“In my lifetime, North America has lost more than 3 billion birds. This is a catastrophe playing out on a planetary scale. We are reaching a tipping point for birds, magnified by the dual crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. But if we act now—in this critical decade—we can reverse this trend.”
– Dr. Elizabeth Gray, Chief Executive Officer, Audubon
There are stats and graphs and charts portraying the bleak outlook and we could all lapse into helplessness and feel incapable of action. But we, at Evergreen Audubon, are actually presented here with an opportunity to make a small impact on that dark forecast by spreading awareness in our foothills communities (and beyond) about how we can help our bird populations thrive in small ways and bend the bird curve UP in the other direction.
Besides habitat loss and climate change, the other top causes of bird mortality are:
1. domestic and feral cats
2. window and other types of collisions
3. unnecessary lighting at night disorienting birds especially during migration.
We are proposing three initiatives to educate and spread awareness in our community:
- Cat Predation–Save Birds, Keep Cats Indoors–2.4 Billion bird deaths annually
- Collisions–window and vehicle collisions–253 Million bird deaths annually
- Lights Out – No Light = Safe Flight
We have created a webpage with information and resources, including links to professional and DIY solutions to each of these hazards to birds. We have also designed and printed stickers on each of these topics that include a QR code which leads to more information on our website, including solutions for us everyday folks, like DIY projects for treating windows in your house. We are planning to print more materials to help spread the word, weave this theme throughout our programming and hope to continue on into the coming years. This year we will be showing up at festivals and community events.
The message in this picture is a jarring graphic to me, personally, as this Grosbeak is a favorite at my feeder. We had healthy flocks at our feeders in the mid-1980’s in Evergreen, but now, it’s rare for me to see one.
If you have a passion for the birds and the environment, come join us with your creative ideas and energy. We got a good start talking to the community and handing out stickers at our recent Nestbox Sale weekend. Many responded with their stories of injured birds or a mention of how they built a “Catio” (outdoor enclosure) for their beloved cat. Some felt moved enough to shove a donation our way!
A big thank-you to Vanessa Hayes, Ann Dodson and Lisa Wald for their ingenuity, creativity and artistic prowess in getting this campaign off the ground!
For questions or ideas please contact Carol Burdick.
See the Protect Our Birds Initiative webpage and the accompanying article, “Bird Mortality: Cats and Collisions” by Jamie Simo which includes many more details and statistics on this subject.