BIRDS in BRIEF

World’s First Certified Bird Friendly® Cacao Products Launched

The Smithsonian Zoo and Conservation Institute launched a Bird Friendly® cacao certification in February, following up on a Bird Friendly® coffee certification program launched two decades ago. Now, shoppers can indulge in some of their favorite treats with the assurance that they are sourced from farms with favorable habitat for birds.

ABC helped to facilitate this important milestone, making the connection between partner Zorzal Cacao in the Dominican Republic and the Smithsonian. ABC also supported the implementation of the pilot phase that led to the first-ever certified Bird Friendly® cacao farms.

For more information: bit.ly/BFcocoa

ABC and Partners Continue Fight for Better EPA Regulation of Harmful Insecticides

In February, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and ABC submitted a regulatory filing with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on behalf of 65 nonprofit groups. The filing proposes major reforms in the way the agency regulates systemic insecticides, particularly neonicotinoids (neonics). Neonics are systemic pesticides often applied as agricultural seed coatings that have caused excessive honey bee deaths, native bee declines, and bird mortalities since their introduction more than 20 years ago.

The groups are pushing the EPA to discard a 1984 regulatory waiver that allows companies to register pesticides without first submitting data on the costs versus the benefits of application. Instead, the Reaganera EPA waiver simply stated: “Rather than require efficacy data the Agency presumes that benefits exceed risks.”

The petition documents how the EPA’s 1984 presumption and its subsequent failure to require efficacy data has led to extensive environmental harm.

ABC is grateful to the Raines Family Fund for its support of our Pesticides Program.

A Bounce for Some Florida Wading Birds

The South Florida Wading Bird Report, published by the South Florida Water Management District in March, summarized results of the bountiful 2021 nesting season, providing good news from perhaps the most important U.S. region for wading birds. All wading birds had a good nesting season above the ten-year average, but a few species did particularly well: the White Ibis (which made up 67 percent of the region’s wading bird nests), Wood Stork, Roseate Spoonbill, and Great Egret. Overall, the report says the impressive 2021 output was “the second largest annual nesting effort observed since comprehensive systemwide surveys began in South Florida in 1996 and is comparable with reports of large nesting events from the 1940s.” Likely the main reasons for this bonanza: optimal rainfall conditions, dry followed by wet, which provided parent herons, ibis, spoonbills, and storks with a bounty of fish and crayfish.

Wind Project Stalled in Lear’s Macaw Country

In April, a federal judge in Brazil suspended all licenses previously granted to energy company Voltalia to build a wind power facility in the Endangered Lear’s Macaw’s habitat in northeastern Brazil. In his ruling, the judge said these licenses cannot be granted until legally required Environmental Impact Studies and Environmental Impact Reports are completed and public hearings are held. contributes to the protection of the Chocó region of Ecuador, one of the most highly diverse and threatened tropical forests on the planet,” says Marcelo Tognelli, International Project Officer for ABC.

The decision was prompted by a lawsuit filed by federal and statelevel public prosecutors in Brazil in March. Local communities have also voiced opposition. For decades, ABC has supported Brazilian partners’ successful efforts to conserve this blue parrot; the ruling adds hope that its recovery will continue.

Lead-Shot Ban in European Wetlands to Save 1 Million Birds Each Year

A lead-shot ban went into effect in February across all 27 European Union countries, plus Iceland, Norway, and Lichtenstein. The ban prohibits use of lead shot in wetlands. According to BirdLife International: “With this law in place, the lives of an estimated 1 million waterbirds which currently die of lead poisoning in the E.U., will be saved and the perpetuation of extreme poisoning of wetland wildlife will be tackled once and for all.”

Ecuador Reserve Expansion Benefits Bounty of Species

Thanks to support from ABC, Ecuador partner Fundación para la Conservación de los Andes Tropicales (FCAT) expanded its reserve protecting some of the world’s last remaining Chocó lowland rainforest habitat. The expansion brings the FCAT Reserve in northwestern Ecuador up to 1,546 acres, improving habitat connectivity and providing added protection for a wide variety of imperiled species including the Endangered Banded Ground-Cuckoo and Vulnerable Long-wattled Umbrellabird.

“ABC is excited to support this reserve expansion because it

Lead shot has been banned in waterfowl hunting across the U.S. since 1991. However, lead shot used in terrestrial habitats and lead fishing tackle are not covered in regional E.U. and U.S. bans, although there are various state- and local-level bans.

Puerto Rican Parrot Numbers Rise

In the 1970s, just 13 wild Puerto Rican Parrots remained on their namesake island. Since then, federal, state, and private partners have worked together on captive breeding and conservation programs for this Critically Endangered, endemic bird.

Efforts were bearing fruit until the back-to-back 2017 hurricanes Maria and Irma devastated the island. The storms killed some of the parrots, severely damaged facilities, and stalled progress, but reintroduction efforts have since revved up. The parrots are once again nesting at two sites and were reintroduced to a third, Maricao State Forest, in 2022. The estimated wild population is now about 250 birds, with hundreds of captive birds at breeding facilities on the island, which plan more releases.