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Fewer Songs in Future Years: Audubon Reports the 2010
“State of the Birds”

Fall 2010 Newsletter

At our June Guardian evening meeting, we were fortunate to have two staffers from the National Audubon Society in Washington D.C. as our guest speakers. Lynn Mecum, Senior Conservation Philanthropy Officer, and Tom Bancroft, National Audubon Science Director, gave a fascinating presentation about Audubon, the current “state of the birds,” and the recent Gulf oil disaster. Since not all Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation/Conservation Guardian members could be there, I thought I’d try to share some of the important points they made, as well as highlights of Audubon’s official 2010 State of the Birds report.

The mission of the National Audubon Society is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds and other wildlife. Their current five-year goals are to:

1. Conserve at-risk and declining common species of birds of the Americas.
2. Conserve sites and landscapes essential for birds of the Americas.
3. Increase the number and diversity of people taking conservation action.

Among the alarming information they shared is the fact that 20 species of common birds have decreased more than 50% in the last 40 years. Some of these include birds we are lucky to see around here: eastern meadowlark, snow bunting, loggerhead shrike, common grackle (though many of us would like NOT to see the common grackle at our bird feeders!). The other 16 include: greater scaup, northern pintail, bobwhite, ruffed grouse, American bittern, little blue heron, common tern, whip-poor-will, rufous hummingbird, lark sparrow, black-throated sparrow, field sparrow, grasshopper sparrow, boreal chickadee, rusty blackbird, and evening grosbeak.

Another alarming statistic is that 25% of U.S. birds are of global (59 species) or continental (117 species) conservation concern. Of global concern is the Henslow’s sparrow, which can be found on Grace Storch’s property north of Elizabeth! The state of Hawaii has 33 species of global concern, with two species that actually became extinct over the past 10 years!

Audubon’s 2010 State of the Birds report focuses on climate change. Their research has led to the conclusion that birds in every terrestrial and aquatic habitat will be affected by climate change, though individual species in each habitat are likely to respond differently. Bird species with the highest vulnerability to climate change will be those that are dependent on oceans. Birds in coastal, arctic/ alpine, and grassland habitats, as well as those on Caribbean and other Pacific islands, show intermediate vulnerability. Most birds in arid lands, wetlands, and forests show lower overall vulnerability.

Here in northwest Illinois, our major habitats are grasslands and forests – so I’ll share what Audubon says about these in particular. Declines in grassland birds will be exacerbated by climate change, according to Audubon. Scientists at Audubon believe that more than half of grassland species are expected to face additional pressures because of climate change.

All or most grasslands are expected to become drier because warmer temperatures will cause increased evaporation. Variability in precipitation is also expected to increase; droughts, flooding (gee – that sounds familiar), and extreme storms are all expected to become more common. Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide will probably contribute to invasions of woody shrubs into grasslands.

Audubon concludes that the vulnerability of birds in grasslands is not as high as in other habitat types; however, 25 (57%) grassland species have medium vulnerability and grassland birds are definitely at risk for many reasons other than climate change. Among the species that stand out as especially vulnerable are the bobolink and dickcissel (two we have around here commonly) because they are long-distance migrants that may not be able to adapt quickly enough to changing conditions.

“Forest birds show greater resilience than birds in most habitats,” says Audubon. So that is good news for many of the birds in our area. That said, Audubon does believe that roughly one-third of the 312 forest breeding species in the U.S. show high or medium vulnerability to climate change. The most vulnerable include aerial insectivores and high-elevation breeders.

While changes in tree species distributions tend to occur slowly, there definitely are changes being observed. These include an increase in tree mortality from insect outbreaks and increases in the length and severity of fire seasons due to increases in spring and summer temperatures and earlier snowmelts. Carbon in the atmosphere, which is bad for birds, is increased by forest degradation and deforestation. Forest protection and management offer important opportunities to sequester existing stores of carbon while also providing bird habitat.

Of the potential impacts to forest birds stated by Audubon, the one that most concerns me is that more than a third of forest birds are neotropical migrants (and we have many of these in our Mississippi Flyway). These long-distance migrating birds may experience mismatches in the timing of breeding with the availability of seasonal food resources, causing ecological disruption of bird communities or reproductive failure.

Thinking about neotropical migrants of course leads us to consider the Gulf oil disaster. When Lynn and Tom addressed our group, it was too soon to know what kind of impact the disaster is having on birds. Very shortly, as migrating birds head south, we will know. See the following article by Rich Mattas for more information.

In our own backyard, the most important thing we can do to help the birds as much as possible is to protect, conserve and restore habitat. Many of us are actively doing this – that’s why we are members of the Jo Daviess Conservation/Conservation Guardians, Prairie Enthusiasts, National Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever, and other conservation organizations. Thanks for all you do and be sure to contact staff at the Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation if you have any questions or need help with habitat conservation. For a complete copy of Audubon’s 2010 State of the Birds, go to their website, audubon.org.

— Julie Bruser

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