Bird Conservation

Whooping Crane. Photo by Greg Lavaty/texastargetbirds.com. Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published its final regulation altering the definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). For years, the ESA’s definition of “harm” was interpreted to include significant habitat modification or degradation, because habitat changes interrupt essential animal behaviors like breeding, feeding, and sheltering.

The U.S. Department of the Air Force (DAF) recently issued a notice proposing the construction and operation of two commercial rocket landing pads on Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, home to nearly 1.5 million seabirds of 15 species, including the world's largest colony of Red-tailed Tropicbirds (Koaʻeʻula).

A groundbreaking research study published in PLOS ONE today has uncovered alarming new evidence that building collisions are killing significantly more birds than previously estimated—well over one billion annually in the United States alone.

For migratory birds like the Canada Warbler and Olive-sided Flycatcher, the problem of habitat loss crosses borders and spans continents. It follows birds from their breeding grounds in the boreal forest of North America, to the stopover habitats they visit as they head south, to their Central and South American nonbreeding territories.

American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and Moloka‘i Land Trust have completed a 5,600-foot-long predator-proof conservation fence at the Mokio Preserve on Hawai‘i's Moloka‘i Island. Vulnerable seabirds, including the Laysan (Mōlī) and Black-footed Albatross (Ka‘upu), will have a chance to replenish their populations inside the nearly 100-acre elevated wildlife sanctuary, safe from sea level rise and invasive predators that prey upon their breeding colonies.

In early October 2023, the devastating scale and impacts of bird window strikes were brought into sharp focus on the shores of Lake Michigan when 1,000 birds died overnight after colliding with Chicago's McCormick Place Lakeside Center. Now, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has learned that plans are underway to install a reputable window collision deterrent, Feather Friendly, on McCormick Place's glass.

A timber harvest that began last fall on a tract of land in central Wisconsin is one of the first steps in a long-term plan to create new habitat for the rare Kirtland's Warbler. The harvest of Red Pine is taking place on one-third of a 400-acre property in Adams County that The Nature Conservancy (TNC) acquired in 2022. Last summer, TNC staff began controlling invasive buckthorn, honeysuckle, and spotted knapweed on the land.

To many birders, getting a first glimpse of a Connecticut Warbler starts to seem as challenging as finding a unicorn or Sasquatch. This large warbler breeds in remote areas, winters in Amazonia, and always keeps under thick, low cover, quietly walking on the ground or over low branches. If seen well, the Connecticut Warbler is relatively easy to identify, with its dark head, complete white eye ring, and all-yellow underparts.

In many ways, the understated Orange-crowned Warbler is an odd bird among the varied wood-warbler family. One of the more widespread and plentiful species in this group, this bird occupies low, densely vegetated habitats, not tall trees. It is the latest warbler to migrate in fall, and most winter in the southern U.S. and Mexico, farther north than most Neotropical migrants.

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