Scientists Document Widespread Declines, Urgent Need for Conservation of Landbirds in U.S. and Canada. Report calls for unprecedented partnerships across public and private sectors to reverse trends throughout bird’s life-cycles. A new analysis of the population status and trends of all landbirds in the continental U.S. and Canada documents widespread declines among 450 bird species—a troubling [...]
It’s a big year for birds! 2016 marks the Centennial anniversary of the signing of the Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds between the United States and Great Britain (on behalf of Canada). Known in the U.S. as the Migratory Bird Treaty, this landmark agreement laid the foundation for a century of cooperative and [...]
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Migratory Bird Program is currently developing ProjectFlockTogether: an online crowdsourcing platform that will invite bird enthusiasts and citizen scientists to participate in important, cutting-edge conservation research. Each year, the FWS conducts aerial visual surveys by flying small planes over North America’s wetlands and coasts, in order to monitor [...]
By Lori Reed, Operations Specialist, Intermountain West Joint Venture I never get tired of seeing people’s reactions when partners of the Intermountain West Joint Venture (IWJV) walk into a meeting in Washington, D.C. It’s not every day that they see ranchers seated next to energy company representatives and non-profit staff. As we all sing the [...]
Across the globe, citizen scientists are informing bird conservation by reporting on their local birds. The information sheds light on species distribution, population trends, and how landscape level changes are affecting bird habitats. Engaging in citizen science also promotes a greater understanding of the role and values of birds in the natural world. The upcoming 2016 [...]
Playas are a major source of recharge to the Ogallala Aquifer, contributing up to 95 percent of inflow of water to the aquifer and improving the quality of that water. For those who may have doubts, it was confirmed by 14 playa experts who participated in Playa Lakes Joint Venture’s Playa Recharge Summit last November. [...]
This year, Playa Lakes Joint Venture (PLJV) joined a region-wide bird monitoring effort. The program, called Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions (IMBCR), is a large partnership-driven program that uses state-of-the-art approaches for the entire process, from the sampling design to how it reports results. The implementation of this program within the Joint Venture region [...]
For several years Kirsten Luke and Tim Jones have used the research efforts by the Black Duck Joint Venture (BDJV), Ducks Unlimited (DU), state agencies, and academic partners to understand the habitat use, energy budget, and energetic carrying capacity for American Black Ducks wintering in the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture. Now ACJV staff and partners [...]
Bird conservation partners in the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture (ACJV) are now closer to having a full complement of Bird Conservation Region (BCR) Plans that cover our entire geographic area. Currently, BCR plans exist for the Atlantic Northern Forest (14), Lower Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Plain (13), New England/Mid-Atlantic Coast (30), Piedmont (29), and the eastern [...]
Researchers from the University of Maine Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology and the USGS Cooperative Wildlife Research Units at the University of Maine and the West Virginia University recently finished the field work on an investigation of bird distributions in the Northern Forest region of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The Northeast Region [...]