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The Environmental Leadership Dinner
Audubon Achievements: Protecting Birds
One hundred years ago the National Audubon
Society was formed to stop the indiscriminate killing of birds
just so their feathers could be used on hats and clothes.
Due to our efforts, many species such as herons and egrets
were brought back from the brink of extinction. But now, we
are engaged in a subtler, but deadlier battle.
Over the years we have helped people understand
that birds are truly the “canary in a coalmine”
and if we provide a healthy environment for wildlife it will
be healthy for humans as well. But now, we are engaged in
a subtler, but deadlier battle.
In this century the greatest threats to
birds and wildlife are far more complex than a poacher’s
rifle. They involve the effects of global warming, the introduction
of non-native species, and the inevitable expansion of our
human footprint, all of which contributes to the fragmentation
and destruction of their habitat.
National Audubon’s science team
estimates that of the 654 native species of birds in North
America at least 23%, a shocking 150 species, are at risk
of extinction; due primarily to habitat loss. And that is
why the Important Bird Areas (IBA) program has become the
focal point for Audubon’s bird conservation work.
Audubon realizes that there must be a
balance in modern day between the developed and natural world
and so has partnered with likeminded science based organizations
across the globe to participate in a highly organized effort
to maintain stable bird populations by focusing conservation
efforts on the birds’ most critical breeding, wintering,
and/or migrating habitats.
At the local level, Connecticut with its
wetlands, woodlands, rivers and extensive Long Island Sound
shoreline has many areas that are critical to bird conservation.
These areas provide nesting grounds, wintering roosts and
migratory pathways to more than 350 species of birds. Under
the oversight of our Director of Bird Conservation, Patrick
Comins, Connecticut’s IBA program is thriving. Twenty-Seven
IBA’s , including two globally significant sites, have
been identified since 1997 when the program was launched.
Click here
for information on Important Bird Areas in CT.
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| Photo: AJ Hand, Roseate Tern |
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