Bird Conservation Winter 2023

BIRDCONSERVATION The Magazine of American Bird Conservancy

WINTER 2023

ABC is dedicated to conserving wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. With an emphasis on achieving results and working in partnership, we take on the greatest threats facing birds today, innovating and building on rapid advancements in science to halt extinctions, protect habitats, eliminate threats, and build capacity for bird conservation.

abcbirds.org A copy of the current financial statement and registration filed by the organization may be obtained by contacting: ABC, P.O. Box 249, The Plains, VA 20198. 540-253-5780, or by contacting the following state agencies: Florida: Division of Consumer Services, toll-free number within the state: 800-435-7352.

Maryland: For the cost of copies and postage: Office of the Secretary of State, Statehouse, Annapolis, MD 21401.

New Jersey: Attorney General, State of New Jersey: 201-504-6259.

New York: Office of the Attorney General, Department of Law, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

Pennsylvania: Department of State, toll-free number within the state: 800-732-0999.

Virginia: State Division of Consumer Affairs, Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, P.O. Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23209.

West Virginia: Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, WV 25305.

Registration does not imply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by any state.

Bird Conservation is the member magazine of ABC and is published three times yearly.

Managing Editor: Matt Mendenhall VP of Communications: Clare Nielsen Graphic Design: Gemma Radko Contributors: Lindsay Adrean, Andrés Anchondo, Erin Chen, Naamal de Silva, Kevin Ellison, Annie Hawkinson, Bennett Hennessey, Steve Holmer, Hardy Kern, Austin Klais, Daniel J. Lebbin, Bryan Lenz, Sea McKeon, Jack Morrison, Michael J. Parr, Steve Riley, Jordan Rutter, Chris Sheppard, David A. Wiedenfeld, EJ Williams, Kelly Wood

For more information contact: American Bird Conservancy P.O. Box 249 The Plains, VA 20198 540-253-5780 • info@abcbirds.org

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American Flamingos by Bryan Lenz

Eastern Screech-Owls by Carl Safina

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Red-headed Woodpecker by Ronnie Howard, Shutterstock

24 Swallow-tailed Kite by Sandi Cullifer, Shutterstock

Blue-throated Macaws by Tjalle Boorsma

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Winter 2023

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

Working the Land to Work for Birds

BIRD’S EYE VIEW

How the Farm Bill helps U.S. landowners make a difference for struggling bird species p. 16

An Owl’s First Night Out An excerpt from Carl Safina’s latest book, Alfie & Me p. 24 COVER: A Red-necked Phalarope on its breeding territory in Anchorage, Alaska. This shorebird is one of hundreds of bird species that stop over on Utah’s Great Salt Lake during migration. (Read more on pages 4-6.)

Photo by Ray Hennessey.

LEFT: Golden-crowned Kinglet by Paul Reeves Photography, Shutterstock.

Putting Bird Habitats First Ten highlights from ABC’s work across the Western Hemisphere in 2023 p. 28

Stepping Up for Birds and Habitat p. 4

ON THE WIRE p. 6 BIRDS IN BRIEF p. 14 ABC BIRDING Barba Azul Nature Preserve, Bolivia p. 34

BIRD HERO ABC’s Chief Diversity Officer shares her story p. 38

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BIRD’S EYE VIEW

Stepping Up for Birds

by Michael J. Parr

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’ve often heard people say that when habitat is destroyed, birds will just “move elsewhere.” But where is elsewhere exactly? In reality, suitable “elsewhere” habitat is either already occupied by other birds of the same species — or it isn’t actually suitable in the first place. Shorebirds can’t live in forests. Warblers don’t exist on mudflats. Imagine if this was about your home.

“They’ll just move somewhere else.” You live where you live because you like it. Or maybe because it’s where you need to live. It suits you. That’s true for birds, too. Home is where the habitat is.

ABC recently joined a lawsuit that aims to compel the State of Utah to stop water diversions from the Great Salt Lake, which is currently on track to dry up within just a few years unless something changes. Of all the places I can think of that fit the concept of “there’s no ‘elsewhere’ habitat,” the Great Salt Lake is perhaps the best example.

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If you have not visited yet, I strongly recommend it, and especially during fall migration. The number of migratory birds that use the lake is staggering.

One late-summer day 10 years ago, as I drove across the causeway to Antelope Island just after arriving in Salt Lake City, a large flock of shorebirds passed across the road in front of me. I’m used to seeing large flocks of Dunlin and Western Sandpipers, and I was fully expecting this group to be one of those two species. But then, I put my binoculars on them and realized that they were all Red-necked Phalaropes. By far the most I had ever seen in one place. It didn’t take me long to figure out that the lake was full of thousands of these phalaropes.

— and Habitat

It was obvious, too, that a hatching of brine flies was underway. The flies were so abundant along the lakeshore that they almost seemed to move like a liquid as we walked among them — being pushed away from our shoes in waves. These flies are extremely nutritious for birds, and it is amazing to see hundreds of Franklin’s Gulls feeding almost like baleen whales — by opening their bills and running along the shoreline scooping up dozens of the harmless flies in each gulp.

ABC is quite reluctant to engage in legal action. In fact, one of ABC’s operating principles states that “ABC strives to be respectful and thoughtful with everyone, including with opponents, listening to all sides of an issue and considering the views of others even when they are in opposition to ABC’s own.” But we also don’t back down from tough fights, and once in a while, this leads us into court. The Great Salt Lake is such a case. There really isn’t an “elsewhere” for the 10 million phalaropes, Eared Grebes, American White Pelicans, Marbled Godwits, American Avocets, Franklin’s Gulls, and other species that depend on the lake for their very survival.

All across ABC’s programs, our team works day in and day out to ensure that birds can continue to use the habitat they depend on. Most of this work involves us purchasing habitat for protected areas — in Latin America for example; working with landowners, partner organizations, and agencies to ensure that land is better managed for birds across the United States; and once in a while stepping up and addressing habitat conservation through the courts. Whatever the need that birds have, ABC is there — and will continue to be with your support.

Thank you for all your help. It’s the difference between habitat providing a real home for birds and birds being forced to an “elsewhere” that really doesn’t exist.

Michael J. Parr, President American Bird Conservancy

LEFT: Red-necked and Wilson’s Phalaropes as far as the eye can see on the Great Salt Lake. TOP: Franklin’s Gull feeding on brine flies.

Photos by Mia McPherson, onthewingphotography.com.

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ON the WIRE Why We Sued to Protect the Great Salt Lake (Hint: It’s Vital for Birds) In September, ABC joined a lawsuit with Earthjustice, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, and Utah Rivers Council that seeks more water for the Great Salt Lake.

The environmental groups are asking the court to direct Utah’s leaders to implement meaningful solutions that will provide enough water to the lake for the people and wildlife that depend on it. (See ABC President Michael J. Parr’s essay on the suit on the previous pages.)

The lake is among the most important shorebird and waterfowl sites in North America, annually providing food and habitat for more than 10 million migratory birds. Here are facts about a few of the 300-plus bird species that rely on the lake and its biodiverse surroundings: • The lake hosts the world’s largest concentration of Wilson’s Phalaropes, representing over a third of the world population.

• It is home to as many as 5 million Eared Grebes, at times 50 to 90

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percent of the North American population.

• It hosts as many as 20 percent of the continent’s population of Snowy Plovers.

• It is the only staging area in the U.S. interior for Marbled Godwits.

• It’s one of the most important breeding grounds for American White Pelicans and American Avocets.

• And it’s one of the most significant wintering sites for Bald Eagles.

When the surface of the lake is below 4,198 feet in elevation, many of its islands become connected to the mainland, allowing predators and other species to reach the islands and disturb nesting sites for birds, resulting in significant bird mortality. (In November 2022, the lake hit a record low of 4,188 feet, and in September of this year, it stood at 4,192 feet despite a record-breaking snow year.)

Already, the decline in water levels has affected American White Pelicans. Close to 20,000 pelicans

once nested at Gunnison Island in the lake, but with predators increasingly gaining access via a land bridge, only half have been stopping at the lake in recent years.

Likewise, the disappearance of Farmington Bay in the lake’s southeastern corner has led to a decline in the American Avocet population at the lake, which, at its peak, had been as high as 250,000 individuals. The numbers of many duck species that nest or migrate at the lake — including the Redhead and Common Goldeneye — have also fallen as their food sources have died off. Further, the disappearance of Bear River Bay has harmed pelicans, avocets, American Wigeons, and Northern Pintails.

“We can’t afford to have this significant body of water turn into dust,” said Parr. “Water management decisions need to prioritize both water quantity and water quality while balancing the needs of birds, people, and local economies.”

Phalaropes on the Great Salt Lake. Photo by Mia McPherson, onthewingphotography.com

ABC Responds to Chicago Mass Collision

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uring the night and morning of October 4-5, nearly 1,000 migrating birds died after colliding with the windows of the largest convention center in North America, Chicago’s McCormick Place. Afterwards, ABC partners at the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors and Willowbrook Wildlife Center were out in full force, rescuing as many live birds as possible, and staff from the nearby Field Museum collected the dead birds, as they have each spring and fall for the last 40 years.

It was the highest one-day death toll at McCormick Place ever recorded by the museum. Among the 35 species killed were 18 warbler species, seven sparrows, and four thrushes.

Conservationists have long voiced concerns over McCormick Place as a danger to birds due to its position along Lake Michigan’s lakefront, where a lot of birds travel. Though not a tall structure, the building is made mostly of glass that has not been treated with products recommended by ABC to prevent bird collisions.

A few days after the tragedy, ABC published a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune (right) calling for McCormick’s management to act to prevent future bird collisions and for the Chicago City Council to fully implement the city’s bird-friendly buildings ordinance. (It remains to be implemented as the city completes a larger sustainability plan.)

ABC also posted about the incident on our social media pages, which 80,000 people viewed and about 10,000 shared, commented, and reposted, the highest engagement by far on ABC’s social media platforms in recent months.

The incident generated much media coverage.

Experts from ABC’s Collisions Team were quoted in the Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, Business Insider, The Independent, local TV news stations, and others, which generated more awareness about the threat of glass collisions and the solutions that exist.

“We extend our sincerest thanks to the Willowbrook Wildlife Center, Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, and other groups and individuals who rescued and provided vital care for the hundreds of injured birds that survived the McCormick Place mass-collision event,” said Christine Sheppard, Director of ABC’s Glass Collisions program.

As of this writing, ABC is hopeful that McCormick Place’s management will work with our local partners and us to address their ongoing window-collision problem.

ABC published this full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune on October 11.

To help reduce bird collisions, tell your legislators to support the Federal Bird Safe Buildings Act here: abcbirds.org/buildings.

ABC thanks the Leon Levy Foundation and David Walsh for their support of our Glass Collisions program.

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ON the WIRE Prairie-chicken Threatened by Neonics, EPA Says

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Attwater's Prairie-Chicken by John Magera, USFWS

his past spring, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published new findings on the likely impacts of neonicotinoid pesticides (“neonics”) on Endangered Species Act-listed wildlife, including the Endangered Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken.

EPA determined that the neonic insecticides imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam are likely jeopardizing the highly imperiled grouse, a subspecies of the Greater Prairie-Chicken.

The subspecies has been on the Endangered Species List since 1967, and its numbers have continued to plummet. While its historic population approached 1 million individuals, today fewer than 200 exist in two Texas populations: one at Attwater Prairie-Chicken National Wildlife Refuge (west of Houston) and the other on private property in Goliad County (north of Corpus Christi).

Though Attwater’s Prairie-Chickens are primarily seed- and plant-eating birds, the EPA’s findings about neonics’ impacts on the species are due to a reduction of insects caused by pesticide application. The EPA determined that current uses of neonics are likely to decrease pollinating insects and other bug populations that are beneficial in the range of the subspecies, ultimately leading to a decline in plant matter: Without pollinators and beneficial insects, plants do not propagate as efficiently and may be consumed by insects normally suppressed by other invertebrate predators.

In all, the EPA found that more than 200 Endangered and Threatened

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The Attwater’s PrairieChicken has been on the Endangered Species List since 1967, and its numbers have continued to plummet.

plants, mammals, and invertebrates across the country are jeopardized by current uses of neonics. The Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken was the only Endangered Species Act-listed bird on the list, but in American Bird Conservancy’s view, the EPA determinations do not adequately

account for neonic seed coatings. If seed coatings were fully considered, the number of listed birds and other wildlife jeopardized by these insecticides would likely be higher.

“We are grateful to the EPA for advancing its investigations into impacts from neonics on species,” said Hardy Kern, ABC’s Director of Government Relations for the Pesticides and Birds Campaign.

“Their findings, though, are likely just the tip of the iceberg.”

ABC would like to thank the Raines Family Fund and the Carroll Petrie Foundation for their support of our Pesticides program.

California to Limit Neonics by 2025

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n early October, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that bans over-thecounter sales of lawn and garden pesticides containing neonicotinoids (neonics). It’s called the Pollinator Protection Act (Assembly Bill 363) and will take effect in 2025. The law allows neonic usage only by trained professionals, and it directs the state’s Department of Pesticide Regulation to review non-agricultural neonic uses.

The legislation makes California the 10th state in the United States to limit the sale of neonics. The others are Colorado, Connecticut, Maine,

For the last decade, ABC has been advocating for legal limits on neonics because the pesticides harm birds and other wildlife.

Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. In Canada, Ontario and Quebec also have partial neonic bans.

For the last decade, ABC has been advocating for legal limits on

neonics because the pesticides harm birds and other wildlife. A seed coated with neonics is enough to kill a songbird, and even at lower doses, seeds treated with neonics can cause birds to convulse, lose motor control, or have difficulty navigating.

“California joins the ranks of forward-thinking states as it becomes the 10th to restrict neonic use in ornamental settings,” said Hardy Kern, Director of Government Relations for the Pesticides and Birds Campaign. “AB 363 demonstrates the state’s dedication to preserving the health of our birds, citizens, and natural ecosystems.”

Biden Vetoes Delisting Proposals

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n late September, President Biden used his veto pen for an apparent presidential first: to keep two species protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Biden vetoed Congressional resolutions that would have delisted the Lesser Prairie-Chicken and Northern Longeared Bat. His vetoes came after the House of Representatives and Senate narrowly passed the resolutions to end listings of the two species.

The once-abundant Lesser PrairieChicken’s population has declined by 90 percent since the 1800s. In 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) declared a southern subpopulation of the bird Endangered, while a northern subpopulation was listed as Threatened. The listing came after decades of grassland habitat loss and degradation across the species’ historic range in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

The bat species occurs in 37 states and about a dozen Canadian provinces. The fungal disease whitenose syndrome has decimated its population in recent decades, prompting USFWS to list it as Endangered in 2022.

The U.S. House and Senate passed the delisting resolutions under the Congressional Review Act, a 1996 law that enables Congress to overrule regulations issued by federal agencies. The moves were the first attempts to undo listing decisions under the ESA, and subsequently, Biden became the first president to protect listed species with vetoes.

“Vetoing this harmful resolution is putting the Lesser Prairie-Chicken on a more certain path to recovery,” said Michael J. Parr, President of ABC. “Present-day populations are thought to average a mere 32,000 birds. Every coordinated effort is

needed to ensure a safer future for this iconic species.”

“Many people have gone to great lengths to prevent the need for Lesser Prairie-Chicken listing, but we believe it will aid in saving this species,” said Steven Riley, ABC’s Director of Farm Bill Policy.

“Together with ranchers and farmers, our new Bird-Saver conservation initiative will help provide for more high-quality habitat where the birds can successfully breed and rebound.”

Lesser Prairie-Chickens are considered to be an indicator species for healthy grasslands and prairies, making their steep population decline a major concern to conservationists. Grassland birds are the most at-risk group of birds in the U.S.; collectively they have declined by more than 50 percent in the past 50 years, according to a 2019 study co-authored by ABC and five other institutions.

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ON the WIRE Bird Flu's Ongoing Toll

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trains of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) have been on the rise around the globe since late 2021. They have infected wild birds, commercial poultry facilities, backyard domesticated flocks, and wild mammals. In response, commercial poultry companies have culled millions of chickens and turkeys, and federal agencies have kept tabs on wild birds by testing dead birds, gamebirds killed by hunters, and live birds that were sampled via the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Wildlife Disease Program.

The data show that, as of midOctober 2023, 178 species of wild and captive birds have been infected with bird flu in the United States.

This includes a total of 22 California Condors that died from the virus earlier this year (see the Fall 2023 issue of Bird Conservation, page 6).

In mid-September, national park authorities on the Galápagos Islands reported that two frigatebirds and one Red-footed Booby had died from the virus. Officials heightened biosecurity measures on the islands, which are home to 78 species of endemic and native birds, including Flightless Cormorants, Galapagos Penguins (the only species of penguin in the Northern Hemisphere), and the world’s largest Waved Albatross colony.

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Mallard

888

Canada Goose

632

Black Vulture

559

Snow Goose

526

Bald Eagle

487

Blue-winged Teal

486

Green-winged Teal

418

Red-tailed Hawk

336

Great Horned Owl

320

American Wigeon

247

Wood Duck

236

Gadwall

217

Turkey Vulture

128

Ross’s Goose

103

American White Pelican

98

Northern Shoveler

90

Northern Pintail

86

American Crow

85

Peregrine Falcon

56

Great Black-backed Gull

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The impact of the flu has been notably devastating among seabirds.

The virus seems to spread easily in large, dense colonies, making it particularly deadly. To track seabird deaths, Sea McKeon, ABC’s Marine Program Director, established a project on iNaturalist, an open and free-to-use wildlife observationsharing platform, enabling researchers and citizen scientists to report sightings of dead and dying seabirds. More than 14,000 observations of 371 species have been logged so far. (See inaturalist. org/projects/beached-birds.)

The USDA data on U.S. birds impacted indicate that the most frequently infected species tend to be common or fairly common ducks, geese, eagles, owls, and vultures.

The accompanying chart lists the 20 species with the highest number of positive cases so far in the U.S. Note that the actual total for each species may be higher as the data represent only birds that were sampled.

Source: USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Mallards by Gallinago media, Shutterstock

According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), through August, wild birds have tested positive for HPAI in 17 countries throughout the Americas.

PAHO also reports that 25 mammal species have contracted the virus throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Confirmed Bird Flu Cases in the U.S.

ABC Adds More Motus Towers in 2023

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continued its expansion of the Motus Wildlife Tracking System this year by supporting 37 new or upgraded Motus receiver stations at locations around the Western Hemisphere.

The system is now tracking the movements of 333 species of birds, bats, and insects that have been tagged with tiny transmitters called nanotags.

The transmitters enable researchers to study the animals’ movements without having to recapture them.

Other tracking technology for small animals — GPS loggers and geolocators — store data, meaning an animal has to be caught again so its movement data can be downloaded.

By contrast, Motus transmitters enable real-time tracking by wirelessly sending the data to any nearby

Motus receivers. Depending on the transmitter and station configuration, most stations have a detection range up to 12 miles.

Motus, which is Latin for movement or motion, is a program of Birds Canada that began in 2014. ABC is one of hundreds of collaborators (nonprofits, bird clubs, universities, government agencies, and others) participating in the program; more than 1,000 landowners support Motus by allowing receiver stations to be placed on their property. Most of the 1,814 receiver stations are located in the United States and Canada, but not all. No fewer than 34 countries on six continents have receivers. Nearly 43,000 animals have been tagged, and more than 200 scientific papers have been published based on Motus data.

ABOVE: A Motus tower in Oregon’s Upper Klamath National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by William Blake. RIGHT: A migrant Golden-winged Warbler in Costa Rica, fitted with a nanotag.

Photo by Adam Smith.

ABC would like to thank Birds Canada, the Volgenau Foundation, the states of Alabama, North Carolina, and Oregon, and the Tareen Filgas Foundation for their support of our Motus projects.

Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl by Rachel Laura, USFWS

Small Owl Relisted as Threatened

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his past summer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) relisted the Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The subspecies previously had a Threatened listing status from 1997 to 2006; it ended when a lawsuit by developers stripped protections from the bird.

The relisting came after years of legal work and advocacy by conservation groups.

The new listing applies throughout the bird’s range in southern Arizona and Texas and several Mexican states.

This pygmy-owl is a 6-inch-tall raptor that the agency describes as imperiled throughout its range by activities that reduce and fragment its habitat. The threats include

invasive species, urbanization, agricultural development, unsustainable forestry, and climate change. It has been extirpated from key areas of its historical range in both Arizona and Texas. Notable declines are also reported in the Mexican portion of the pygmy-owl’s range, especially in northern Sonora.

“This listing indicates that the Endangered Species Act is a respected tool for preventing extinction,” said Steve Holmer, ABC’s Vice President of Policy. He notes that the conservation community “is usually able to recover bird populations once they have been listed.”

In the years that the owl was not protected federally in the U.S., local governments in Arizona worked to

conserve the bird and other imperiled species through voluntary conservation plans in Pima County, including Altar Valley. In addition, the USFWS is now required to develop a recovery plan for the owl, and biologists for the agency will propose designating critical habitat for the species in a separate rule at a later date.

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HABITAT is HOME American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is dedicated to conserving wild birds — and that means conserving the habitats they need to survive and thrive.

The reality is, habitat loss and degradation are the most urgent threats facing birds today. And with nearly all major groups of wild birds showing significant declines in population, immediate action is required to ensure birds have the habitats they need throughout every stage of their life cycle.

Because Habitat is Home.

To ensure ABC's vital bird conservation work can continue into the new year, and thanks to a dedicated group of supporters, ABC is launching a special Habitat is Home 1:1 Match, with a goal of raising $1 million by December 31.

Your gift to ABC's Habitat is Home 1:1 Match will be put to use immediately to support critical bird conservation priorities, including:

• Reducing human-caused threats to birds, such as toxic pesticides and collisions with glass, and advocating for strong bird-friendly laws in the U.S.; and • Building the bird conservation movement by helping bird groups and partner organizations expand their efforts — and bird lovers everywhere take simple, effective actions to conserve birds in their own communities.

ABC works to conserve wild birds and their habitats, but we cannot do it without YOU by our side. Your generous gift today will help ensure everyone can continue to enjoy the wonder and beauty of birds for generations to come and know that wherever their journeys take them, home is where the habitat is.

Please donate today to ABC's Habitat is Home 1:1 Match and help raise $1 million for bird conservation by December 31.

• Preventing extinctions of the most endangered bird species such as the Critically Endangered Gray-bellied Comet and Antioquia Brushfinch by continuing to expand our network of more than 100 bird reserves throughout the Americas; • Reversing bird population declines by helping to reforest crucial landscapes for birds, improving conditions for migratory and resident birds of conservation concern such as the Golden-winged Warbler and Chestnut-collared Longspur;

Return the enclosed envelope or donate today at: abcbirds.org/HabitatIsHome

LEFT: Parrots including Mealy Parrot, Blue-headed Parrot, Blue-and-yellow Macaw, and Scarlet Macaw at a salt lick, Tambopata, Peru. Photo by Vladislav T. Jirousek, Shutterstock. ABOVE: Mealy Parrot by Rosa Jay, Shutterstock.

BIRDS in BRIEF

Coffee Discount Available to ABC Members ABC is partnering with Birds & Beans, an organic coffee company, to offer ABC Members an exclusive discount on orders from the company's website, birdsandbeanscoffee.com. Use code ABC15 for 15% off your order!

Maui Center Survives Wildfire The wildfire that devastated Maui in early August may have claimed the Maui Bird Conservation Center if not for the quick action of wildlife care supervisor Jennifer Pribble and a neighbor. They used fire extinguishers and a hose to keep the flames away from buildings housing captive populations of some of Hawaii’s most endangered bird species until firefighters arrived to put out the fire.

Birds & Beans sells only coffee certified as Bird Friendly by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.

In addition to being fair-trade and organic, every Bird Friendly coffee bean is grown in the shade of trees that provide bird habitat!

dollars on the winning bird. The birds are “trapped as they pass through the Houston area, commonly using a live ‘bait bird’ whose singing attracts other birds to the trap,” the Justice Department said.

The center is home to critically endangered honeycreepers, including the Palila, Kiwikiu, and ‘Akikiki – all of which are top ABC conservation priorities. It also houses some of the last remaining ‘Alalā, or Hawaiian Crows, which are extinct in the wild.

Six Indicted for Songbird Trafficking

The birds are often used in singing competitions in which the participating owners gamble thousands of

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New Costa Rica Reserve Protects Macaw Conservationists have new hope for the Critically Endangered Great Green Macaw of Central America and northern South America after the purchase of a former cattle ranch in Costa Rica. The Macaw Recovery Network bought the land in August with the assistance of ABC, March Conservation Fund, Bobolink Foundation, and other supporters.

The property, now known as the Sarapiqui Rainforest Reserve, totals 514 acres; a rainforest covers 395 acres of it. Macaw Recovery Network field teams have monitored an active Great Green Macaw nest on the property each breeding season since

Pink Parade American Flamingos made a muchpublicized incursion into the eastern United States after Hurricane Idalia pushed them north from Mexico in late August and early September. At least 150 flamingos were found in dozens of places across at least 17 states throughout September and into October, including the birds shown above on a Lake Michigan beach north of Milwaukee on September 22. The pink beauties

Great Green Macaw by Marc Scott-Parkin, Shutterstock

In early September, a federal grand jury indicted six Cuban nationals who lived in Houston with illegal trafficking of migratory songbirds.

The indictments allege violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Lacey Act. The scheme allegedly involved the illegal trapping and selling of protected songbirds, including Indigo and Painted Buntings, Rosebreasted and Blue Grosbeaks, House Finches, and other species.

American Flamingos by Matt Mendenhall

None of the birds were harmed, but some mosquito netting around the bird enclosures needed to be repaired. It is used to keep the honeycreepers safe from invasive mosquitos that carry deadly avian malaria.

More than 300 illegally trapped songbirds were seized during an investigation by federal and Texas authorities. Zoos in Houston are caring for those that can’t survive on their own while the birds deemed healthy were released to the wild.

made headlines and drew crowds of birders and non-birders everywhere they turned up.

Peru Swaps Debt to Protect Land In September, Peru’s government signed a deal with the United States to swap more than $20 million that it owed the U.S. into the protection of three priority areas in the Peruvian Amazon. The agreement will establish parks and protected areas and is aimed at improving the livelihoods of Indigenous peoples and local communities that guard large areas of the Amazon.

shotguns and will lose their hunting privileges in all 50 states for the next five years.

USFWS reported that its January 2023 population estimate of wild Whooping Cranes totaled 550 birds, most of which were found on and around Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.

A Big Year for Piping Plovers The decades-long work to restore the Endangered population of Great Lakes Piping Plovers reached new heights in 2023, when a record 80 pairs were tallied around the lakes, up from 72 pairs the year before. The birds fledged 128 wild chicks.

Piping Plover by Lester Graham, Shutterstock

Thanks to the 1998 Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act, countries may reduce their debt to the U.S. if they commit to conserving forests and coral reefs. To date, 22 swaps have been made under the law with 14 countries, which has produced $380 million for conservation and protected more than 68 million acres of tropical forest.

In November 2021, four Whooping Cranes were shot and killed at a reservoir in southwest Oklahoma, sparking an investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. In August 2023, charges were filed against four Oklahoma men for killing the cranes and attempting to hide their carcasses to cover up the crime. In early October, the men pleaded guilty to the charges.

Each was ordered to pay $17,000 in restitution to the International Crane Foundation and a $750 fine. They were also each ordered to forfeit their

In addition, 39 captive-reared chicks from 13 broods were released into the wild. In total, 167 wild and captive-reared chicks fledged — the most ever.

Another first: The program released captive-reared birds outside Michigan, the population’s stronghold. Four chicks were released in Wisconsin, seven in Illinois, and eight in New York.

especially on the edges of its range.

That’s the conclusion of a recent study published in Peer Community Journal by scientists from Germany and the United States.

Researchers found that Great-tailed Grackles were able to expand into more urban and arid environments; today, these large, gregarious birds can be found in the American West, Midwest, and even southern Canada.

Keep up with all the latest American Bird Conservancy news at: abcbirds.org/news/

Grackle Range Expansion Explained The Great-tailed Grackle has expanded its range dramatically over the last 60 years, thanks to human modifications of habitat and the bird’s persistence and flexibility,

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Waved Albatrosses by givi585, Shutterstock

Four Plead Guilty for Crane Killings

Great-tailed Grackle by Greg Homel, Natural Elements Productions

2019, conducted important research on the wild macaw population in the area, set up a native tree nursery, and observed countless rare animal species on their camera traps.

WORKING the LAND to WORK FOR BIRDS

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How the Farm Bill helps landowners across the United States make a real difference for struggling bird populations.

By Rachel Fritts

F

or more than 20 years, Bill and Betty Perkis could barely use their 40-acre woodland property in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula — it was too densely overgrown with a tangled thicket of Speckled Alder (a shrub also known as Tag Alder). Then, in 2020, Bill got an email that piqued his interest.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency, was looking for landowners with Tag Alder stands who would be interested in receiving funding to thin their forest to create better wildlife habitat.

“I said, ‘You’re telling me Tag Alder is good for something?’” Betty recalls with a laugh.

spaces. Three years on, the Perkises now have a few trails winding through their property, and they walk or snowshoe on them nearly every day, marveling at the explosion of wildlife all around.

“It’s the greatest thing we’ve ever done,” Bill says.

Thousands of landowners across the country have restored their land for wildlife with funding from what many would consider an unlikely source —

The Perkises reached out to the NRCS, and after some consultations with the program and with American Bird Conservancy (ABC), they realized that their property could be made into perfect habitat for a declining songbird called the Golden-winged Warbler. They also learned that their own preferences for their property were well aligned with the little warbler’s — Goldenwinged Warblers like what is known as “early successional” forest with a mix of older trees, young saplings and shrubs, and open spaces. That meant thinning the thicket that had been perturbing the Perkises for more than two decades.

In the summer of 2020, work began to thin their forest and plant native shrubs and trees in the newly opened

the Farm Bill.

The Perkises have joined thousands of other landowners across the country in restoring their land for wildlife with funding from what many would consider an unlikely source — the Farm Bill. This important piece of federal legislation, passed every five years, is best known for things like farming subsidies and SNAP food benefits. But the Farm Bill also has a lesser-known chunk of funding dedicated to conservation on private lands. In the most recent iteration of the bill, about $60 billion was dedicated to conservation efforts. That makes the Farm Bill the single biggest piece of conservation legislation in the world.

Most work that ABC does on private lands throughout the United States is funded, at least in part, by the Farm Bill. This work is fundamentally important to the success of bird habitat conservation in the country, where three-fourths of all land is privately owned.

The current Farm Bill expired in September, and Congress is debating how funds will be allocated for the next five years. For the sake of birds, ABC is advocating for even more resources dedicated to conservation to build on the great work already made possible by the bill.

Landowners benefiting from the Farm Bill: From left, Bill Perkis, Betty Perkis, and former ABC biologist Kayla Knoll. Photo by Cheryl Jacisin.

LEFT: Golden-winged Warbler by Ray Hennessy, Shutterstock.

TOP: Prairie Warbler by Ray Hennessy, Shutterstock.

Below are just a few examples of projects where ABC is using Farm Bill funding to work with private landowners to make a real difference for struggling bird populations.

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LEFT: Cows ready to be moved into their next grazing cell in a regenerative grazing system.

BELOW: A rancher monitors vegetation to assess when best to move cattle. Photos by Kevin Ellison. BOTTOM: An Upland Sandpiper sharing the range.

Photo by Jim Giocomo.

Making a Home on the Range Good fences make good neighbors, or so the old adage goes. In the rangelands of South Dakota, there may be some truth to this — at least when it comes to respecting the neighborhood grassland birds.

In the Northern Great Plains — a region comprising South Dakota, Montana, and parts of North Dakota and Wyoming — ABC staff members like Kevin Ellison, Northern Great Plains Program Manager, work with landowners to manage their land in a way that helps breeding birds thrive. Breeding grassland birds need all the help they can get. They are the fastest-declining group of land birds in the lower 48 states; many are on track to lose 50 percent of their population by 2050. That’s largely because their breeding habitat is disappearing fast, developed for monoculture farms or residential areas.

To mitigate declining grassland habitat, ABC developed the Grassland Bird Breeding Habitat Management Program. The program receives most of its funding from the Farm Bill, because most remaining grasslands in the Northern Great Plains are on private lands like cattle ranches.

Since 2017, the flagship species for this work has been the Long-billed Curlew, a football-sized migratory shorebird that breeds in the Great Plains. The bird is recognizable and familiar to most landowners in the area, and if breeding habitat is suitable for the curlew, it is suitable for many other species as well, including the Chestnut-collared Longspur, Lark Bunting, and Western Meadowlark.

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Ellison oversees restoration projects that include seeding native grasses to replace introduced grass species that don’t fare as well in the region’s dry climate. Much of his work also involves funding and installing new infrastructure — a measure less obviously tied to habitat conservation, but fundamentally important to the future of healthy grasslands. Such efforts, he says, are key to restructuring the landscape in a way that helps ranchers and birds alike.

“We’re applying 21st century ideas but working with partners with 1950s infrastructure,” Ellison says.

This is where good fences come into play. Decades-old fence structures can keep landowners who want to try new grazing techniques that are better for the land, the

birds, and their bottom line stuck using old methods.

And money is a big barrier to changing things up. It can be incredibly expensive and time consuming to rip out old fences and replace them with new ones. Thanks to ABC guidance and NRCS funding, though, landowners throughout the region are getting the resources they need to make the switch. This has multiple benefits.

320 acres of native plants seeded and 48,382 feet (more than 9 miles) of new fencing. If more money for this kind of work is in the next approved Farm Bill, those impressive numbers can continue to expand. Such expansion of regenerative grazing is essential to turn the tide of losses for grassland birds and conserve this most quintessentially American ecosystem.

New fences are built with design features that make it easier for antelope and other wild species to move across the landscape without getting stuck. The new fences also split up ranchers’ lands differently, typically into smaller grazing pastures better suited to a technique called regenerative grazing.

Getting Fired Up for Birds

Regenerative grazing involves grazing cattle on a smaller area of land for shorter and more intense bursts. Then, the cattle are moved on to the next pasture, enabling the pasture they just grazed to regrow. This leaves most of the land free to nesting birds like Long-billed Curlews, while also providing an essential service — American grasslands are adapted to herds of grazers and still need this kind of disturbance to be at their most healthy.

Pine forests are adapted to periodic fire. Centuries ago, lightning storms and Indigenous people regularly created fires that burned through dead plant material, young saplings, and scrubby plants in the understory of this ecosystem that once stretched through much of the Southeast. This helped sun shine through to the forest floor, creating a sort of woodland-savannah-prairie system with a few pine trees and a blanket of prairie plants. But beginning in the 1900s, fire was suppressed, and the historically open forests became more crowded and homogenous, blocking out the sunlight that allowed prairie plants to flourish.

Once it’s up and running, regenerative grazing can be great for ranchers, cattle, and birds, Ellison says. It enables ranchers to graze more cattle per acre, raising their profits. The cattle get better-quality grass. And, birds get better-quality habitat.

Since 2021, ABC’s South Dakota program has converted 31,000 acres to regenerative grazing practices — an area more than twice the size of Manhattan. This includes

In the pine forests of southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana, good bird habitat isn’t managed with fences or grazers — it’s managed with fire.

Now, thanks to funding from the Farm Bill, ABC staff members in the region are connecting with landowners with upland forest stands to implement controlled continues on p. 22

ABOVE: Red-headed Woodpecker

by Ronnie Howard, Shutterstock.

LEFT: A planned burn in progress.

Photo by Arkansas Department of Agriculture Forestry Division.

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Abundant Wildlife Songbirds, shorebirds, and other animals make their summer homes on a western ranch featuring a mix of prairie plants. Farm Bill funding enables scenes such as this. Illustration by Christopher Vest.

Long-billed Curlew

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Western Meadowlark

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Scarlet Globemallow

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Pronghorn

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Lark Bunting

10 Sprague's Pipit

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Chestnut-collared Longspur

11 Bluestem grasses

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Blue Gramma Grass

13 Maximilian Sunflower

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Grasshopper Sparrow

14 Porcupine Grass

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Common Nighthawk

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continued from p. 19 burns and other techniques to open up the forest. Many landowners begin with an interest in better hunting opportunities on their property, says Austin Klais, an ABC staff member working with the Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture.

“One of their main objectives may be to get increased numbers of quail, turkeys, and other game species,” Klais says. But open forest habitat is beneficial to a whole range of bird species that ABC is working to conserve, including Brown-headed Nuthatch, Red-headed Woodpecker, and Indigo Bunting. And participating landowners are starting to take notice of these birds as well.

Over the last couple of years, a wide range of partners that include ABC have begun inviting landowners to help conduct bird counts to keep track of the growing avian diversity on their property. They are given a list of six species to watch and listen for — the list includes Northern Bobwhite and Wild Turkey, as well as songbirds like Yellow-breasted Chat and Prairie Warbler.

“So, in addition to the habitat management they get to do, they’ll also get to track their progress with the bird species and hopefully see the response to their methods,” Klais says. He admits that he was initially skeptical that many landowners would be interested in the idea.

“But they have absolutely loved it,” he says.

ABOVE: Brown-headed Nuthatch is a species that benefits from periodic fires. Photo by Matt Felperin. RIGHT: Understory regenerating after a planned burn.

Photo by Austin Klais.

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Once landowners are taught how to identify songbird species, they enjoy getting a more nuanced understanding of the habitats on their property and the way things are changing over time.

ABC began working with landowners on this habitat restoration project in the region in late 2022, so it’s too early to measure exactly how much diversity will be brought back now that the pine forests have been opened up, but things are looking promising. So far, more than 4,000 acres of land have been committed to this new management style, and over the next several years, the plan is to restore or enhance 30,000 acres of privately owned pine forest across Arkansas and Louisiana.

Without the Farm Bill, most of this land would have remained in the old style of management.

“When people want to do good things, this funding through the Farm Bill can help them actually get it done,” Klais says.

A Golden Opportunity In the Great Lakes region of the United States, Farm Bill funding also is being used to manage deciduous forests of aspen and alder. This is the pot of money that the Perkises dipped into to improve their own slice of land for Golden-winged Warblers.

To create Golden-winged Warbler habitat, foresters clear out overgrown alder stands, opening up the landscape for

a higher diversity of fruit- and nut-producing shrubs and trees. They leave the larger alders as perch and singing sites for Golden-wings and other songbirds, while the newly diverse understory provides food and nesting habitat.

Where restoration work has happened, the effects have been quick and dramatic. Statistics from earlier projects show just how big a difference it can make.

Between 2015 and 2021, ABC and partners have improved 52,993 acres of private lands in the Great Lakes region for Golden-wings. At the forest sites ABC has monitored (comprising about 6,770 acres), Golden-winged Warbler densities have nearly doubled. Breeding birds have been detected on 90 percent of these sites within three years.

This could represent nearly 3,000 Golden-wings entering the population each year that otherwise might not have had the habitat they needed to survive.

The Perkises, for their part, feel that the benefits they’ve seen on their property are still compounding. Over the last couple of years, they have planted more than 1,000 trees and shrubs, and they are excited to see what wildlife they can attract with their new berry bushes and nut

trees. Bill, who is the Director of Forestry Technology at Gogebic Community College, now takes his forestry classes to the property, using it as a living classroom.

Betty is working on her bird identification skills. They’ve even made new friends, like Doug Norquist, a birder who reached out after reading about their habitat work in the local paper in 2021. He got in touch and has been birding on their property about once a week ever since.

“I love it, and it’s really interesting to see the habitat transform,” Norquist says, noting that some of the new saplings are now taller than he is. He has seen 71 bird species on the property so far, and the list continues to grow. The biggest highlight? This August, he saw a Golden-winged Warbler on the property for the first time.

You can help make the Farm Bill even stronger for birds! abcbirds.org/FarmBillUS

Rachel Fritts is a science writer based in the Washington, DC area. Her work has appeared in outlets including The Guardian, Science Magazine, Audubon Magazine, and Inside Climate News.

ABOVE: Golden-winged Warbler by FotoRequest, Shutterstock. TOP LEFT: Northern Bobwhite by Bonnie Taylor Barry, Shutterstock. LEFT: A thick stand of alder before thinning. Photo by Betty Perkis.

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Owl’s First Night Out

By Carl Safina

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few years ago, ABC board member Carl Safina and his wife, Patricia Paladines, rescued a young Eastern Screech-Owl that had been found near death. After “Alfie” returned to the wild, the owl surprised the couple by centering her territory on their backyard, acquiring a wild mate, and raising a

brood in a nest box Safina put up outside his writing studio. “All the while,” Carl says, the bird “remained so completely unafraid of us that we can watch her at closest proximity. It’s safe to say that while she knows she’s an owl (as of this writing she has fledged 10 chicks with two mates), we share a bond of trust.” In the following excerpt from Carl’s new book, Alfie and Me: What Owls Know and What Humans Believe, Alfie’s first brood is fledging, while Carl and Patricia's dogs Cady, Chula, and Jude are nearby.

The last color of June 12 drained quickly down the western sky. One of the three owlets was sitting in the nest-box entrance. So I decided to stay where I was sitting until something happened or I got too sleepy. In the enclosing darkness, something hit the metal awning over the studio door, just one giant stride from the nest. I heard nothing further. Then Alfie called from the adjacent tree.

Alfie was calling nearby. I wondered whether she felt distressed by all the activity or reassured by the presence of those she knew and trusted.

Patricia and I decided the owlet should be off the ground. She picked up the fluff-jacketed cutie, who instantly sank some talons into her arm. I placed the fledger on the awning over the door.

Within a couple of minutes, the fluffer landed on the ground again. I picked the little adventurer up. A fat ball of a baby.

Good parenting.

I heard bill clacking.

Cady showed up and started barking very excitedly. Now the clacking clearly came from the ground.

Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe, by Carl Safina, W.W. Norton & Co.,

I went for a flashlight.

I returned the owlet to the awning. Alfie landed next to her errant youngster.

2023, hardcover, 352 pages.

Excerpted by permission.

I was suddenly looking down at a wad of cotton candy staring up wide-eyed.

Neither of us had expected to meet quite like this, and the surprise was quite mutual.

Cady was transfixed. Because helpless, flightless birds are part of our family culture, Cady knew what category to place this strange new chick-thing in. She showed intense interest and good manners. “Good girl, Cady!”

I purred. Cady kept her eyes on the owlet while half her body wagged her excitement.

I called Patricia. Chula and Jude came running from the house to the studio. Chula immediately started nosing around in the vicinity of the clacking. She abruptly confronted the owlet and jerked her head back. Then Jude came blundering in and, but for my intervention, might have stepped on the little owl. Imagine the owlet’s impression of their first minute on the surface of planet Earth: The world consists of dazzle and a herd of dogs!

LEFT: Alfie's owlets peering out into the world. Photo by Carl Safina.

I heard a rustle and a thud. The owlet missed an attempt to land in the adjacent tree and was again on the ground.

Not good.

Put back on the awning yet again, the fledger leapt into the tree and caught a branch.

Alfie again landed right next to her youngster, softly whinnying. The little one seemed content to stay put on the branch. Good.

Patricia wanted to retire to bed.

Me, too. But. I didn’t want to miss this.

It was ten p.m. A few mosquitoes were patrolling. I sat in the chair beneath the nest, opened my laptop in the dark, and went through new photos from the trail cam I’d set up by the nest box. Several images showed midnight meal deliveries of moths and a couple of small furred creatures.

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that beings arise and become aware of all the shining stardust gathered around us, that they see and sense. And that we are among those who do, and find it beautiful.

It was nearly one in the morning, and I couldn’t believe I was still out here. I didn’t know how much longer I’d be able to stay awake. I guessed I’d find out.

At nearly eleven p.m., I heard strong contact calls between Alfie and her mate, Plus-One. Around eleven-thirty, one of the parents brought a sparrow into the nest. The fledger had now missed two feedings. Freedom extracts a price.

The young one tried to move along the branch several times, but each time slipped and wound up hanging upside down. After thrashing a bit, the youngster selfrighted. Between these little mishaps, the fledger spent most of the time looking around, attempting with much head bobbing to bring this bewildering new world into some sensible order. Good luck with that; I’ve tried.

Shortly after midnight, the fledger jumped off that branch and a thud alerted me that the babe had again come to earth.

I wasn’t sure what to do. It’s not all friendly doggies out here. Dogs go to bed, and then there are cats, raccoons, foxes, opossums, horned owls; night can be deadly for a blundering youngster.

I heard Alfie announcing her return with her high, soft whinny. She acted anxious. She was a new mom who had never before seen a babe out of the nest.

Each time I returned the fledger to the awning or the tree, the little one rescheduled departure within a minute or two. I didn’t want to do this all night. But I was caught in this cycle between gravity and salvation. And, wow, this little baby’s talons were sharp and their feet owl-strong. Getting stabbed is a little unpleasant. And I’ve seen talons cause nasty infections.

Hazards are, of course, a major feature of existence. But, hazards notwithstanding, the big picture is of miracles.

Somehow the sediment of broken stars and little sparks of time find each other and agree to do what it takes such

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Enough of a breeze had come up to disperse the few mosquitoes. I put a quilt on the ground, covered myself with a blanket, rested my head on a pillow, and let our owls do their thing for the three remaining hours of night. I slept lightly, half-listening for rustlings in the tree above, for arrivals or departures from the nest. At four-forty a.m., the cardinals’ whistles and the robins’ flutes came on first. The fledgling, having survived the most dangerous night of a bird’s life, uttered a scratchy little begging call from a low branch just overhead. Alfie replied with a soft whinny from a few feet away. So my all-night vigil seemed worthwhile. The fat little fledger had not spent the night on the ground; I had. The fledger had not gotten eaten; I’d suffered only modest extracted meals from hungry mosquitoes. A worthy trade, I thought.

Alfie’s other two owlets remained in the box. One was looking out, seeming a bit awestruck. When Alfie tried to go in, that child would not cede the entrance.

Alfie landed right next to the fledged one, close enough to touch. I hoped that the light of morning would convince our traveler to rest for the duration of the long June day.

Alfie managed to squeeze in with her other owlets. But all the kids cared about was crowding the nest entrance to maintain their vigil of the unprecedented world as daylight flooded this astounding scape of colors and structure, of heights and breadths and the spreading ground

LEFT: Alfie and her mate, Plus-One, stand guard. BELOW: Alfie and one of her fledglings peek out of the nest box. RIGHT: A fledgling screech-owl scrambles up a tree trunk. Photos by Carl Safina.

below. Bobbing and waving their little heads, absorbing all directions, they endeavored to focus their astonishments.

Around seven a.m. the dogs noticed a black cat prowling in our yard, a direct danger to a naïve young owl—to say nothing of the carcasses they bring to doorsteps.

The mice, chipmunks, and birds that cats kill not only constitute a waste of lives; their deletion helps starve hawks and owls.

At just past nine of the inaugural morning out of the nest box, the fledged one, whom I nicknamed “Fledj,” got a first lesson in the harshness of the world. Three Blue Jays went directly at Alfie, who was still looking out of the nest box. She withdrew, and they veered away. They quickly discovered Fledj. The jays were not happy with the appearance of this additional danger to their lives and their own nestlings. Two of them tried repeatedly to strike. Fledj was now ensconced within a leafy umbrella canopy. It was difficult for the jays to maneuver for a good blow.

Living is life-threatening, death-defying — and thrilling. been their world, they have the inclination and muscle tone to walk up tree trunks, immediately tapping into their inner bird and seeking the stars. That felt amazing.

But their persistence worked. They made contact, striking hard with their bills, yet failing to knock Fledj to the ground. Fledj turned to better face and threaten the attackers, but flinched when a jay strafed.

Seeing that a fledgling screech-owl can hop to the base of a tree and walk up the trunk, I realized that perhaps Fledj didn’t really need my help the previous evening. Fledj might have made a life-threatening mistake. We all do.

Living is life-threatening, death-defying — and thrilling.

Alfie watched intently, feather tufts raised in intensified alarm.

Sometimes what’s most needed is to know when we’re not needed. The owlets had begun to free themselves, forcing me to free them from my desire to hang on to and protect them. The security of the nest was timelimited and a dead end; there was no choice. I was forced to accept what is. It was a Buddhist lesson from the owls, who know only their Buddha nature.

Two of the three original jays departed. This bettered Alfie’s odds. When the persisting jay landed a direct strike on Fledj, Alfie launched an attack straight at the jay, coming in with a high, scratchy growl. The jay withdrew to a nearby branch and reconsidered.

Alfie returned to her nest box and her two interior owlets. The jay seized the unguarded moment, smacking Fledj hard. Fledj momentarily maintained a grip on the branch, then fell like an apple.

Early that evening, the sky was still blue, the clouds still white. But at ground level where my wife Patricia and I sat, dusk was rising toward night. One lone firefly — the very first of the year — prickled the new shadows of night. The fledged trio was at the edge of the woods.

They absorbed all of Alfie’s attention. And ours.

The jay left. Calm returned. Temporarily.

I resisted an impulse to help. The little owl walked straight up the trunk, wings aflutter all the way. I was entirely surprised that, literally out of the box, a baby owl comes equipped to invert gravity, operating from the premise that what comes down must go up. Mere moments after emerging from the confinement that had

Photo by Patricia Paladines

The jay next menaced the nest box. Alfie withdrew into its protection.

Carl Safina, a board member of ABC, holds the endowed chair for nature and humanity at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.

Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe, is his 13th book. Learn more at CarlSafina.org and SafinaCenter.org.

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PUTTING BIRD HABITATS FIRST Ten highlights from ABC’s work across the Western Hemisphere in 2023

By Matt Mendenhall

Cats, pesticides, power lines, windows, plastics: The list of threats birds face across the Americas is long and daunting. American Bird Conservancy (ABC) works to address all of these and more, and the one at the top of our list is applicable to every species, from the rarest to the most abundant: loss of healthy habitats. After all, no bird species will survive for long without a viable place to nest, hunt or forage, and find shelter. On the following pages, we present 10 habitats around the Western Hemisphere that have been improved in 2023 thanks to the efforts of ABC staffers and partners. And of course, we also feature several birds that have benefited from our work.

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U.S. PINE & BOTTOMLAND FORESTS Conservationists would be hard-pressed to find a better ambassador bird for the pine and bottomland forests of the southeastern United States than the Swallow-tailed Kite. The black-and-white raptor with a deeply forked tail and a 4-foot wingspan is undeniably striking.

“They are relatively easy to identify, they nest and forage on Southeast working forests, and they have an amazing migratory story where they migrate thousands of miles back to their wintering grounds in South America every late summer,” said EJ Williams, Vice President of ABC’s Southeast and Atlantic Coast Region.

Since 2020, the kite has benefited from a partnership between ABC and International Paper (IP), the world’s largest pulp and paper company, in several southern states. The goal is to integrate bird conservation into IP’s

operations and supply chain to support progress toward the company’s commitment to sustaining forests and toward reversing the decline of forest birds.

A further partnership with the Avian Research and Conservation Institute, ABC, IP, and several other groups has been tracking Swallow-tails via GPS transmitters for several years. This year, five new kites received transmitters. One of them, which was captured in Georgia, led the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to a pre-migration roost on the state’s Altamaha River of over 600 Swallow-tails — the first of its kind outside of Florida. Such roosts are important staging areas for the birds to successfully migrate across the Gulf of Mexico and onward to Brazil for the winter. “The kite data will help us maintain this important landscape feature,” Williams said.

CHILE'S ATACAMA DESERT The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is among the driest places in the world.

“The setting is absolutely alien,” said Sea McKeon, ABC’s Marine Program Director. “The soils are caustic. It’s essentially a barren place. And for that reason, because of that barrenness, it’s a safe place for these birds to breed.”

The birds in question are the Near Threatened Markham’s Storm-Petrel and the Endangered Peruvian Tern. As their names indicate, both species are seabirds, and yet they make their nests away from the coast in harsh desert locations.

Since 2016, ABC has worked with Chilean conservation group Red de Observadores de Aves y Vida Silvestre de Chile (ROC) on locating breeding areas for both species near the port city of Arica, on the country’s northern coast. In the last few years, ROC staffers have found breeding sites for the birds in northern Chile, and this year, they documented the first known nesting site in Peru for the storm-petrel.

A systematic search found a colony of about 30 pairs in Pampa Pie de Candela,

LEFT: Swallow-tailed Kite, Florida. Photo by Sandi Cullifer, Shutterstock.

ABOVE RIGHT: Atacama Desert by Tomacrosse, Shutterstock. ABOVE: Markham’s Storm-Petrel by Pete Morris.

in the department of Tacna, which borders Chile. ABC’s work with ROC has been supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Lynn and Stuart White.

The Chilean sites are in the process of being protected by the national government. A 1,600-acre site known as Pampa Chaca hosts about 1,500 Markham’s Storm-Petrel nests, which the birds build in burrows below ground.

And a 539-acre site called Chacalluta hosts a colony of the terns. Together, they are the first properties entrusted

by Chile to ROC with a focus on bird conservation.

“We went from essentially nothing to effective conservation in a very short period of time,” said McKeon. “We remain committed to both the birds and to ROC, which is a growing organization that we want to see succeed.”

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PUTTING BIRD HABITATS FIRST

HIGH-ALTITUDE ANDEAN FORESTS

BRAZIL’S CERRADO

The Critically Endangered Royal Cinclodes is a darkbrown songbird found only in high Andean forests of Peru and Bolivia. It numbers fewer than 250 individuals, and its population is declining. The bird relies mostly on trees in the genus Polylepis. Polylepis are shrub-like evergreens with reddish bark that occur at elevations up to 16,400 feet, making them the highest-growing flowering trees in the world.

This mix of tropical savannas and gallery forests once covered more than 737,000 square miles in central Brazil.

Today, most of it has been lost to agriculture, cattle pastures, and charcoal production. Still, protected areas exist, and this year, ABC and Re:wild provided support for the purchase of a 358-acre reserve named Lago do Campo.

In winter 2022-2023, ABC coordinated with our partner Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN) the planting of 45,000 Polylepis trees to help the cinclodes and other birds. The trees were planted within Peru’s Vilcanota mountain range at altitudes between 11,800 and 15,000 feet. The winter before, the team planted 62,150 Polylepis trees for a two-year total of more than 107,000.

The work, supported by New England Biolabs, enhances the vegetative cover that the birds rely on. Over time, Polylepis trees capture moisture and provide shade that lichens, mosses, and other plants rely on. Cinclodes forage on the ground for insects within this dense vegetation.

ABC has directly supported ECOAN and local Indigenous communities in the Vilcanota mountains since 2002. The work has led to the planting of more than 1.6 million trees and shrubs to restore woodlands and promote fuelefficient stoves, which reduces demand for firewood.

Furthermore, the local communities have fenced several areas to exclude livestock and facilitate natural forest regeneration and established nine nationally recognized protected areas covering more than 21,000 acres. ABC and ECOAN are currently working with the community of Quelcanca to create a new 13,000-acre reserve in the Vilcanota network in the coming years.

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It’s now the fourth property in the Cantão Cerrado Ecological Corridor, a protected area network owned and managed by ABC partner Instituto Araguaia where the Amazon meets the cerrado. In a 2022 survey, 269 bird species were detected at the new reserve, including four pairs of the Vulnerable Kaempfer’s Woodpecker, a species that was rediscovered in 2006, and the Vulnerable Sharp-tailed Tyrant. After acquiring the reserve, Instituto Araguaia immediately began building patrol trails and firebreaks to protect it from poachers and wildfire, two main threats in the region. Upon exploring the reserve in depth, they noticed lakes blocked by dense scrub.

“When we finally reached (the lakes), we found them surrounded by a wonderful belt of old-growth igapó flooded forest, with twisting ancient trees and a clear understory,” said George Georgiadis, Executive Director of Instituto Araguaia. “In one of the lakes we found a strip of newly dug sand — a Giant Otter den, where a family was bringing up four cubs, hidden away from the motorboats and fish poachers in the nearby river. Hoatzins in abundance, Sunbitterns, and other Amazon birds fluttered all around the lake. Most amazingly, a Kaempfer’s Woodpecker flew right by us in the forest understory. This further confirmed that this species can use flooded forest to disperse and move between suitable habitats, which means that the populations of all four of our reserves are connected.”

LEFT: Royal Cinclodes, Peru. Photo by Daniel J. Lebbin. ABOVE: Lago do Campo, Brazil. Photo by Instituto Araguaia. INSET: Kaempfer's Woodpecker by Joao Quental, CC BY 2.0.

ACROSS THE HEMISPHERE

ANDEAN MONTANE FORESTS

NORTH AMERICAN WETLANDS

South America’s Andes mountain range and its various forests are among the most biodiverse places in the world.

The region is home to more than 1,700 bird species, as well as hundreds of mammal, reptile, and fish species and thousands of plants and insects. ABC works with partner organizations in several places throughout these montane forests to conserve important habitats for birds.

ABC works with many partners on wetland conservation and filling in knowledge gaps for species of concern in a variety of marshes, swamps, lakes, and other waterways around North America. One such site is Fern Ridge Wildlife Area on Fern Ridge Reservoir near Eugene, Oregon.

This year, we supported Fundación Ecohabitats as it signed separate conservation agreements with four local communities in the western Andes of Colombia in the buffer area of the Key Biodiversity Area Serranía del Pinche. This will protect 7,711 acres of habitat for the Critically Endangered Gorgeted Puffleg, a hummingbird species endemic to the region. The puffleg, discovered in 2005, is only 3.1 to 3.5 inches long, and it numbers fewer than 1,000 individuals.

In central Colombia, just east of the capital Bogotá, ABC and our partner Fundación Camaná purchased four properties totaling 446 acres to create a new reserve to protect the Endangered Cundinamarca Antpitta. The endemic bird numbers only 300 to 800 individuals. The Bezos Earth Fund and BirdLife International have supported ABC’s work on behalf of the puffleg and antpitta.

And earlier this year in Peru, ABC, Rainforest Trust, and Bobolink Foundation helped ECOAN to purchase three properties, totaling about 43 acres. These lands protect habitat for the Endangered Gray-bellied Comet hummingbird. We are continuing to work with ECOAN to purchase additional land and restore habitat by planting thousands of native plants grown at a local nursery.

For the last two years, Lindsay Adrean, ABC’s Northwest Program Officer, has participated in a study of Black Terns that is, in part, attempting to connect the dots between where the birds breed and winter. The Volgenau Foundation supports Adrean’s work with the terns.

Another goal of the study is to try to learn what is causing the ongoing decline in the tern’s population.

“We know that at least some of them spend time in Central America — places like Panama — but we don’t really know what their route is to get there or how long they’re spending in other places before they get there,” said Adrean. ABC is one of many partner organizations that are tracking terns by placing light-level geolocators on their backs. A graduate student at the University of Saskatchewan is leading the project, which is partially supported by the Smithsonian’s Migratory Connectivity Project.

The tern colony at Fern Ridge is fairly small — 20-30 nests each year. Adrean was able to place one geolocator on a tern in 2022 (which she has since retrieved) and five on birds this year. It’s too soon to know what will be learned, but Adrean thinks the information from the Fern Ridge terns could “help inform management at Black Tern colonies in other areas of Oregon and Washington that are suffering effects from our drought.” Stay tuned.

BELOW: Cundinamarca Antpitta by Daniel J. Lebbin.

BELOW RIGHT: Fern Ridge Resevoir near Eugene, Oregon. Photo by Jamie Hooper, Shutterstock. INSET: Black Terns by Jennifer Davis.

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PUTTING BIRD HABITATS FIRST

LATIN AMERICAN FARMS & RANCHES

ANDEAN PÁRAMO

Farms and ranches can either be of little use to birds, or if they’re managed sustainably, they can offer habitat for resident and migratory birds. Thanks to ABC and its partners, more and more farmers and ranchers in Latin America and the Caribbean are adopting bird-friendly management practices for working landscapes.

This ecosystem of humid alpine grasses and shrubs is found from elevations of about 10,000 feet to 16,000 feet in the northern Andes Mountains. Thousands of endemic plants that are adapted to these cold regions, as well as rare birds, mammals, and reptiles, exist in the páramo.

One extraordinary resident is the Blue-throated Hillstar, a hummingbird that was discovered in 2017 in southern Ecuador’s Loja province and described to science in 2018.

With an estimated population of 250-750 individuals, the species is classified as Critically Endangered.

The expertise ABC has been offering to producers for more than a decade is now being scaled through its new BirdsPlus program, which was launched earlier this year with the support of the Jeniam Foundation and Knobloch Family Foundation. The program helps growers of cacao, coffee, and cardamom, as well as cattle ranchers, to adopt sustainable practices that benefit birds while maintaining or increasing producers’ yields and incomes.

In the first six months of this year, farmers and ranchers in Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, and Venezuela planted more than 47,500 native and fruit trees provided by ABC and partners on their lands. The trees were planted around coffee and other crops, which will create more habitat for birds.

Andrés Anchondo, ABC’s Associate Director of Impact Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean, recently visited a cattle rancher in Honduras and encouraged him to set up “living fences” rather than traditional fences of barbed wire strung between posts. A “living fence” is simply a row of trees with barbed wire between them. The trees provide habitat for birds and shade for the cattle.

The result? “His cows are producing more milk thanks to the cooler conditions provided by the trees, and the trees are providing shelter and corridors for birds and other wildlife,” said Anchondo.

Soon after the bird’s discovery, ABC and Ecuadorian partner Fundación Jocotoco began to raise funds to buy habitat around Cerro de Arcos, where most of the population is found. Major supporters of the work include Patricia Davidson and Mark Greenfield and the Greenfield-Hartline Habitat Conservation Fund. The Cerro de Arcos Reserve was created in 2020, and after additions of 165 acres this year, it now covers 1,332 acres. The partners anticipate adding at least 300 more acres by mid-2026 and aim to continue restoring patches of Chuquiragua, a low-growing evergreen shrub with spiky leaves and small pine-cone-like orange flowers that hillstars feed on.

Threats to the bird include habitat loss and degradation, mostly due to the conversion of páramo to cattle pastures, fires set for grassland regrowth, and pine plantations.

About 150 bird species have been tallied at Cerro de Arcos, and Fundación Jocotoco invites birders to visit.

Learn more at the “Tourism” section of jocotoco.org.ec.

BELOW LEFT: Coffee seedlings await planting in Bahoruco, Dominican Republic. INSET: Black-throated Blue Warbler by Frode Jacobsen.

BELOW: A Blue-throated Hillstar feeds on a Chuquiragua plant in Cerro de Arcos, Ecuador. Photo by Mario Pilataxi.

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ACROSS THE HEMISPHERE

ECUADOR'S CHOCÓ FOREST

BRAZIL'S ATLANTIC FOREST

The Andean foothills of northwestern Ecuador are the home of the Chocó bioregion, an area with 63 endemic bird species and about 3 percent of the world’s plant species. Over the decades, deforestation has left only about 2-5 percent of the original forests intact. That’s why protected areas like the Río Canandé Reserve are so important.

An astounding 223 bird species are endemic to the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil and Paraguay and northeastern Argentina. One of the rarest is the Cherrythroated Tanager, named for its striking red throat.

Described to science in 1870, the species was reported once in 1941 and not again until 1998, when it was rediscovered on a private tract of forest in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo.

The Canandé Reserve was created in 2000 to protect part of the lowland Chocó Forest, the second most biodiverse and one of the five most threatened biodiversity hotspots on Earth. The Greenfield-Hartline Habitat Conservation Fund and Patricia Davidson have generously supported the forest’s protection over the years. The reserve currently comprises 20,974 acres (68 of which were added in 2023) and protects populations of 14 globally threatened bird species including the Banded Ground-Cuckoo, Great Green Macaw, and Purple Quail-Dove (all species that are Endangered or Critically Endangered with global populations sizes of less than 5,000 individuals). Plus, many neotropical migratory birds, such as the Canada Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher, and Scarlet Tanager, spend part of the year at Río Canandé.

A recent scientific expedition to the reserve has identified several potential new species of mammals, orchid-bees, plants, a frog, and a spider. Camera traps have revealed the presence of many mammal species, including Jaguar, Puma, Ocelot, Margay, Peccary, Red Brocket Deer, and three monkey species. With around 400 bird species, the reserve is a popular destination for birders, who can stay in the Chocó Lodge. Visit the “Tourism” section of jocotoco.org.ec to learn more.

Today the tanager numbers only about 20 known individuals. Brazilian conservation organization Instituto Marcos Daniel (IMD) established the Kaetés Reserve in 2021 in partnership with ABC, Rainforest Trust, World Land Trust, and the Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust.

Recent land purchases have expanded the reserve from 700 to 1,500 acres. In addition to protecting the tanager’s home, the reserve also provides habitat for the Endangered Vinaceous-breasted Amazon and several Vulnerable species: the White-bearded Antshrike and Golden-tailed and Brown-backed Parrotlets.

Bennett Hennessey, ABC’s Brazil Program Coordinator, assists IMD with the process of purchasing land and training reserve staff. “If we can save this tanager, which was unseen for many years but is now regularly spotted, then we can save other imperiled species whose appearances have become less frequent,” he said. “We aim to replicate this success across the Americas.”

Matt Mendenhall is ABC’s Managing Editor.

BELOW: Chocó forest, Ecuador. Photo by Ecuadorpostales, Shutterstock.

INSET: Banded Ground-Cuckoo by Agami Photo Agency, Shutterstock.

BELOW RIGHT: Atlantic Forest, Brazil. Photo by vitormarigo, Shutterstock.

INSET: Cherry-throated Tanager by Ciro Albano.

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ABC BIRDING

BARBA AZUL NATURE RESERVE, BOLIVIA 34 B I R D CO N S E R V A TI ON | W I NTE R 2023

By Howard Youth Lay of the Land: Barba Azul Nature Reserve is located in northern Bolivia, in the northern part of a rich and remote region called the Beni Savanna. Habitats within the reserve include seasonally flooded grasslands, gallery forest, palm islands, marshes, and riverside wetlands.

“Barba azul” is Spanish for “blue beard,” which is the local name for the Blue-throated Macaw, the bird that inspired the reserve’s creation. After the breeding season, Barba Azul hosts the largest of three subpopulations (228 individuals in 2022) of this Critically Endangered species.

The protected area, created in 2008, now spans more than 27,000 acres, after several expansions.

Focal Birds: Barba Azul is a haven for more than 340 bird species, including the Endangered Ibera Seedeater and the Vulnerable Cock-tailed and Sharp-tailed Tyrants and Black-masked Finch. Species now scarce in many parts of their range are also found in the reserve, such as the Near Threatened Greater Rhea and Orinoco Goose.

Other species frequently seen in the reserve include: Southern Screamer, Brazilian Teal, Hoatzin, Ocellated Crake, Sunbittern, Jabiru, Whistling Heron, Black-collared and Savanna Hawks, Long-winged Harrier, Toco Toucan, Chestnut-eared Araçari, Crimson-crested Woodpecker, Campo Flicker, Cobalt-rumped Parrotlet, Peach-fronted Parakeet, Yellow-collared and Blue-and-yellow Macaws, Large-billed and Rusty-backed Antwrens, Streamer-tailed Tyrant, Purplish Jay, Black-capped Donacobius, Orangebacked Troupial, Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch, Whiterumped Tanager, Red-crested and Red-capped Cardinals, and a variety of seedeaters.

PAGE 34: View of Barba Azul Reserve by Daniel Alarcon, Asociación Armonía.

THIS PAGE FROM RIGHT: Greater Rhea by David Fisher, Neotropical Bird Club: Whistling Herons by Daniel Alarcon, Asociación Armonía; Blackmasked Finch by David Fisher, Neotropical Bird Club.

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Other Wildlife: Barba Azul is also a top destination for mammal watching: The Vulnerable Giant Anteater and Near Threatened Maned Wolf are regularly seen, and the reserve also supports Near Threatened Pampas Deer, Vulnerable Marsh Deer, Collared Peccary, Black Howler Monkey, Capybara (the world’s largest rodent), Brazilian Guinea Pig, Crab-eating Fox, and these wild cats: the Near Threatened Jaguar and Pampas Cat, Puma, Ocelot, and Jaguarundi. Also, the poorly known and Near Threatened Bush Dog has been reported here.

Frequently seen reptiles include Black and Yacare Caimans and two large lizards: the Black-and-white Tegu and Giant Ameiva. The Vulnerable Yellow-footed Tortoise also lives here, and this wet wilderness hosts a dizzying array of frog species as well.

Signature plants include palms, such as the locally abundant Motacú (Attalea phalerata), which produces fruits that are an important Blue-throated Macaw food source.

When to Visit: March through October is best for seeing Blue-throated Macaws. Outside these months, the birds leave to breed elsewhere in the Beni Savanna.

Conservation Activities: In 2008, thanks to supporter Patricia Davidson, ABC assisted Bolivian partner Asociación Armonía in establishing the reserve, which was deemed essential because the macaws and their habitat were threatened by widespread overgrazing, annual burning of pastures, and poaching. The two organizations have since worked together to restore the reserve’s habitats and conserve its striking biodiversity. In 2014, the reserve

PHOTOS FROM TOP: Capybara herd by Daniel J. Lebbin; Giant Anteater by David Fisher, Neotropical Bird Club; Black-and-white Tegu by FM Portella, Shutterstock.

Exceptionally Rare The Blue-throated Macaw is one of the rarest members of the parrot family. In the 1980s, it was believed to number 500-1,000 wild individuals, but the cagebird trade, habitat loss, and other threats took a significant toll. In the 1990s, the population stood at 110-130 birds. Bolivia outlawed trapping of the macaw, and it has made a slow recovery ever since.

The dedicated work of the World Parrot Trust, World Land Trust, Loro Parque Fundación, Asociación Armonía, the Laney Rickman Blue-throated Macaw Fund, and ABC has helped the species bounce back. A report in 2020 estimated the global population numbers 312-455 wild individuals, which equates to 208-303 mature macaws. Around 1,000 Blue-throats also exist in captivity around the world, including in several zoos. Captive birds can live for more than 50 years.

In 2015, Bolivia declared the Blue-throated Macaw a National Heritage species.

ABOVE: A breeding pair of Blue-throated Macaws. Photo by Tjalle Boorsma.

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ABOVE: A bird's-eye view of Barba Azul's visitor facilties. Photo by Asociación Armonía. RIGHT: Creating a firebreak to protect Blue-throated Macaw nesting areas. Photo by Asociación Armonía.

was doubled in size thanks to support from ABC and other organizations. ABC also supported development of a sustainable grazing program on parts of Barba Azul to maintain a vibrant and diverse patchwork of grassland habitats that also provides a model for others involved in grazing elsewhere in the region.

Like many macaw and parrot species, the Blue-throated Macaw was threatened by the cage-bird trade. After years of public-education efforts, however, illegal trapping of Blue-throats has dropped dramatically. Asociación Armonía has mastered the design of artificial nest boxes for Blue-throated Macaws in the southern Beni region, where 128 birds have fledged from boxes since 2005.

With ABC support, the organization is trying to find design tweaks that will draw macaws to stay and nest at Barba Azul as well.

Much of the area outside the reserve is still grazed and burned annually. Reserve staff are trained in firefighting, and they work hard to patrol and protect the area, maintaining 28 miles of firebreaks around the reserve’s perimeter.

Directions: This remote site is best reached by charter flights leaving from the city of Trinidad, the capital of Beni department. Reaching Barba Azul by vehicle is difficult and only possible during the dry season, between June and September. Asociación Armonía arranges visitors’ local transport at the time of reservation. While in the country, many traveling birders combine a visit to

Barba Azul with trips to other Bolivian birding hotspots, including Asociación Armonía's Red-fronted Macaw Lodge and the Sadiri Lodge in the Amazonian rainforest.

At Barba Azul, boots are available for visitors’ use. They are considered essential gear, as is insect repellant.

Where to Stay: The reserve has four cabins, with twin beds and private bathrooms, and a dining hall, built with support from ABC. Two “glamping” areas are also available, with tents accommodating up to 12 visitors.

A minimum of a three-night stay is required.

For More Information: bit.ly/VisitBarbaAzul.

Howard Youth is a Maryland-based writer and editor and a lifelong birder.

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Naamal was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Washington, D.C. She studied Biology and Environmental Studies at Swarthmore College, did research on working elephants, and then studied social ecology and sea turtles at the Yale School of the Environment. Naamal worked for nearly a decade identifying globally threatened species and Key Biodiversity Areas at Conservation International before completing a doctorate in education at George Washington University. She helped ABC with a 2019 strategy to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion and started work as ABC’s Chief Diversity Officer in 2021. Here is a glimpse into Naamal’s story, in her own words: In my earliest memories, I was an explorer, walking slowly around the land surrounding my home in Panadura, in Sri Lanka. I would observe yelloworange flowers in our garden, the feathery deep green of asparagus fern leaves, and the turquoise flash of a kingfisher’s wings.

My mother and I moved to Washington, D.C. at the end of 1984, soon after I turned six. We lived in a series of small apartments. I no longer had a garden and could not explore on my own. Instead, I watched nature documentaries on PBS and read about baby kangaroos and rainforests.

I started my career wanting to save threatened wildlife, but soon learned that effective conservation means learning from people about what works best where they live.

Naamal in New Caledonia with conservationists Henri Blaffart (left) and Edmond Ouillate (right).

Working with people in many countries helped me understand that successful conservation must be collective. There is great joy to be found in working together toward a common purpose.

In 2022, ABC launched our new Conservation and Justice Fellowship program. Over the following year, eight Fellows worked closely with ABC hosts, learning about ABC’s approach to bird conservation, asking important questions, and deepening our understanding of community engagement.

We at ABC appreciate that our fellows help articulate what it looks like to collectively serve the Earth.

Do you know someone who is a hero for birds? Please tell us about them! Write to us at magazine@abcbirds.org. Read Naamal’s essay on her journey and the ABC fellowships at abcbirds.org/CreatingFellowships. Illustration by Alex Boersma, www.alexboersma.com

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For birds, healthy habitat is the key to a safe home. When you include American Bird Conservancy in your estate plans, you will be helping us protect bird habitats for generations to come. If you are interested in more information on how to leave your own legacy for birds, or if you have already remembered ABC in your will, or as a beneficiary of a trust, IRA, or insurance plan, please contact Jack Morrison, ABC Director of Major Gifts and Planned Giving, at jmorrison@abcbirds.org or 540-253-5780.

Photos, top to bottom: American White Pelicans by Julia Culp, Shutterstock; Antelope Island, Great Salt Lake by Howard Noel, Shutterstock; Great Salt Lake by Scott Stringham, Shutterstock.

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The Chestnut-eared Araçari can be found year-round at the Barba Azul Nature Reserve in Bolivia. Photo by Nick Athanas.