[BCNnet] Re: Boreal Songbird Initiative webpage

[Alan Anderson]

the link to Boreal Songbird Initiative got split up - here it is again to
make it easier to get to their website:   http://www.borealbirds.org
(National Audubon and American Bird Conservatory are members, so perhaps
Donald Dann has additional pertinent info too).

Alan

Alan Anderson, casresearch@comcast.net , Des Plaines

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan Anderson" <casresearch@comcast.net>
To: "BCNnet Listserv" <BCNnet@ece.iit.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 8:42 PM
Subject: [BCNnet] How you can help save a billion birds (Boreal Songbird
Initiative)


> The following appeared as a letter-to-the-editor/guest editorial in
Monday's
> Chicago Sun-Times.
>
> http://www.suntimes.com/output/letters/cst-edt-vox27a.html
>
> How you can help save a billion birds
> December 27, 2004
>
>
> Four calling birds,
> three French hens,
> two turtle doves,
> and a partridge in a pear tree . . .
>
> So goes the familiar holiday tune. Unfortunately, this holiday season,
> scientists are heralding bad news for birds. New research indicates that
> one-quarter of all bird species will likely disappear or be critically
> endangered by the end of this century due to habitat loss, global warming
> and invasive species. The National Audubon Society's recent ''State of the
> Birds'' report further confirms that we are not gaining ground but losing
> it.
>
> Audubon's study highlights America's most rapidly declining birds. Topping
> the list are two species that raise their young in Canadian Boreal forests
> but winter here in the United States. The rusty blackbird, a cousin to the
> abundant red-winged blackbird, has declined by a staggering 97.9 percent
> since 1966. Millions of these birds have just disappeared over the last
> three decades. The lesser yellowleg, a long-legged shorebird that nests
far
> to our north, has declined by 97.3 percent.
>
> These birds and more than 200 other species nest in the 1.4 billion-acre
> Boreal forest that stretches from Alaska to Newfoundland. The forest is
one
> of the last great wilderness regions left on Earth. One-third of the birds
> visiting the tens of millions of backyard bird feeders in the United
States
> may have been born in Canada's Boreal region.
>
> Chicago regularly hosts about 25 boreal bird species each winter. Many
other
> species pass through during spring and fall migrations.
>
> Here in Chicago, the red-breasted nuthatches, white-throated sparrows and
> dark-eyed juncos have likely come from the distant Boreal forest.
Additional
> Boreal birds in the Chicago area can be found at a new interactive Boreal
> Bird Guide at < www.boreal birds.org  > .
>
> Since 1975, about 60 million acres of Canadian Boreal forest have been
> logged, and development in the region is rapidly escalating.
>
> Much of the logging supplies newsprint, catalogs, mail solicitations and
> tissue paper used in the United States. Associated habitat loss could very
> well be contributing to abrupt declines in at least 40 bird species.
>
> In November, the World Conservation Union formally called for increased
> Boreal conservation. Fortunately, leading conservationists, resource
> companies and First Nations tribal peoples are crafting the Boreal
> Conservation Framework. This initiative envisions protecting half the
region
> as vast tracts of wild land while sustainably developing the remainder.
>
> What can you do closer to home to ensure that Boreal birds keep coming to
> your backyard? Buy recycled paper products. Write letters urging
mail-order
> companies and tissue manufacturers to stop using paper made from virgin
> Boreal forest when better options are available.
>
> You can also participate in the world's longest-running winter bird
survey,
> the 105th Audubon Christmas Bird Count, www. audubon .org/bird/cbc , which
> started Dec. 14 and continues to Jan. 5.
>
> About 55,000 volunteers count birds at nearly 2,000 locations. Their
counts
> inform vital efforts to conserve the Boreal forest and the birds that
depend
> on it -- not to mention it's a great excuse to spend a day outside in
> nature.
>
> Whatever way you choose to help, just do it, and tell your kids you are
> helping to save a billion birds.
>
> Jeff Wells, former director
> of bird conservation,
> National Audubon Society
>
> {Jeff is currently Senior Scientist for the Boreal Songbird Initiative -
> pers. comm.}
>
> Alan B. Anderson
> casresearch@comcast.net
>
> Des Plaines, Cook Co.
>
> www.chicagoaudubon.org
>
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