There have been two recent studies that have shown there has been a tremendous decline in the number of birds in North America. There are some simple things people can do to help our birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology offers detailed information about the steps you can take at its website, birds.cornell.edu.
Here they are in a list form:
- Make windows safer. Keep birds from striking windows and help pass the Bird-Safe-Building act.
- Keep cats indoors. Cats are wonderful pets but they are also very good predators of birds.
- Reduce lawn, plant natives. Lawns don’t offer birds food or protection. Native plants attract a variety of birds and help sustain them.
- Avoid pesticides. The contents of most insecticides are lethal to birds.
- Drink coffee that’s good for birds. Three quarters of the world’s coffee farms destroy forests birds and other wildlife need. Bird friendly producers, such as Cornell’s “Birds and Beans” offer rain forest certified shade grown coffee.
- Protect our planet from plastic. An estimated 16,000 million tons of plastic is polluting our planet and harming its birds and wildlife.
- Watch birds and share what you see. Birds are truly Canaries in the mine warning us when our environment is worsening. The sightings you record at eBird help scientists monitor these changes.