birding increasing and bird populations decreasing. And it struck me when I first began to think about this, how the popularity of birding and the declines in bird populations sort of diverged at about the same time, but now in some ways seem to be coming together and converging hopefully in ways that help birds. And so I encourage my ornithology classes and the folks that I teach to sometimes take the binoculars down and not focus so much on one bird, but to focus on the environment, to go back from that bird to the habitat that it's in and then the habitat that it's in and the shared ranges of other beings, including human beings.

23:45And once we begin to understand ourselves and sort of the construct of a feel guide and shared range, then we begin to move differently, I think, about the earth. And in doing that, then, we move towards this point of thinking about conservation in different ways. And so many of the callers have used words like love, devotion, indicating adoration. And these are all difficult things for us to measure as scientists, but absolutely critical for the art of conservation. And so I want to imbue that with the work that we're all doing to have us know that birds mean more than just ticks on a list, but they are ultimately partners in our lives and existences.

24:43Amanda, I'd love to hear your reflections as well, because as we heard there from Drew, it's really important as people are being citizen scientists and listening to birds and enjoying their presence in our environment to also understand that there's a relationship there. It's not just birds and humans. We exist together in this whole big blue dot floating in space. Absolutely. You know, and to me, I think that just that fact really points to the need that we need to shift the question from, you know, what do we need to do to take care of birds, right? That it's birds or people to really thinking how do we best serve both?

25:29And those synergies do align. And it's, I mean, it is wonderful. I mean, just thinking about what Drew and Bradley have said for people who love birds and they want to take these steps to protect birds and the environment. But we can actually take those same steps and even use bird data to help us make those choices, even if people don't care specifically about birds. If we think about the salt marsh sparrow, one of our red alert tipping point species, it's lost three quarters of its population due to habitat loss, loss of these salt marshes, rising sea levels. It's really being flooded out. Well, people in that system are also being affected.

26:09Farmers, you know, are facing challenges as their fields are becoming, you know, the salinity levels are rising. You know, we're losing communities and homes due to sea levels. And so the same actions that we need to take for salt marsh sparrow are, in fact, the same actions we need to take to protect those coastal communities and the farmers. It's not either or. So Amanda, briefly, what kind of conservation efforts or policies would you like to see put in place after learning of these bird population losses and that so many birds are at risk? Conservation can include a wide range of different activities from like land protection and parks and easements to just using different practices that are less intensive out there in the environment.

26:55And many of these are voluntary. I think some of the places where we really need some investment is how we can fuel voluntary, proactive conservation that provides meaningful incentives for individuals, especially private landowners, to make those choices or that removes barriers that keep them from doing that. If we think about the farm bill that's coming up, the Conservation Reserve Program compensates farmers. They apply voluntarily to take their land temporarily out of intensive production. That provides them with some different revenue. It improves the health and the productivity of their fields for when they farm them later.

27:37And it provides excellent habitat for birds and pollinators and other species. Bradley, what about policies and conservation efforts across international borders? because birds, they migrate. Are there specific policies that you think could work there? Yeah, absolutely. I think we have a couple of really great programs, both in the federal government and at state levels, which help birds along their entire migratory journeys. I think it's something like 75 % or 80 % of North American birds leave the United States at some point in the annual cycle to either migrate or spend the winter elsewhere.