Birdwatchers can help threatened populations

The types of birds coming through your neighborhood are probably changing, and so is the timing of their migrations. Birdwatchers noticing these differences are on the front line in figuring out how climate change and more severe weather events are putting stress on bird populations.

“Birders have to be much more alert to when birds are coming through than they used to be, since birds may be coming through much earlier or later than they used to,” said John Rowden, director of community conservation at the National Audubon Society.

Birdwatchers are increasingly noticing unfamiliar birds normally found elsewhere and are seeing fewer of the birds they’d taken for granted, he said.

“People are shocked when I say it. But just because we’ve seen these birds (year after year) doesn’t mean they’ll always be there. They are declining in numbers because we’re throwing so many things at them, so we need to do what we can to help them,” Rowden said.

At least 314 species of American birds are expected to lose 50 percent or more of their range by the end of the century and have been listed by the Audubon Society as climate-threatened or endangered, Rowden said.

Conservationists said there are a few easy steps people can take to help struggling bird populations, such as planting native species, even in window boxes or patio containers, to encourage the native insects upon which birds depend, particularly for feeding their young.

The Audubon Society’s Plants for Birds program encourages people to plant native plants; they also have a page where you can type in your zip code to find out which plants will help birds in your area, and where to find those native plants and seeds locally.

During spring and fall migration seasons, people are encouraged to help migrating birds by minimizing outdoor lighting and covering reflective surfaces like large windows. Make indoor plants less visible to passing birds.

Birdwatchers can also help efforts to save the birds by tracking what they see on ebird.org, a national online data base run by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

“We also have a community science program called Climate Watch, which tries to collect data on how bird ranges are changing. It asks people to go out and do point counts of certain species and runs from Wednesday to June 15. That’s something very helpful that birders can participate in,” Rowden said.

One bird, the rufous hummingbird, is expected to lose all of its range in the United States within this century. And the yellow warbler, which is found across the country and is considered one of the more common birds, has declined by 25 percent since the 1960s, Rowden said.