Bird Conservation Fall 2023 by abcbirds

BIRDCONSERVATION The Magazine of American Bird Conservancy

FALL 2023

ABC is dedicated to conserving wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. With an emphasis on achieving results and working in partnership, we take on the greatest threats facing birds today, innovating and building on rapid advancements in science to halt extinctions, protect habitats, eliminate threats, and build capacity for bird conservation.

abcbirds.org A copy of the current financial statement and registration filed by the organization may be obtained by contacting: ABC, P.O. Box 249, The Plains, VA 20198. 540-253-5780, or by contacting the following state agencies: Florida: Division of Consumer Services, toll-free number within the state: 800-435-7352. Maryland: For the cost of copies and postage: Office of the Secretary of State, Statehouse, Annapolis, MD 21401. New Jersey: Attorney General, State of New Jersey: 201-504-6259. New York: Office of the Attorney General, Department of Law, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271. Pennsylvania: Department of State, toll-free number within the state: 800-732-0999. Virginia: State Division of Consumer Affairs, Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, P.O. Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23209. West Virginia: Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, WV 25305. Registration does not imply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by any state.

Bird Conservation is the member magazine of ABC and is published three times yearly. Managing Editor: Matt Mendenhall VP of Communications: Clare Nielsen Graphic Design: Gemma Radko Contributors: Andrés Anchondo, Erin Chen, Marci Eggers, Chris Farmer, Rachel Fritts, Bennett Hennessey, Steve Holmer, Hardy Kern, Daniel J. Lebbin, Bryan Lenz, Sea McKeon, Jack Morrison, Michael J. Parr, Jordan Rutter, Chris Sheppard, Amy Upgren, George E. Wallace, David A. Wiedenfeld, Kelly Wood

For more information contact: American Bird Conservancy P.O. Box 249 The Plains, VA 20198 540-253-5780 • info@abcbirds.org

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Nu‘alolo Kai, Kauai. Photo by Perris Tumbao, Shutterstock

Hanna-Barbera Productions

David Eisenhauer, USFWS

Least Tern by Greg Homel, Natural Elements Prods

16 34 TABLE OF CONTENTS Fall 2023

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

A Tale of Two Marsh Birds

BIRD’S EYE VIEW

Atlantic Coast Joint Venture Works to Save Black Rail and Saltmarsh Sparrow p. 16

Seabirds in Starlight Kinship and Recovery on the Kaua'i Coast p. 26

Making a Show of Extinction COVER: Double-crested Cormorant by Phoo Chan, Shutterstock.

1970s Cartoon on Eskimo Curlew Still Resonates p. 30

Introducing the Bird City Network p. 4

ON THE WIRE p. 6 BIRDS IN BRIEF p. 14 ABC BIRDING East Beach/R.A. Apffel Park, Galveston, Texas p. 34

BIRD HERO From City Boy to Impact Investment Advocate p. 38

LEFT: Strange-tailed Tyrant by Foto 4440, Shutterstock.

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BIRD’S EYE VIEW

Benefiting Birds and People and include sovereign nations and anywhere else there is an official leadership structure.

by Bryan Lenz

hen you think of the words “bird conservation,” what comes to mind? A tropical reserve that protects rare, stunning birds like the El Oro Parakeet or Antioquia Brushfinch? An effort to save imperiled Hawaiian forest birds from avian malaria? How about fighting for federal legislation that benefits birds, and against policies that harm them? These are all examples of the important work that my ABC colleagues and I are lucky enough to tackle every day, thanks to your support. For most people, these actions may seem remote — happening somewhere else, or done by someone else, and requiring specialists, large amounts of land, and/or significant funding.

The Bird City Network operates on three levels: Network, Program, and Community. The Network facilitates the spread of Bird City Programs throughout the Western Hemisphere by providing resources, training, guidance, support, and a free, innovative website through which all Programs can be run (www.birdcity.org).

Bird City Network is a new initiative that empowers

Programs, currently formed at the state level in the United States and nationally in the rest of the hemisphere, work directly with Communities in their regions to help them achieve Bird City recognition.

Bird City Communities are where everyone who wants to But there’s a lot of important work on-the-ground work happens. To that can help birds right where you become a bird conservationist, gain recognition as a Bird City, live. A new ABC initiative empowers Communities complete a series with the added benefit of everyone who wants to become a of bird-friendly actions in four bird conservationist, with the added categories: Habitat, Threats to Birds, improving the places they live benefit of improving the places they Education and Engagement, and live at the same time. The project is at the same time. Sustainability. The actions vary called Bird City Network, and among from Program to Program to allow our many goals is to make every community a better for differences in regional cultures and conservation place, both for birds and people. Actions could include needs. Many community recognition programs offer a improving or providing more habitat for local birds and one-time recognition, but Bird City is a little different. addressing threats to birds — all the while engaging To remain a Bird City, Communities must renew their people in their communities and working toward a more status. The frequency depends on the Program’s rules, sustainable future. but it is usually every one or two years. This helps ensure True, this exciting new program has the word “city” in it, but this initiative focuses in and beyond urban areas — it is about communities. The Bird City Network connects people who are passionate about birds so that they get to know each other, learn from each other, and be a strong international community working to save the wild, winged neighbors they love and share. This includes communities of all types: cities, towns, villages, counties, and campuses, and there is potential to expand further

that Bird City actions can be built into local planning processes and woven into the fabric of communities. A great example of a Bird City Community in action is Galveston, Texas. Organizations and motivated individuals in the city came together, formed new partnerships, and worked to meet the requirements for Bird City status by providing education on cats, protecting beach-nesting birds, working on a Lights Out campaign to prevent collisions and raise awareness, and RIGHT: Sandhill Crane by Kathryn Kelly, Shutterstock.

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— Wherever They Live building a page of bird — and Bird City — resources on the city’s website. Since achieving Bird City status, the local Bird City team has worked together to go beyond its initial application, further enhancing Galveston for birds and people ahead of its upcoming reapplication for Bird City status. Bird City Network is run in partnership with Environment for the Americas (EFTA) and has been generously supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through its Urban Bird Treaty Program and Midwest Region office. ABC manages the Network’s overall operation and is primarily responsible for helping to establish new Programs in North America. Meanwhile, EFTA works to start new Programs across Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently, 11 Bird City Programs are up and running: in the states of Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin, and in

the countries of Colombia and Mexico. And we’re just getting started. ABC and EFTA aim to blanket the Western Hemisphere with Bird City Programs and Communities. Will you help us make the habitat where you live better for birds and people? Whether you live in an area that has a Bird City Program and would like to ask about gaining recognition for your community, or you would like to see about establishing a Program, please contact us via our website, birdcity.org. On your desktop, click on the blue “Interested in Bird City?” button. On the mobile version of the site, click Menu and scroll to Contact Us. We look forward to hearing from you! Bryan Lenz is ABC’s Bird City Network Director and Glass Collisions Program Director.

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ON the WIRE The Endangered Species Act Turns 50!

his year, the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) reached the half-century mark. In honor of the milestone, the American Bird Conservancy Action Fund produced “Celebrating 50 Years of the Endangered Species Act,” a report exploring the ESA’s legacy, successes, and future. Whooping Crane by Rejean Bedard, Shutterstock

President Richard Nixon signed the ESA into law on December 28, 1973. Over the past five decades, this legislation has served as a vital tool for conserving avian species in the United States, including the Whooping Crane and California Condor, both of which likely would have gone extinct without ESA protection. “The Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, and Kirtland’s Warbler … have all been delisted due to successful recovery efforts,” said Steve Holmer, ABC’s Vice President of

Policy. “Once listed, birds usually start back on the road toward recovery, with most populations increasing or at least stable.” However, the report also outlines cases in which the ESA has fallen short. More than two dozen listed avian species are still in decline today, including the Gunnison Sage-Grouse, Marbled Murrelet, the rufa subspecies of Red Knot, and several Hawaiian forest birds. And not all U.S. species in decline have been granted ESA protections, such as the Greater Sage-Grouse. Holmer also asserted that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could take stronger action on threats such as insecticides and rodenticides. Only five percent of chemical pesticides have undergone legally required ESA consultations, even though insecticides like neonicotinoids are known to be deadly to birds, and rodenticides can harm endangered species like the California Condor. The report outlines how the EPA has begun working to address these threats.

You can download the report at: abcbirdsactionfund. org/resources.

California Condors Face New Danger: Avian Flu

California Condor by Bob Wick, BLM

n April, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released the disturbing news that 21 California Condors from the Utah-Arizona flock had died in about a month. Seventeen of the birds tested positive for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), a particularly virulent strain of bird flu that is proving to be yet another major threat to the imperiled species. The emergency spurred immediate action: The Peregrine Fund, an Idaho-based nonprofit, partnering with USFWS and state agencies, began observing wild California Condors, testing birds for disease, transporting sick individuals to wildlife hospitals, and assisting in care and recovery of sickened birds. Fortunately, no flu-related condor deaths have been reported since April. In the meantime, vaccine trials began in May and continued throughout the summer, along with careful monitoring of condor populations. In a June release, USFWS and partners noted: “Although the initial outbreak of HPAI in

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condors in Arizona appears to have ended, wildlife officials anticipate HPAI to spike during migration seasons and the potential for condors to be affected by the virus remains.”

BirdsPlus: Habitat for Birds, Profits for Communities and Investors

igratory birds urgently need habitats conserved in Latin America and the Caribbean, and ABC’s newly launched BirdsPlus program aims to do just that — while enabling people to earn a living. Connecting people on working lands to financing and markets that can help unlock large funding streams, BirdsPlus fosters profitable ventures that help expand and restore habitats for Neotropical migrants like the Bicknell’s Thrush and Cerulean Warbler.

BirdsPlus operates on three fronts, providing: Best Management Practices to Support Birds: Working with farmers and ranchers, BirdsPlus provides science-backed habitat standards that ensure working lands support healthy bird populations during the North American winter. Our staff, for example, recently helped to develop the standards used for the Smithsonian’s new Bird Friendly Cocoa certification. We’re also promoting sustainability standards for other crops such as rubber and cardamom, as well as cattle grazing.

The BirdsPlus Fund to Scale Up Conservation — and Generate Returns: Through the BirdsPlus Fund, ABC will accelerate and scale up the adoption of bird-friendly agricultural practices that generate economic

returns for local communities and investors. BirdsPlus Fund investments, for example, help a local, communityrun Honduran company called Cacao Miskito export cacao to the U.S. Participating farmers improve their farming practices, then sell their cacao for greater profit. The BirdsPlus Index for Measuring Biodiversity: Investments’ benefits to birds and biodiversity will be clearly measured using ABC’s new BirdsPlus Index, a biodiversity assessment tool that uses bird vocalizations as an overall indicator of ecosystem health. In partnership with Arbimon, an organization focused on biodiversity monitoring through acoustics, this new tool uses audio recording devices, cuttingedge birdsong recognition models, and a novel formula to rank the biodiversity and conservation value

of a given site, be it a coffee farm or cattle ranch. With this information, ABC and partners will track habitat health over time and continuously refine best management practices. One goal is that additional investors will be drawn to BirdsPlus agriculture and ranching projects because they will be able to clearly track biodiversity impacts. With its three-pronged approach, BirdsPlus is a win-win collaboration for nature and people, addressing dramatic losses of migratory bird populations while benefiting local businesses and communities. Stay tuned for more exciting news!

Learn more at birdsplus.org. ABC thanks the Jeniam Foundation, the Knobloch Family Foundation, and Emily Moore for their generous support of this program.

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ON the WIRE ABC and Others Sue FAA Over SpaceX Harm

Photo by Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, Texas.

ollowing a massive rocket explosion in South Texas in April, ABC and a consortium of partners — the Center for Biological Diversity, Surfrider Foundation, Save RGV, and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, Inc. — sued the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The litigants claim that the FAA failed to fully analyze and mitigate environmental harm resulting from the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy launch program at its Boca Chica site, which sits within one of North America’s most biologically diverse regions. The first Starship/Super Heavy rocket to be launched from the site exploded on April 20, showering the surrounding area with particulate matter. This was not the first accident: At least eight smaller rockets have exploded at the Boca Chica site over the past five years. In September 2022, an engine test on a Starship prototype sparked a fire that burned 68 acres of an adjacent wildlife management area. Another blaze impacted 150 acres in July 2019.

are being launched next to crucial state park and national wildlife refuge lands, putting imperiled wildlife at great risk while curbing community access to public spaces. Despite acknowledging harm from SpaceX construction and launch activities, the FAA decided to forego a full environmental review, claiming the damages would not be “significant” due to proposed mitigation measures. The lawsuit, filed in May, argues that the proposed mitigation by the agency isn’t enough to prevent the launch program from causing significant environmental harm. The agency hasn’t explained how mitigation would address and prevent rocket explosions and fires that could wipe out neighboring habitat. The suit calls for a full environmental analysis to truly protect Threatened and Endangered species and ensure public beach access for all people. “At what point do we say: ‘Space exploration is great, but we need to save habitats here on Earth as a top

The FAA has permitted SpaceX to launch 20 Starship/Super Heavy rockets each year for the next five years. The largest rockets ever made, they

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priority?’” said ABC President Mike Parr. “For the sake of future generations, let’s protect the healthy habitats we have left, instead of treating them as waste places for pollution and fuselages.” The SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy project also greatly reduces public access to adjacent public lands, with anticipated road closures of up to 800 hours per year. This would significantly impact local communities, including the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation’s ability to hold traditional ceremonies and leave offerings for their ancestors. The lawsuit also argues that the FAA failed to fully consider the climate harms of fueling rockets with liquid methane — a potent greenhouse pollutant that may need to be vented into the atmosphere — as well as other community concerns.

Testing a New Recruit to Sniff Out Dominica’s Last Diablotins

arlier this year, an international team of conservationists and a determined sniffer dog set out on a quest to locate burrows of the elusive Black-capped Petrel, also known as the Diablotin, on the lush, mountainous Caribbean island of Dominica. The Diablotin is Endangered and locally classified as Extinct, but some still hold out hope that there is a breeding population on Dominica’s remotest mountain peaks. Such a discovery could lead to crucial protections and a new lifeline for the species, which has a total population of only a few thousand on the island of Hispaniola. While the last confirmed nesting record of the Black-capped Petrel on Dominica was in 1862, recent nocturnal surveys using radar and night vision equipment and sightings by locals have provided substantial evidence of petrels in flight over the island, giving conservationists hope

that petrels might still be nesting in the remotest areas. But without confirmation, no formal protections can be put in place. Expeditions over the last several years have come up empty-handed. This year, the team tried a new tactic by adding Africa the springer spaniel (right), a sniffer dog trained to find another kind of petrel burrow in Spain. Africa and her handler spent several days rooting around in dense foliage on muddy mountain slopes, finding some promising leads. This time she didn’t nose out any definitive burrows, but the team left feeling energized. “Using Africa was an amazing experience,” said Jeanelle Brisbane with WildDominique. The expedition was an important learning experience for the whole team, helping them zero in on potential focus areas for next time

Africa the sniffer dog, ready to get to work in Dominica! Photo by Jacob González-Solís.

and providing valuable information on how to train Africa to better search in the challenging terrain. Soon, Africa could very well sniff out the first active petrel burrow seen on the island in more than 150 years. This search was supported by ABC; BirdsCaribbean; Dominica’s Forestry, Wildlife and Parks Division; Environmental Protection in the Caribbean; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and WildDominique.

More Bird-Friendly Building Laws Passed

oth the nation’s capital and neighboring Maryland followed New York City’s lead and passed bird-friendly building legislation to help reduce the threat of window collisions and make cities safer for birds. The new Washington, D.C., Bird-Friendly Building Act, signed in January 2023, uses the ABC-developed Material Threat Factor as a metric for the visibility of building materials to birds. Starting in October 2024, the Act will require buildings to use materials with a Threat Factor of 30 or less. This rating corresponds to

a reduction in collisions of at least 50 percent compared to unaltered glass. The Act is the first in the country to offer subsidies to help offset any extra costs of implementing bird-friendly building requirements for property owners who might not be able to afford the extra price of retrofitting buildings. Maryland’s Sustainable Building Act of 2023, signed into law by Governor Wes Moore in May, declares that beginning in October 2023, all newly built, acquired, or renovated buildings receiving 51 percent or

more of funding from the state will be required to follow LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards for bird-protective windows and shielded night lighting. “These types of legislation give us a chance to help slow and possibly reverse bird declines, especially as more jurisdictions follow the examples,” said Chris Sheppard, ABC’s Glass Collisions Program Director. So far, 19 jurisdictions and states like Illinois, Maine, and Minnesota have enacted bird-friendly building legislation.

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ON the WIRE Perils and Poor Regulation of Widespread Neonics

new review of the past decade’s research on neonicotinoid (neonic) pesticides’ impacts on wildlife and ecosystems emphasizes these compounds’ striking impacts — and how little action has been taken in the U.S. to address them. Released in July 2023, “Neonicotinoid Insecticides: Failing to Come to Grips with a Predictable Environmental Disaster” follows up on a 2013 ABC report. “In the ten years since ABC’s first major report on neonics and birds, U.S. regulations have changed very little,” said Hardy Kern, Director of Government Relations, Birds and Pesticides Campaign, who coauthored the new report with pesticides expert Dr. Pierre Mineau. Introduced in the 1990s, neonics are now the most widely used type of insecticide in the United States. The nicotine-like neurotoxic compounds are often applied as a seed coating to staple crops like corn and soybeans, infusing every part of the plant as it grows. But neonics’ impacts can spread well beyond a single plant,

also contaminating the surrounding soil and seeping into nearby water bodies and groundwater. ABC’s 2013 report found that a single neonic-coated seed is enough to kill a songbird, and the new report outlines how, even if consumed at lower levels, neonics can weaken and harm birds. Birds that consume seeds coated with the neurotoxin might experience dangerous symptoms, including convulsions, loss of motor control, or difficulty navigating. In addition, repeated low-level exposure over long periods can lead to smaller brood sizes, lower sperm quality, and weight loss. Neonics also reduce birds’ invertebrate food supply by killing non-target insects on farmland and in adjacent terrestrial and aquatic habitats. The European Union has completely banned outdoor neonic use, while the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec now require a prescription before neonics can be used to coat crop seeds, a step that drastically cut their use.

The U.S. has been far slower to act. In spite of the EPA’s own findings that neonics harm the vast majority of endangered species, the agency still does not regulate seed coatings — the most common use of neonics — as it does other pesticides. Until this oversight is addressed, according to the report, neonic-related declines in birds’ health and populations are bound to continue. Concerned citizens can take action by speaking up for national bills like the Saving America’s Pollinators Act and state legislation in places like California and New York, where efforts to regulate neonics are underway.

Support the Saving America’s Pollinators Act here: act.abcbirds. org/a/take-action-pesticides. Find ABC’s report at: abcbirds. org/2023NeonicReport. ABC would like to thank the Carroll Petrie Foundation, Raines Family Fund, and Cornell Douglas Foundation for their ongoing support for ABC’s Pesticides program.

On-the-brink Dove Chicks Debut in Brazil

n their bid to start an “insurance population” for one of the world’s rarest birds, Brazilian conservationists announced in July a great milestone: the successful handraising of two Blue-eyed GroundDoves in captivity. In 2018, the Brazilian conservation organization SAVE Brasil established the 1,465-acre Blue-eyed GroundDove Reserve covering much of the species’ range; the rest fell under the protection of a new state park. ABC supported the reserve and subsequent management and monitoring through a grant from the Latin American Reserve Stewardship Initiative (LARSI), a program of ABC and March Conservation Fund. The dove teeters on the brink of extinction, with just 16 wild individuals believed to remain. The birds are monitored in their protected habitat, but few chicks reach adulthood due

to heavy predation. Scientists also worry that remaining adults might be laying fewer eggs due to a lack of genetic diversity. In 2019, an international group of scientists met at the bird sanctuary Parque das Aves, facilitated by the IUCN’s Conservation Planning Specialist Group. The team decided it was time to try raising some birds in captivity, before the species slipped away. Rather than risk capturing adult doves, the team decided to carefully move eggs from wild nests to hatch in captivity. Hand-rearing doves and their relatives is notoriously difficult because during their first few days after hatching, the chicks require a parent-produced substance called crop milk. Luckily, the team knew where to look for help: the Toledo Zoo. In recent years, the Toledo Zoo and other organizations have developed

These two Blue-eyed Ground-Doves were the first successfully reared in captivity. Photo by Rafael Bessa.

an artificial crop milk — essentially, a pigeon baby formula — and the zoo’s Manager of International Conservation Programs Joe Wood has perfected a technique of delivering this product to hatchlings through a modified pipette. Wood was called in to help the Parque das Aves staff get the hatchlings past the “milk” stage, and their hard work paid off. The plan next year is to repeat the same protocol, but with more eggs. Meanwhile, this year’s success is a sign that a promising future may yet await this Critically Endangered bird.

ABC-partnered SPLASh Boosted as ‘Conservation Wrangler’

topping Plastics and Litter Along Shorelines (SPLASh) — a partnership of ABC, Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, and Black Cat GIS — has removed more than 30,000 pounds of trash from beaches, bayous, and other waterways along the Texas Gulf Coast since 2020. Now this hard-hitting effort is getting a boost from the nonprofit Texan by Nature. Through Texan by Nature’s Conservation Wrangler program, SPLASh will receive 12 to 18 months of tailored support in program management, including strategic planning, marketing strategy, metrics capture and analysis (including

the production of United Nations Sustainable Development Report Cards), professional content creation, and partnership development.

“Our hope is that the Conservation Wrangler program will help us bring the urgent needs of wildlife and shorelines to a much bigger audience,” said EJ Williams, Vice President of ABC's Southeast and Atlantic Coast Region. “We look

American Goldfinch on sunflowers by Jill Schrock, Shutterstock.

forward to working with the Texan by Nature team to find new partners and develop engaging outreach materials to make our beaches and shorelines better places for people and wildlife.” Birds that benefit from these efforts include the Least Tern, Piping Plover, and Red Knot. SPLASh organizes cleanup events in the Houston-Galveston area, where large quantities of plastics wash from metropolitan areas to the shore. The project also provides educational programming for local schools, organizing field trip cleanup events and leading courses.

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BIRDS NEED HABITAT Please Donate Now to Expand Our Bird Reserve Network Habitat loss and degradation likely pose the greatest overall threat to birds worldwide. Your support today can help protect the places birds need to survive — and thrive — by building our network of reserves. These include some of the most important areas remaining for many of the planet’s rarest birds. Thanks to generous supporters like you, working together with our partners, American Bird Conservancy has helped protect over 1.2 million acres of land across 103 reserves. Spread across 15 countries, these conservation areas provide habitat for two-thirds of all bird species found in the Americas (2,900 species), benefiting rare endemics such as the Long-whiskered Owlet in Peru, the Blue-billed Curassow and Santa Marta Parakeet in Colombia, and the El Oro Parakeet in Ecuador. These reserves also provide important wintering and stopover habitat for migratory species, including Canada and Blackburnian Warblers. You can help us further expand our reserve network for some of the most threatened habitats and endangered birds in the Americas, including: •

The Cuispes Private Conservation Area in Peru, which will protect more than 1,100 acres of montane forest, meadow, and scrub habitat, as well as the

Yumbilla Waterfall (the fifth tallest in the world) for birds such as the iconic Marvelous Spatuletail hummingbird, Speckle-chested Piculet, and Johnson’s Tody-Flycatcher — all of which are Endangered. •

The Mesenia-Paramillo Nature Reserve in Colombia’s western Andes, which will include habitat for the Endangered Black-and-chestnut Eagle and Glittering Starfrontlet. In addition, a mammal in the raccoon family only described in 2013 — the Olinguito — occurs here, along with the Spectacled Bear, Jaguar, a new brocket deer species, and many others.

•

The Aguapey River Basin in Argentina, which is one of the country’s most biodiverse yet least-protected regions, with only one percent under formal protection. Extraordinary species here include the Endangered Saffron-cowled Blackbird and other globally threatened species such as the Strange-tailed Tyrant and Black-and-white Monjita.

Please help us protect these special places. Your gift will give ABC and our partners the agility to respond quickly to secure land for these and other birds when acquisition opportunities arise. With your support, we can secure key habitat for the birds that need it the most.

Please give generously today! Return the enclosed envelope, scan the QR code, or donate at: abcbirds.org/BHPF

LEFT: Yumbilla Waterfall, Cuispes, Peru. Photo by Eva-Maria Demuth, Shutterstock. ABOVE: Speckle-chested Piculet by Nick Athanas.

BIRDS in BRIEF

Coffee Discount Available to ABC Members ABC is partnering with Birds & Beans, an organic coffee company, to offer ABC Members an exclusive discount on orders from the company's website, birdsandbeanscoffee.com. Use code ABC15 for 15% off your order!

Farm Bill Conservation Efforts Get Big Boost

Birds & Beans sells only coffee certified as Bird Friendly by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. In addition to being fair-trade and organic, every Bird Friendly coffee bean is grown in the shade of trees that provide bird habitat!

'Akikiki by Jack Jeffrey

conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in international waters and could be a boon to seabirds, the most threatened bird group. If ratified, the Treaty will lead to the conservation of over two-thirds of the ocean. By creating this legal framework, nations would have a stronger incentive than ever to sustainably manage shared ocean resources.

“These birds are an integral, ecological, and cultural component of the Hawaiian Islands,” said Haaland, but they face multiple threats, including habitat loss, invasive species, introduced diseases, and climate change.

Federal Funds for Hawaiian Forest Birds U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced in June the commitment of nearly $16 million in federal funding under the Hawaiian Forest Bird Conservation Keystone Initiative. The funds will fuel efforts to restore populations of dwindling endemic Hawaiian songbirds, including two — Kiwikiu and ‘Akikiki — at the very cusp of extinction. More than 50 honeycreeper species were found in Hawai‘i but today, just 17 remain.

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Among the actions that will be funded: expanded captive care programs for the most at-risk species; work to control and eradicate invasive mosquitoes that spread avian malaria; and translocation of bird populations to higher elevations, beyond the reach of mosquitoes. Another goal is engagement in these efforts with Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners and experts.

Seabirds to Benefit from U.N. High Seas Treaty The recently adopted United Nations High Seas Treaty fosters

Language for the treaty was finalized in March, then adopted unanimously by the United Nations’ 193 members in June. The treaty needs to be Band-rumped Storm-Petrel by Olli Tenovuo

Golden-winged Warbler by Owen Deutsch, owendeutsch.com.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in June expansion of its wildlife conservation work through the investment of at least $500 million over the next five years in all available conservation programs, including the Conservation Reserve Program (via its Working Lands for Wildlife effort). The money will come from the Farm Bill, the largest source of conservation funding in the world, and will benefit many projects run by ABC and our partners. ABC will join the USDA’s new Eastern Deciduous Forest Framework, further supporting conservation work benefiting birds including the Golden-winged Warbler.

ratified by at least 60 member states, which is expected to take several years. The High Seas Treaty would improve sharing of marine technology, bolster marine protected areas, and require environmental impact assessments on commercial activities. All of these actions could improve conditions for seabirds.

successful conservation work, benefiting millions of birds. The new bill would raise the federal cost share and increases the appropriations level from $5 million annually to $10 million by 2028. The increase would create more grant opportunities for stakeholders to complete meaningful conservation projects.

Nearly 7 million birds die each year after being disoriented or distracted by communication tower lights. Recent studies, however, show that when steady-burning red lights are switched to flashing lights, operators, aircraft, and birds all benefit. Making the switch improves visibility and therefore airline safety, and saves operators energy and maintenance costs — all while cutting migratory bird collisions by as much as 70 percent.

Contact your member(s) of Congress to urge them to support the Migratory Birds of the Americas Conservation Enhancements Act of 2023 at: act.abcbirds.org/a/ take-action-nmbca.

Cities Show the Way on Preventing Bird Collisions A new report published by the Law, Ethics and Animals Program at the Yale Law School (LEAP) and ABC reveals how local laws and policies are speeding up protections for birds from deadly building collisions. The first-of-its-kind report, “Building Safer Cities for Birds: How Cities Are Leading the Way on Bird-Friendly Building Policy,” unveils critical insights and data that will help inform building design standards to significantly reduce avian mortality.

Tower operators can stop using steady-burning lights following a simple request and approval process with the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Aviation Administration. More than 4,000 of about 13,900 tall U.S. towers have made the change since 2016. You can help: Check out the Songbird Saver website at songbirdsaver. org or the associated app. This tool allows you to find tall towers near you and send a letter asking the operator to turn off steady-burning lights that harm birds.

“While Congress has not yet passed legislation to reduce bird collisions, a growing number of U.S. cities have emerged as leaders in advancing bird-friendly building design and practice over the past two decades,”

Since 2002, NMBCA has facilitated international collaboration and

Red-tailed Hawk by Labrynthe, Shutterstock

House Introduces Migratory Bird Conservation Bill In June, a bipartisan group of House leaders introduced the Migratory Birds of the Americas Conservation Enhancements Act of 2023. The bill would ensure five more years of authorization for the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (NMBCA) — a federal grants program for conserving migratory birds across the Americas.

Keep up with all the latest American Bird Conservancy news at: abcbirds.org/news/

said coauthor and LEAP Executive Director Viveca Morris. “These cities have set an important example, showing that good bird-friendly building policies are possible, impactful, and affordable.” Research focused on the experiences of cities that have already passed bird-friendly laws, to empower other cities in doing the same. The report also features in-depth case studies from cities around the U.S., and nearly two dozen policymakers, advocates, glass manufacturers, architects, scientists, and community members involved in designing, implementing or working on local policies were interviewed for the report. “Policies are critical tools, because they have wide impacts, often beyond their local area. We don’t have the luxury of addressing this problem one building at a time,” said Christine Sheppard, ABC’s Glass Collisions Program Director.

Find the report at: abcbirds. org/2023YaleReport.

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Waved Albatrosses by givi585, Shutterstock

Why Ditching Steady-Burning Tower Lights Is a Win-Win

A Tale of Two Marsh Birds By Rachel Fritts

Two legendary skulkers — the Saltmarsh Sparrow and Eastern Black Rail — are among the most threatened species in a troubled salt marsh ecosystem.

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Imagine keeping your eye on birds across 1,500 miles, from the mangroves of Puerto Rico to Maine marshes. That’s the purview of the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture (ACJV), a partnership formed in 1988 that coordinates marsh-bird conservation along the entire U.S. East Coast and beyond.

he ACJV brings together dozens of partner groups, including American Bird Conservancy (ABC), to conserve dozens of declining species. Seven years ago, the group had an epiphany: “We’d been extending ourselves a mile wide and an inch deep,” says Aimee Weldon, who joined as the ACJV Coordinator around that time. With many birds known to be in decline, a sense of urgency spurred Weldon, the ACJV Management Board, and her colleagues to develop a more targeted strategy, to pinpoint the most vulnerable species and focus ACJV efforts where needed most. To start, she and her team sought out experts across the region, requesting their feedback on the top birds in need of greater conservation attention.

Once names rolled in, the birds and ecosystem in most jeopardy quickly drew into focus. “The whole salt marsh suite of birds was rising to the top,” Weldon says. “This was a vulnerable population of birds that wasn’t getting the attention it needed given the threats it was facing.”

but also repairs to “broken systems,” plus preparation for the effects of climatic change. New efforts are just now kicking off that put theory into action to change the fortunes of the salt marsh and its unique birds.

Front and center on the “troubled” list sat two legendary skulkers — the Saltmarsh Sparrow and the Eastern Black Rail. The fates of these lowprofile birds depend on saving remaining salt marshes before they disappear beneath the waves. The ACJV has since mobilized federal, state, nonprofit, and private landowner partners to ensure that these usually “invisible” birds don’t vanish for real. The ensuing work revealed that what’s needed is not just blanket protections of habitat,

Weldon describes the marshes where Saltmarsh Sparrows and Eastern Black Rails spend their lives as a “unifying string of pearls” that connects nearly all of the states for which the ACJV is responsible. But she is acutely aware that one by one, those pearls are disappearing. Over the last few centuries, the area covered by salt marshes in the U.S. has been halved, with marsh after marsh filled in for agriculture or drained for coastal development. Those that remain face the clear and present danger of coastline change.

A ‘String of Pearls’ in Trouble

ABOVE: Salt marsh landscape, EB Forsythe NWR. Photo by Becky Longenecker, USFWS. LEFT: Saltmarsh Sparrow by Grace Scalzo; Black Rail by Brian Tang. BIR D C O NS ER VATIO N | FALL 2023

This dramatic loss of habitat has been accompanied by the dramatic decline of the sparrow, the rail, and many other species. (See sidebar.) True to its name, the Saltmarsh Sparrow lives out its entire annual life cycle in salt marshes within the ACJV’s area. The Eastern Black Rail, a subpopulation of a secretive species once found from coastal Massachusetts down to southern Florida, has disappeared from New England and is now relegated to dwindling and scattered pockets of remaining habitat. It was listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2020. These birds don’t just occupy any part of a salt marsh: Both depend upon what is known as the “high marsh,” the part of a salt marsh that only floods during the highest of tides. Unfortunately, these areas face the greatest threat due to sea level rise, and past habitat degradation has come back to haunt many that remain. It turns out, coastal wetlands are not always as pristine as they might appear. In fact, most remaining salt marshes have been heavily modified. In the Northeast, for instance, many were scored with a series of drainage ditches in the 1930s in an attempt to control mosquito populations. As sea levels rise, water more frequently overtops the berms along the ditch edges where it remains trapped instead of released, creating pools of standing water that destroy high marsh habitat. Farther south, in places like South Carolina, extensive marshes were filled in, for example, for tree farms or turned into impoundments for rice plantations in the 1800s, then duck hunting in the 1900s. GIS and other mapping technologies are still revealing just how much humans have made their mark on the coastal landscape.

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Salt Marsh Birds at the Tipping Point? Without salt marshes, we’d be without many birds. In the State of the Birds 2022 report, produced by a consortium of government agencies, private organizations, and bird initiatives, the Saltmarsh Sparrow and Black Rail were listed among 70 “Tipping Point Species” that have collectively lost two-thirds of their populations in the past 50 years — and that are on track to lose another 50 percent in the next 50. In short, the specter of these birds blinking out within a lifetime is real. The Atlantic Coast Joint Venture, of which ABC is a partner, has also identified at least 25 other bird species and subspecies reliant on East Coast marshes, including the Seaside Sparrow, Clapper Rail, American Black Duck, Willet, Forster’s Tern, and Tricolored Heron. Other birds that don’t use the salt marsh benefit from its functions as a storm break, water filtration system, carbon sink, and fish and shellfish nursery. Of course, birds are the most easily viewed of marsh denizens, providing to the casual viewer just a hint at the striking diversity found within these watery habitats. See the artwork on pages 20-21 to view a few of these species. — Rachel Fritts

The U.S. East Coast is particularly low lying, and even sinking in some places, so it is experiencing sea level rise at rates higher than the global average. These impacts are exacerbated by the centuries of marsh modifications. As a result, over the last few decades, thousands of acres once covered in salt marsh grass converted to open water.

The good news is that it might be possible to heal scars from humanmade ditches and ponds, restore marsh resiliency and assist the marshes’ migration inland, away from the ocean’s advance. Salt marshes are naturally dynamic ecosystems; they can adapt with our help. Restoring the natural hydrology of these systems will be a monumental ABOVE: Saltmarsh Sparrow by Ray Hennessy, Shutterstock

undertaking requiring a large-scale approach, but that’s what’s needed to give the Saltmarsh Sparrow and Eastern Black Rail and their ecosystem a shot at long-term survival.

Saltmarsh Sparrows: Time and Tide Wait for No Bird The aptly named Great Marsh in Massachusetts is the largest stretch of intact salt marsh north of Long Island. At 16,000 acres (about 25 square miles), it spans an area larger than the city of Providence, Rhode Island. In this relatively flat landscape, a difference of mere inches can completely change what sorts of vegetation grow. There, Salt Hay (Spartina patens) grows out of stretches of soil raised a couple of inches above sea level, giving the appearance of floating meadows. “If you walk in the high marsh, it is like walking in the most beautiful meadow you’ve ever seen,” says Nancy Pau, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, whose work in Massachusetts forms an essential part of the ACJV salt marsh conservation strategy. “I call

it a picnic field because you can literally sit down and have picnics, and you don’t get wet.” These grasses are where Saltmarsh Sparrows come to breed, taking advantage of the safety provided by those precious inches of elevation and the cover of the soft Salt Hay. The colorful sparrows, their heads patched in orange, chocolate, and gray, are accompanied by more than 60 other breeding bird species, all of which rely upon food and shelter provided by this rich ecosystem. No other bird in its habitat is quite so attuned to the tides as the Saltmarsh Sparrow. In spring, females of this species build their nests, lay their eggs, and raise their chicks all within a roughly 26-day window nestled snugly between the month’s highest tides. Nests are placed at a very specific height, just higher than most tides will reach, but low enough to be hidden from aerial predators’ view. Until recently, only large “king tides” would reach Saltmarsh Sparrow nesting places. But now in the Great

Marsh “it might be flooded five days out of the month instead of two days out of the month,” Pau says. Even a seemingly small change can mean the difference between life and death for Saltmarsh Sparrow chicks, which will drown if the tide reaches them before they have the ability to climb or fly to safety. Every Saltmarsh Sparrow on the planet breeds between coastal Maine and Virginia, where sea level rise is three to four times higher than the global average. Across the range, this bird’s population has dropped by a staggering 90 percent since 1998, averaging a decline of 9 percent annually. The species could be extinct in the next 50 years if conservationists can’t restore and protect enough salt marsh. Even in the Great Marsh, which looks healthy and intact when you’re picnicking on the Salt Hay, things aren’t exactly what they seem. “For the longest time, we thought that marshes in Massachusetts were unaltered except for some mosquito ditches,” Pau says. continues on p. 22

Restoring the natural hydrology of these systems will be a monumental undertaking requiring a large-scale approach. Nancy Pau in Saltmarsh Sparrow habitat in Parker River NWR, Massachusetts. Photo by David Eisenhauer, USFWS.

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Marsh Life An eastern salt marsh teems with many species of birds, insects, grasses, wildflowers, and trees. Find a key to the wildlife shown here on page 23. Illustration by Christopher Vest, based in part on a photo taken in South Carolina by Brent Bogart, Flickr.com.

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continued from p. 19 They were wrong. Field inspections and historical research on old haying methods revealed that farmers had introduced hundreds of berms and ditches onto the landscape that had partially healed over, but which have created patches of slight elevation that trap water as tides get higher. These older ditches, meant to dry out the land for seed-sowing, were merely less obvious than ditches dug by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s to drain the marsh with the intent of keeping down mosquito populations. Both kinds have built up sediment over time. Now, instead of facilitating water’s drainage, they block water from draining it, creating “mega-pools.” It turns out, there are up to ten times more ditches than scientists had originally thought in the Great Marsh, and the story has been similar across the Northeast. But Pau and others are fighting back.

Every Saltmarsh Sparrow on the planet breeds between coastal Maine and Virginia, where sea level rise is three to four times higher than the global average.

“There were a lot of different efforts that started as individual efforts as people were seeing mega-pools forming,” Pau says. “Various people were testing different techniques, and now we’re converging.” Pau and her colleagues in Massachusetts are teaming up with people across New England under the guidance and support of the ACJV, scaling up habitat restoration and enhancement techniques that show the most promise. In the Great Marsh, for example, conservationists are creating tiny openings in mega-pools where water gets trapped, to jumpstart the formation of natural creeks. They also harvest Salt Hay and lay it down in layers in the lanes of the old ditches, fast-tracking the buildup of peat. This fills ditches within a few years, mimicking a natural process to keep pools from forming. So far,

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these techniques — called runneling and ditch remediation — have been used mainly in small pilot projects, but soon, they will be scaled up to thousands of acres. “The exciting thing is that all the conservation organizations are on board,” Pau says. “This has become a priority for everyone — not just to save the Saltmarsh Sparrow, but because the communities around here know they rely on the marshes

for storm protection and the socioeconomic value they provide,” including as recreational areas and fish and shellfish nurseries. Elsewhere, conservationists are depositing sediment in the marsh to raise it just an inch or two to give Saltmarsh Sparrows back their ideal elevation for raising chicks. And, where possible, they are helping marshes migrate inland, away from the rising seas. In the

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland, for instance, conservationists are removing dead standing trees killed by saltwater inundation (known as “ghost forests”) to make it easier for marsh grasses to colonize the space before less desirable vegetation can creep in.

colleagues at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources have set up an irrigation system unlike any that have come before it. The system may not impress at first sight, but it’s brilliant in its simplicity: A stretch of black tubing snakes its way through about 2.5 acres of marsh grass, a small water pump attached to one end. When the pump is turned on, water flows through the tube and seeps out of small punctures spaced at regular intervals.

Only time will tell if these efforts will pay off for the Saltmarsh Sparrow. For the Eastern Black Rail, biologists must get even more creative to find short-term solutions. Farther south along the coast, they are crafting impoundments to create carefully controlled patches of marsh with just the right amount of water.

This pioneering project aims to help one of North America’s most mysterious creatures, that “most secretive of the secret marsh birds,” the Eastern Black Rail. But installing this “simple” system hasn’t been easy — getting to the site involves a ride on a pontoon boat, followed by a truck journey on bumpy roads, followed by a short hike over spongy ground in knee-high rubber boots. The mosquitoes are so thick that a special mesh-lined, hooded jacket is required to keep hundreds of whiny insects from making a meal out of you. But to the conservationists

Black Rails: Just Add Water (But Not Too Much) In a patch of coastal salt marsh north of Charleston, South Carolina, amidst the buzz of insects and clattering calls of Clapper Rails, wildlife biologist Christy Hand and her LEFT: Saltmarsh Sparrow nestlings by Bri Benvenuti, USFWS. TOP RIGHT: Black Rail by Bob Gress.

Artwork Key 1

Saltmarsh Sparrow

Black Rail

Sea Lavender

Seaside Sparrow

Great Egret

Black-necked Stilt

Northern Harrier

Saltbush

Common Tern

Tree Swallow

American Black Duck

Willet

Coffee Bean Snails

Greenhead Fly

Salt Marsh Skipper

Sedge Wren

working on the task, just about any hardship is worth it. Because there’s a real sense that time is running out. “I don’t want Black Rails to blink out in the state on my watch,” Hand says. “That’s what I’m worried about.” This dusky, sparrow-sized bird is in critical danger of vanishing from the state, just as it has from the northern part of its range. In South Carolina, its last strongholds are, notably, in highly altered patches of marsh. In these places, enslaved people created

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dikes and installed wooden sluices called rice trunks in the 19th century for agriculture, to control water flow. Later, in the early 20th century, such areas were managed by wealthy landowners for duck hunting. Today, many of the old estates are now wildlife preserves, and the sluices enable wildlife managers to control water flow and craft micro-habitats for water birds. The new irrigation project launched this summer at one such site, once owned by industrialist Tom Yawkey, is situated on a patch of high marsh within this altered system. The goal is to test-drive a potential strategy to protect the Black Rail from flooding, while providing enough moisture to promote a healthy vegetation structure that supports plenty of invertebrates to feed hungry chicks. Two other locations in the state will also test out a similar system over the next three years, with projects supported by ACJV partners like ABC. These three-year projects will help researchers understand just how much moisture Black Rails need and whether it is possible to sustain that “just right” balance using this new technique. If the ground gets too dry, shrubs could pop up and shade out the grass Black Rails rely on for cover from predators when foraging and nesting. Too wet, and their tiny chicks could drown.

A Rail Tailspin No one knew quite how bad it had gotten for the rail in South Carolina until Hand was hired as a South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Biologist in 2010, just a few years before the ACJV

RIGHT: ABC's EJ Williams (left) and Rachel Fritts (right) searching for Black Rails in coastal South Carolina. Photo by Christy Hand.

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began focusing on conserving salt marshes. Her work would become a major influence for the ACJV Eastern Black Rail Conservation Plan released a decade later, in 2020. After attending a workshop by the Center for Conservation Biology with the objective of raising awareness about the plight of the species, Hand realized how little was known about the Black Rail. She saw an opportunity to do a formal survey to shed light on the species’ status in the state. She assumed that with some hard work, she would find the secretive but vocal bird all along the marshy coastline. Then she looked. And looked. And looked some more. The Eastern Black Rail, it turns out, was not merely hiding. It was missing entirely from all but a couple of small patches of South Carolina marsh. The situation is just as dire, or worse, for Eastern Black Rails almost everywhere else on the Atlantic coast, except in Florida, where biologists think a few hundred pairs remain.

“There is hardly anything known about it, and there is hardly anything known about how to manage and create and restore habitat for it,” Weldon says of the rail. “It’s this big unknown of a species that’s falling off a cliff, and we don’t even know exactly why.” Biologists can be forgiven for not having a very good handle on the Black Rail’s whereabouts — it is one of the most difficult birds to study. This six-inch-long bird lives almost its entire life beneath the tall grasses of high salt marsh, where the ground is perpetually squishy and smells faintly of rotten eggs. It rarely flies, moving instead through tiny tunnels in the grass created by mice and other small rodents. There, it can forage on the ground for small invertebrates like spiders and worms, undetected by predators above. Since realizing that her state’s tiny Black Rail population — thought to total no more than 40 pairs — was probably the largest north of Florida,

Hand has dedicated herself to learning everything she can about the species’ habits and what they need from their habitat in order to breed. Her secret weapon has been camera traps. “Camera traps are like tiny windows into their lives,” Hand says. “You just get small slices of how they live.” She has captured some of the best camera trap footage of Black Rails ever taken. After painstakingly reviewing thousands of videos and 3 million photos, Hand has expanded scientific knowledge of what these birds eat, how they move around on the landscape, and how they raise their chicks (both parents take an active role), though she still has plenty yet to discover. “What gets me the most excited about this project is that we’re giving land managers more options for how to manage for Black Rails,” says Austin Jones, the wildlife biologist leading Hand’s project at the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center. “This will affect how we manage Black Rails for other parts of the country.” With the goal of figuring out the exact moisture levels needed for the rail to successfully breed, Jones, Hand, and others will closely monitor the irrigated patches of marsh over the next few years. They will keep tabs on water levels and vegetation, and, of course, listen for any sign of the Black Rail’s signature ki-ki-doo call. It will be hard work to maintain and monitor the marsh patches, but the most difficult part will be waiting to see if any of these proof-of-concept projects pay off.

RIGHT: Saltmeadow Cordgrass and Black Needlerush growing in a high marsh in Maryland. Photo by Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program.

Saving Salt Marshes with the Farm Bill When you think of the Farm Bill, you might think of farm subsidies, food stamps, and the like. Yet, the Farm Bill also provides major resources for protecting rare and declining salt marsh habitat and its wildlife. A whole title in the law is devoted to conservation. Historically, that meant taking measures to keep our soils in place. Over time, though, the Farm Bill’s conservation title has become the country’s (and the world's) largest source of funds for wildlife conservation. To maximize the title’s ability to help declining birds, ABC is supporting legislative improvements through our Bird Saver platform (abcbirds.org/birdsaver). Salt marsh habitats, for instance, can be eligible for incentives to landowners through the Agricultural Conservation Easements Program, encouraging individuals to enter into perpetual conservation easements on their salt marshes and other wetlands. These easements prevent the destruction of salt marsh habitats, support declining species including the Saltmarsh Sparrow and Black Rail, and provide many other benefits to the American public. Legislation authorizing the Farm Bill will be coming up in the U.S. Congress soon, and we need your help to make it better for birds. Speak out for a strong Farm Bill here: act.abcbirds.org/a/take-action-farm-bill. — Steven Riley, ABC’s Director of Farm Bill Policy

A Happy Ending? The fate of both Saltmarsh Sparrows to the north and Black Rails to the south now rests on just how successfully partners can collaborate and act on what they are learning, and on how much financial support they can get for this cost-intensive work. Along with these birds, a bountiful ecosystem and an expansive ark of other species hang in the balance.

ever-present race against the tides of change. “If we can restore the hydrology of the marsh so that it functions more naturally, we can extend the lifespan of our marshes by hundreds or even thousands of years,” Weldon says. “But if we let them disappear, we could lose them for good.”

Rachel Fritts is ABC's Writer/Editor.

Fueled by the many partners within the ACJV, including dedicated biologists like Pau and Hand, there is hope. But there is also the

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SEABIRDS in STAR Kinship and recovery on the Kaua’i coast By Sea McKeon We stood on the shoreline rocks and scanned the ocean. The red, orange, and vibrant pink of sunset were settling into mauve and purple — a striking backdrop for watching seabirds at the end of the day.

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face, perhaps the greatest is invisibility: Most people just don’t have a chance to see and interact with these fascinating birds, despite relationships that are centuriesold and deeply embedded in ocean cultures around the world. The danger is that people won’t be moved to conserve what they don’t see. Nu‘alolo Kai, a small valley on the Nā Pali coast of Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i, is a place where that human-seabird relationship, that kinship, can be seen.

A Playground for Titans This rugged and stunning place was once a paradise for seabirds. Arriving by boat, I could not help but be intimidated by the towering cliff faces meeting the swells of the open North Pacific Ocean. It seemed a playground for titans. Our boat, perfectly comfortable and powerful, suddenly felt tiny and fragile. Then we passed through a reef channel and spotted a welcoming valley nestled beneath the same cliffs that a moment ago seemed utterly impassible and daunting. To one side sat a small beach, where we anchored and began to move our gear ashore.

RLIGHT Three Brown Boobies coasted low over the waves to some cliffside retreat, while nearby, Black Noddies settled in for the night. At the limits of my view with binoculars, a bird pierced the horizon in a low, surging arc, then swept back into the dark sea. A shearwater, I thought. Beyond, I caught a vague impression of motion in the hazy darkness — what at first appeared to be a cloudbank. A storm seemed strange after such a beautiful day on the island. And then I realized what I was looking at: a wall of birds, dense enough to darken the sky. The seabirds were returning to Nu‘alolo Kai. I was witnessing a marvel — a sight that caused me to reflect on the notion that of all the perils seabirds TOP: Seabirds return to nesting sites as darkness falls. Photo by Cameron Rutt. LEFT: Sunset from Nu‘alolo Kai. Photo by Sea McKeon.

Our group of bird conservationists and specialists had been invited to visit Nu‘alolo Kai — one of Kaua‘i’s most important cultural sites — by the Nā Pali Coast ‘Ohana, a community that aims to care for, maintain, and preserve the site’s archaeological and cultural riches. Once a vibrant Hawaiian fishing village, the area was occupied for more than 800 years, from the 12th to the 20th centuries. In recent years, the community has made it into a centerpiece of traditional restoration, learning, and practice. Having met with great success in restoring some of Nu‘alolo Kai’s cultural treasures, the ‘Ohana now wants to bring back native species that formerly occupied

Halelea Forest Reserve Puu Ka Pele Forest Reserve

Lihue-Koloa Forest Reserve

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the valley — including through the Nu‘alolo Kai Seabird Restoration Project. “The seabird project is an important next step to restoring the site to what it used to be, as seabirds were a vital component of the lives of people in Nu‘alolo Kai,” said Kumu Sabra Kauka, respected teacher and ‘ohana member.

Bringing Back the Birds Archaeological studies have found abundant seabird bones at the ancient village of Nu‘alolo Kai, including several seabird species that no longer breed there. This evidence indicates that seabirds were an important natural resource to the people living there, as they were throughout the Hawaiian Islands since the first arrival of Polynesians at about 1000-1200 CE. A main cause for the disappearance of some of these seabirds: introduced predators such as cats and rats that made their way to this remote area. The Nu‘alolo Kai Seabird Restoration Project seeks to restore seabird populations through the control of introduced predators and the deployment of artificial nest boxes and sound systems to attract birds to safe areas within the site. ABC is supporting the project with signage and other communications efforts, while funding comes from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Coast Guard, and Army Corps of Engineers. Priority species include the Endangered ‘A‘o (Newell’s Shearwater), ‘Akē‘akē (Hawaiian Band-rumped StormPetrel), and ‘Ou (Bulwer’s Petrel). “Nu‘alolo Kai represents a unique opportunity to create a project that underlines the strong links between conservation and Hawaiian culture,” said André Raine, Science Director for Archipelago Research & Conservation (ARC), a project partner. He notes that seabirds are under threat throughout Kaua‘i by introduced predators, making special sites such as this one critically important.

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Photos this page, clockwise from top left: Hand-painted decoys were placed at the two sites of the project. Photo by André Raine. • An 'Ua'u (Hawaiian Petrel) in flight against a starry night sky. Photo by Jonathon Felis, USGS. • The first ‘Ua‘u Kani (Wedge-tailed Shearwater) chick recorded at Nu'alolo Kai in 2022. Photo by André Raine • A nest box painted by a student from Island School. Photo by André Raine.

The sheer cliff walls surrounding Nu‘alolo Kai prevent predators from easily accessing the site, and a dedicated predator-control program removes those predators that do enter. In an early success, soon after predator control was initiated at Nu‘alolo Kai, ‘Ua‘u Kani (Wedge-tailed Shearwater) recolonized the site; the number of breeding pairs grows each year. “The seabirds are a part of the history and culture of the site, and it’s great to be a part of the restoration process,” said Kimberly Shoback, Project Manager at Hallux Ecosystem Restoration. “It’s rewarding to see that birds are already returning since cats have been removed from the valley.” In addition to the conservation work, the project has an educational component. Children from the nearby Island School helped paint the nest boxes, and project partners will work on interpretive signs and materials, both on site and for tour operators. “It is a rare and rewarding privilege to contribute to a conservation project of this nature,” said Alan Carpenter, Assistant Administrator for the Hawai‘i Division of State Parks, another partner. “Restoring native bird populations in Nu‘alolo Kai is fully compatible with cultural revitalization, and we look forward to monitoring and sharing the progress.”

BELOW: Nu‘alolo Kai, Kaua'i. Photo by Perris Tumbao, Shutterstock. BOTTOM RIGHT: ‘Ua‘u Kani (Wedge-tailed Shearwater) by Sophie Webb.

Seeing in the Dark At night, after dinner, we listened to shearwaters calling on the cliffs high above the valley. Sabra and the ‘ohana were well aware of seabirds’ importance in the traditional life of the village, but they had rarely been able to experience these creatures, other than listening to their distant calls. “Birds in starlight,” Sabra said, smiling. But André and an ARC colleague had a surprise in store. From a carefully packed duffel bag, they pulled out some seriouslooking hardware — thermal binoculars that looked as though they came from the set of a science fiction movie. In the dim light, I could see André grinning. “Take a look,” he said. For the next hour, the calls of the shearwaters were joined by human expressions of joy, awe, and humility, as the binoculars were passed among all of us. Above the valley, in the darkness, hundreds of shearwaters and storm-petrels swirled and brayed. At Nu‘alolo Kai, as is the case in so many wondrous places across the globe, the seabirds are there, out of sight to many, but waiting for us to restore conditions that will let them return home. In addition to ABC and ARC, partners in the Nu‘alolo Kai Seabird Restoration Project include Hallux Ecosystem Restoration, Hawai‘i State Parks Division, and Nā Pali Coast ‘Ohana. Learn more about the project and the Nā Pali Coast at www.napali.org.

Sea McKeon is ABC’s Marine Program Director. He wishes to thank André Raine, Science Director for Archipelago Research & Conservation, for his significant contributions to this article.

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Hanna-Barbera Productions

MAKING A SHOW OF EXTINCTION A 1970s program about the Eskimo Curlew impacted a generation and still resonates today. By Frederic J. Frommer

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hose of us of a certain age can remember the ABC Afterschool Special, an American Broadcasting Company show that often dealt with adolescent issues such as drug use and teenage pregnancy. But the very first episode, which ran about 50 years ago, took on a very different topic that was also important for kids: bird conservation. That inaugural episode, The Last of the Curlews, ran in October 1972, when the environmental movement was burgeoning. Two years earlier, Senator Gaylord Nelson had organized the first Earth Day, and President Richard Nixon had created the Environmental Protection Agency. This era of groundbreaking legislation brought us, among other things, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, which marks its 50th anniversary in December. The Last of the Curlews was an animated, 46-minutelong Hanna‐Barbera production based on the 1954 Fred Bodsworth book Last of the Curlews. It told the sad tale of a lonely male Eskimo Curlew searching for a mate as he makes his migratory flight to South America. He finally finds a partner, but she is shot and mortally wounded by a farmer. The show ends with a narrator telling viewers that there were once many thousands of these birds. (There were actually millions.) “Then there were two. Now there’s one. Soon there will be none.” Today, many experts presume that the Eskimo Curlew is extinct; the last confirmed sighting was in 1963. The lanky, brown-speckled shorebird was once common: In the 1800s, millions nested in tundra habitat from northern Canada to Alaska. The species’ demise is tied to three primary factors: pesticide use that wiped out the Rocky Mountain grasshopper (a critical food source), decades of uncontrolled hunting, and widespread habitat loss.

given an ending that isn’t comfortingly happy,” The New York Times wrote in a review at the time. “The new series was off to a promising start.” The Los Angeles Times called the show a “subtle, yet determined presentation of the value and preciousness of wildlife species. It presented a very positive ecological lesson for kids who have just slung their schoolbooks on the couch and want something to watch while they are waiting for their dinner call.” In 1973 the show won an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Children’s Programming. Kermit the Frog made the announcement at the awards ceremony. Michael Eisner, who greenlit the episode as the young head of children’s programming at the ABC network, said in a recent interview that it was the first animated story he commissioned in his career. (Eisner would go on to become chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company.) It was made when the three TV networks were under pressure from the federal government and concerned parents about violent cartoons and the quality of television programming geared to kids. That campaign also led to other educational programming breakthroughs, most notably Schoolhouse Rock, which debuted in 1973. Eisner said that when he was presented with the idea of turning Bodsworth’s book into a TV show, he was receptive for several reasons. “I liked the subject matter. I liked the environmental part of it. I particularly liked the drama of it,” he recalled.

Education, Entertainment, and the Eskimo Curlew By not sugarcoating the plight of these birds, The Last of the Curlews helped instill in kids of that era — now in their 50s and 60s — an important message about our responsibility to safeguard the environment for birds, and, by extension, all living things. “The curlew is by himself again, the species is more threatened than ever, and children’s television has been RIGHT: Hanna-Barbera's animated television adaptation of The Last of the Curlews, which aired in 1972, was the first ABC Afterschool Special. The show won an Emmy award for Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming in 1973.

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“It was a very dramatic love story, a tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet, a love story about a little bird. Not only were you ending a love story but you were ending a species … This is about as sad a show or movie in which I have been involved.” He said that the movie was also a good way to launch the ABC Afterschool Special. Eisner added that to break through to audiences on important issues, it can’t be only through straight newscasts and documentaries. “You need entertainment as well to get that message across,” he said.

‘Can We Stop Ourselves From Repeating History?’ For Mike Parr, the President of American Bird Conservancy (ABC), the Last of the Curlews book was instrumental in fostering a lifelong interest in birds and their conservation. Parr, who grew up near Liverpool, England, came across it in Reader’s Digest, which had serialized the book. “I was a dinosaur kid,” he recalled. “So, I was keenly focused on the issue of extinction.” In addition, Parr’s grandfather was involved in the whaling industry, which also had an impact on his environmental outlook. “[My grandfather] used to have these photographs that showed the harpooning, and I couldn’t bear that. I mean, it seemed really wrong to me as a kid. And I grew up in the ’70s when the environmental movement was getting started.” So, by the time Parr read Last of the Curlews, the book “kind of went with everything else,” he said. “It tied into my interest in dinosaurs, this sort of existential regret I had as a kid about the lack of dinosaurs on the planet. And then what was going on with my grandfather’s work, and that more immediate visceral reaction against that, and then an interest in birds. It all kind of tied together.”

Is the Eskimo Curlew Gone Forever? With no confirmed sightings in more than 50 years, it seems likely that the Eskimo Curlew is no more. But, as Parr said, “Hope springs eternal. It’s very difficult to prove a negative. You can prove that

something exists more easily than you can prove it’s extinct. So there is a very tiny sliver of hope, but it’s pretty tiny, unfortunately.” He said that the last scene in the story, where the female Eskimo Curlew is shot, represented, for him, “people not really understanding the impact of what they do. I’m not anti-hunting, by the way, and neither is ABC,” he said, adding that many hunters are conservationists who help fund important programs. “But there’s that moment of somebody blasting away with a gun, not realizing they’re shooting the last one of the species. If you could only go back in time and tell them, this is going be the last one, maybe they would change their mind about it.” “I’ve given the book to people over the years because I think it’s an interesting book and it really brings home the concept of extinction,” Parr added. The big question, said Parr, is: “Can we stop ourselves from repeating history?” A study last year found that one in eight bird species are at risk of extinction. Parr noted that most other curlews are also in decline, including the Eurasian Curlew, the Long-billed Curlew, and the Critically Endangered Slender-billed Curlew, which some experts fear may also be extinct. Parr noted significant progress made from the middle of the 20th century, when there was widespread use of the chemical pesticide DDT, the Bald Eagle was in decline, and air and water were choked with pollution, among other environmental issues. “I think that the reaction to [those issues] was a good one, and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) did help. It helped to recover the Bald Eagle, which today is no longer listed as an endangered species,” Parr said. Many other birds have benefited, too, he noted: “There have been very few bird extinctions [in the continental United States]” since Nixon signed the ESA into law in 1973. However, it’s even better to prevent species from landing on the endangered species list in the first place, he remarked. “I believe habitat conservation is the key. What can be done to increase funding to increase and improve

Eskimo Curlew art from USFWS.

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Hanna-Barbera Productions

Angeles). “For example, the Pixar animated films Finding Nemo and its sequel, Finding Dory (2003 and 2016), or Madagascar, for all their Hollywood emphasis on action, focus on the lives of animals and the threats by human intervention they’re exposed to. Disney’s remake of The Jungle Book in 2016 included a pangolin and explicit reference to its endangered status.” More recent examples of conservation-oriented TV and movies aimed at kids include Rio, Rio 2, Happy Feet, Maya the Bee, One Big Ocean, Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth, Our Planet, and Wild Kratts. The Last of the Curlews was a pioneering show for American television, Parr said.

What can be done to increase funding to increase and improve habitat for birds — before a species’ numbers are so low that we’re at risk of losing it? That’s one of our main priorities here at ABC.

habitat for birds — before a species’ numbers are so low that we’re at risk of losing it? That’s one of our main priorities here at ABC.”

A Shorebird’s Final Act It’s difficult to quantify exactly the impact of the The Last of the Curlews, given how long ago it aired. But it’s fair to say it had an influence on a generation of kids at a time when environmental activism was flourishing. The early ’70s was also an era when network TV had a tremendous reach. Most people had just a few channels to choose from, which created a captive audience that helped magnify the impact of TV shows aimed at kids. “The idea of using animated film to convey the life of animals persisted, and was sometimes turned to conservation purposes,” said Ursula K. Heise, the Marcia H. Howard Chair in Literary Studies at the Department of English and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA (University of California, Los

“It was groundbreaking because at the time, most of the stuff that was coming out was just sort of slapstick entertainment,” he said. “So having something that was tackling an environmental topic was definitely different. It was brave of them to do it, really.” The story of the curlew still inspires, and while we might be left wringing our hands over an uncertain future for birds, Parr encourages another way forward. “We know what birds need,” he said. “They need safe places to live out their life cycles — places for breeding, finding food. They need fewer threats in those habitats — for example, fewer toxic pesticides, fewer free-roaming cats. And they need people to support these efforts. What we do at ABC — birds need more of.” “I’m proud to say that ABC and our partners have improved habitat for declining birds — like the Long-billed Curlew — on more than 8.5 million acres. And we’re just getting started.” Parr said that ABC is doing everything in its power to keep the birds we have today from getting close to extinction — and bringing back those that are on the brink. With luck, persistence, and a caring public, could final-act curtain calls for birds, like the bow taken by the Eskimo Curlew, be a thing of the past? Watch The Last of the Curlews on YouTube at: bit.ly/LastCurlews Frederic J. Frommer, a Washington, D.C.-based journalist, frequently writes for The Washington Post, The Guardian and POLITICO Magazine. He is a former environmental reporter for The Associated Press.

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ABC BIRDING

East Beach/R.A. Apffel Park, Galveston, Texas

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by Howard Youth Lay of the Land: R.A. Apffel Park, known locally as East Beach, sits at the eastern tip of Galveston Island, Texas. Its expansive sand flats, now home to many beachnesting birds, were created by an extensive jetty system built to protect the Houston Ship Channel, which opened in 1914. These sand flats span up to 200 yards — an area much wider than a typical beach. Several habitats converge in this park. In addition to the beach and sand flats, visitors will find coastal prairie and shrub habitat, and, in the swales behind the dunes, areas of brackish and freshwater marsh.

Marsh Wren nests in small freshwater wetlands, and Eastern Meadowlark breeds in the coastal prairie. Also watch for Reddish Egret and all other North American herons and egrets, Crested Caracara, Osprey, Roseate Spoonbill, and White Ibis. Most eastern terns and plovers (including good numbers of Piping Plover in winter and Snowy Plover much of year) can be found here, along with Black Skimmer, American Oystercatcher, Northern Gannet, and Pomarine Jaeger (scarce June to October; watch for them tailing shrimp boats).

Focal Birds: The mix of habitats and location — situated where Galveston Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico — make this park a top birding hotspot. Beach-nesting species (mid-March through August) include Common Nighthawk, Horned Lark, Least Tern, Snowy Plover, and Wilson’s Plover. In brackish areas, Black-necked Stilt, Clapper Rail, and Willet can be found nesting, while

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to Houston and mainland LEFT: Great Egrets by Agami Photo Agency, Shutterstock. TOP: View of East Beach by Liz Virgl. BIR D C O NS ER VATIO N | FALL 2023

Other highlights in a long list of notable birds include: Barn Swallow; Brown Pelican; Dunlin (not summer); Greattailed Grackle; Loggerhead Shrike; Long-billed Curlew; Magnificent Frigatebird; Ruddy Turnstone; Sanderling; Least, Semipalmated, and Western Sandpipers; and Scissortailed Flycatcher (April to October). Sedge Wren occurs in winter. Other Wildlife: Over the past five years, genetic studies revealed that some Galveston Island Coyotes share genetic lineage with the Critically Endangered Red Wolf, which was declared extirpated from the region almost 40 years ago. Other species in the area: Atlantic Ghost Crab, Thinstripe Hermit Crab, Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Green (Sea) Turtle (occasionally seen from the jetty), and Virginia Opossum. Signature plants include dune species such as Bitter Panicum, Sea Purslane, Camphor Daisy, Sea Ox-eye Daisy, and Goat’s Foot Morning Glory. Typical brackish marsh plants include Smooth Cordgrass and Saltwort. Black Mangrove, a small, salt-tolerant tree, recently began dotting brackish marshes of the Upper Texas Coast. When to Visit: Birding is great year-round here, although summer can be formidably hot. Species diversity is highest during spring migration, from mid-March through May, and again August through November. Many birds winter here in large numbers.

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Galveston’s annual birding festival, FeatherFest, takes place each April and includes trips to many local hotspots, including this one. For more information, see: galvestonfeatherfest.com. Conservation Activities: Since 2014, ABC has worked with Houston Audubon and the Galveston Island Park Board of Trustees to protect nesting, migrating, and wintering birds at East Beach. Through its Texas Coastal program, ABC has helped generate funding to hire technicians to monitor habitats and breeding sites, and, along with partners, participates in on-the-ground monitoring and outreach programs that help ensure important areas remain protected while large numbers of people enjoy the beach. The Galveston Park Board maintains a fenced conservation area within the park and works closely with ABC and partners to minimize impacts to wildlife from many heavily attended events taking place at the park’s pavilion area. Galveston is a designated Bird City Texas community, and conservation efforts at this site aim to ensure a bright future for a large group of birds with populations of conservation concern. Learn more about Bird City Texas-Galveston: birdcity.org/texas/galveston.

Plan Ahead: This site is open for day use only. There is a fee to park in the main beach parking area; free parking is available adjacent to the park entrance. In the Area: En route, bird the pulloffs along Boddeker Road approaching East Beach. One particular highlight is the East End Lagoon Nature Reserve, which has its own parking and trailhead. There, a wheelchair-accessible nature trail takes visitors on a half-mile loop through upland habitat overlooking a 684-acre preserve of coastal prairie and salt marsh habitat, along with a lagoon over a mile long. A kayak launch for the lagoon is located at the entrance of Boddeker Road. Also, make it a point to visit Big Reef, also known as the South Jetty, an extensive sand spit bordered on its north end by the Houston Ship Channel. It is reached by foot from the main designated (fee) parking area at East Beach. The main feature here: large numbers of roosting and resting shorebirds, terns, and gulls gathered along the jetty, sometimes in the thousands — often including 20-plus species. A similar smorgasbord gathers at Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary, across the ship channel. (See map.) And, don’t forget to scope the Gulf of Mexico near the South Jetty for seabirds such as jaegers, gannets, and boobies. Good birding!

PHOTOS FROM TOP LEFT, P. 36: Black Skimmers by Natalia Kuzmina Shutterstock; Willets by Jo Crebbin Shutterstock; East Beach by Liz Virgl; Wilson's Plover by Larry Master, masterimages.org; American Oystercatcher by Larry Master, masterimages.org; Crested Caracaras by Wilfred Marissen, Shutterstock.

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Andrés Anchondo Andrés was born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico. Although a “city boy,” he also experienced the local ranching culture and the nearby communities of Mennonites and the Tarahumara Indigenous people. Andrés earned his undergraduate degree in Finance, followed by master’s degrees in Agroforestry and Business. He’s put this education to good use for birds and is now ABC’s Associate Director of Impact Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. Outside of work, Andrés also gives back to his community, and to birds. This is his story, in his own words: Growing up, I always thought: I want to be a businessman. Now I’m using my knowledge in the areas of finance, agroforestry, and business in my role with ABC. It’s as if this job was made for me.

I studied the Montezuma Quail for my master’s thesis, researching the profitability of agroforestry systems that helped the species. While walking through a fallow barley field, four or five quail came out of nowhere, up from the ground. That’s when I became a birder!

Soon, I was birding everywhere. After my wife and I moved to Washington, D.C., I joined the D.C. Audubon Society [an all-volunteer organization currently being renamed]. Then I became a board member and the person in charge of community outreach.

When we moved to Tucson, Arizona, they invited me to join the board of Tucson Audubon. It’s a way for me to keep engaged with my community. I also volunteer for an NGO called Amplify the Future, which provides a Black and Latinx Birders Scholarship.

At ABC, I’m now part of the BirdsPlus program, which is a response to the problem of widespread bird declines. We work with coffee and cacao producers and companies, cattle ranchers, cardamom growers, and most recently rubber farmers. We want them to be profitable while we work together to conserve and restore migratory bird habitats.

For more information, see: birdsplus.org

Story and art by Howard Youth, a Marylandbased writer and editor and a lifelong birder.

WILL YOU BE THEIR HOPE? Thousands of species of birds…

Millions of acres of habitat…

One legacy of bird conservation—yours. You can create a legacy for birds by including ABC in your estate plans. Join ABC’s Legacy Circle with a gift through your will, retirement plan, trust, or insurance policy, and you will ensure bird conservation results for years to come. If you would like more information, or if you have already included ABC in your estate plans, please contact Jack Morrison, Director of Major Gifts and Planned Giving, at 540-253-5780 or at jmorrison@abcbirds.org.

Photos, top to bottom: tern flock by Maksym Gorpenyuk, Shutterstock; beach habitat by Daniel J. Lebbin, ABC; Least Terns by Ivan Kuzmin, Shutterstock

P.O. Box 249 The Plains, VA 20198 abcbirds.org 540-253-5780 • 888-247-3624

Johnson's Tody-Flycatcher by Owen Deutsch, www.owendeutsch.com.