Bird Conservation News

Conservation Groups Call on Feds to Protect Birds from Wind Turbines

Posted June 14, 2011. A three-month federal public comment period on wind turbine guidelines for wildlife impacts closes today. Fifty-six groups and more than 20,000 individuals have signed on to a campaign by the nation’s leading bird conservation organization, American Bird Conservancy (ABC), that calls for bird-smart principles in the siting and operation of wind farms. Click here to keep reading.

Prized Andean Wildlife Area Protected

October 2010. ABC, with support from Robert W. Wilson, has helped finance the purchase of more than 7,000 acres of key bird and wildlife habitat in southern Peru by the Amazon Conservation Association (ACA). ACA will manage the reserve, to be named Villa Carmen. Click here to keep reading.

National Ban on Lead-Based Ammunition, Fishing Tackle Sought to End Wildlife Poisoning

August 2010. A coalition of conservation, hunting and veterinary groups today filed a formal petition with the Environmental Protection Agency requesting a ban on the use of toxic lead in hunting ammunition and fishing tackle. Major efforts to reduce lead exposure to people have greatly reduced the amount of lead in the environment, but toxic lead is still a widespread killer in the wild, harming bald eagles, trumpeter swans, endangered California condors and other wildlife. An estimated 10 million to 20 million birds and other animals die each year from lead poisoning in the United States. This occurs when animals scavenge on carcasses shot and contaminated with lead bullet fragments, or pick up and eat spent lead-shot pellets or lost fishing weights, mistaking them for food or grit. Some animals die a painful death from lead poisoning while others suffer for years from its debilitating effects. Click here to keep reading.

State of the Birds

March 25, 2009. The United State Fish and Wildlife Service has just released a "State of the Birds" report which gives a sense of what the regional USFWS priorities are for bird conservation. The website http://www.stateofthebirds.org has a nice set of information that is worth perusing including an exceptional video that takes about 6 minutes to watch.

EPA Issues Landmark Decision to Prohibit Deadly Pesticide Carbofuran Residues on Food Decision Will Improve Human Safety and End Poisonings of Birds

American Bird Conservancy (July 24, 2008) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a proposed decision that residues of carbofuran, a toxic pesticide that is used on a variety of crops, will no longer be allowed on food. This effectively means that carbofuran will have to be removed from the U.S. market, benefiting consumers and farm workers, as well as birds, which are frequently poisoned by the deadly chemical. Read more…http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/080724.html

Amazon Corridors Far Too Narrow, Warn Scientists

Bio-Medicine (February 18, 2008) — Protected forest strips buffering rivers and streams of the Amazon rainforest should be significantly wider than the current legal requirement, according to pioneering new research by scientists at the University of East Anglia. This is the first wildlife study on remnant riparian tropical forest corridors. Read more…http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/Amazon-corridors-far-too-narrow--warn-scientists-2255-1/

Biofuels Binge: Colombia to Convert 7.4 Million Acres of Tropical Rainforest to African Palm

American Bird Conservancy (February 12, 2008) - Ironically, in a push for a "greener" economy in Colombia, Brazil, Indonesia, and other countries, the demand for biofuels is accelerating tropical forest destruction, eliminating habitat and releasing their vital carbon store, thereby accelerating global warming. Read more... http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/information/080212birdcalls.html