9 minute read
ON THE WIRE
Key Bird Reserve Expansions, Powered by Partnership
Three recent land purchases highlight ABC and partners’ work to save habitat for some of the Western Hemisphere’s most endangered birds. By targeting parcels that connect and buffer reserve core areas, these expansions help ensure a more stable future for these important conservation areas and the birds they protect.
Brazil: Ecuador:
Starting in 2004, SAVE Brasil began protecting habitat in the Serra do Urubu, in the only remaining midelevation Atlantic Forest in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. Since 2019, ABC has supported SAVE Brasil's efforts to expand the reserve and create tourism infrastructure there. The latest addition is 185 acres, which brings the total protected area to 1,060 acres. The reserve protects 14 globally threatened bird species and 250 bird species overall, including the Sevencolored Tanager, White-collared Kite, and Jandaya Parakeet. This expansion was made possible by the Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust, March Conservation Fund, David and Patricia Davidson, David Harrison, Kathleen Burger and Glen Gerada, and The Reissing Family. Located in Ecuador’s largely deforested southwestern corner, the Buenaventura Reserve is the only protected area for the Endangered El Oro Parakeet and hosts many other range-restricted species. This fall, it was expanded by 575 acres thanks to the Conserva Aves initiative — an ambitious effort supported by the Bezos Earth Fund and other donors to secure bird habitat from Mexico to Chile.
ABC worked with partner Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco (Jocotoco) on this latest expansion of the Buenaventura Reserve, which now spans a total of 9,947 acres. (Read more about this reserve on p. 34.)
(LEFT:) Celebrating the expansion of the Dominican Republic's Bosque de las Nubes Reserve, which provides more protected habitat for the Bicknell's Thrush and other migratory birds. From left: César Ros, SOH Conservación board member; Marci Eggers, ABC; Jorge Brocca, SOH Conservación Executive Director; Daniel J. Lebbin, ABC.
Dominican Republic:
SOH Conservación (SOH), with ABC support, recently purchased 432 acres to expand the SOH-managed Bosque de las Nubes Reserve, adjacent to the Sierra de Bahoruco National Park. This addition provides more protected habitat for the Bicknell’s Thrush and other Neotropical migratory birds, as well as endemic species including the Hispaniolan Woodpecker and Palmchat. This acquisition also helps hold the line against illegal incursions into the nearby national park. ABC thanks Mark Greenfield and the Greenfield-Hartline Habitat Conservation Fund for their support.
The Jandaya Parakeet is one of many rangerestricted bird species found in the Serra do Urubu, Brazil. Photo by Ciro Albano.
Tracking a Grassland Icon
The Eastern Meadowlark’s clear “spring-of-the-year” song once rang across farms and fields throughout the East and much of the Midwest. Today, in many of its former haunts, this lemon-bellied bellwether is but a memory. In fact, over the last 50 years, the species’ population has declined by an astounding 75 percent in the U.S. and Canada.
“The Eastern Meadowlark’s decline is telling us about the loss of grasslands on a massive scale,” says Jim Giocomo, ABC’s Central Regional Director. This iconic bird is just one species in a very troubled group: A 2019 Science paper, co-authored by ABC, reported that more than 720 million U.S. and Canadian grassland birds were lost since 1970. Largescale, intensive agriculture, including overuse of toxic pesticides, has fueled these declines.
Although Eastern Meadowlarks have been widely studied on their nesting grounds, surprisingly little is known about their migratory patterns and fall and winter habitat needs. So, this past summer, staff from ABC, the Central Hardwoods Joint Venture, and several other organizations placed tiny solar-powered GPS transmitters on six meadowlarks in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Tracked birds are being monitored to reveal their fall migration pathways and where they spend the winter months. Most of the Eastern Meadowlark population occurs on private lands. One benefit of this study will be to gain insight into how ABC can work with interested private landowners to manage their properties with meadowlarks in mind, both on nesting and wintering grounds.
“Using the latest technology and building a large partnership across North America, we are learning more about what our grassland birds need to thrive,” Giocomo says. “This insight will help us reverse the steep population declines, including through collaborative habitat management programs across the seasons.”
Secrets revealed by tracking Eastern Meadowlarks during fall and winter will aid efforts to conserve this declining species. Photo by Jarett Thurman, Shutterstock.
Proposed FWS Eagle Rule Weak on Wind, Positive on Powerlines
In September, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced a proposed rule aimed at improving the permitting process for incidental take — harm to eagles that results from but is not the purpose of an activity. Unfortunately, this move does not go far enough to protect Bald and Golden Eagles at a time when new energy infrastructure and its potential threats to wildlife are rapidly expanding.
“We at ABC believe that renewable energy can and must be expanded, but with adequate safeguards for birds and other wildlife, to limit unintended consequences,” says Lewis Grove, the organization’s Director of Wind and Energy. There are positives to the proposed rule, including new protections from electrocution at powerlines, a leading cause of eagle deaths. The general permit proposed for powerlines could greatly reduce eagle mortality by requiring mitigation measures for powerlines installed across eagle habitat and by raising funds to compensate through creation of eagle habitat in other locations. This change is especially timely because many new transmission lines will be installed as renewable energy resources continue to be developed.
“We applaud new protections for eagles from powerline electrocution,” Grove says. “However, the rule fails to provide needed safeguards for eagles against threats posed by increased wind energy development.” For example, in most cases, compliance monitoring by a third party will not be required.
“We also remain concerned about the lack of an overarching mitigation strategy to ensure balanced development,” says Grove.
According to recent population estimates, Golden Eagle populations are likely declining in North America. The Bald Eagle, which has marched back from the brink of extinction, still needs strong protection. Both species stand to be especially impacted by poorly sited wind energy development.
An immature Golden Eagle cruises by towering turbines. Photo by Taylor Berge, Shutterstock.
In September, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied a petition request from ABC and other parties seeking to change a dangerous regulatory loophole for pesticide-coated seeds. Instead of regulating coated seeds as the agency does other pesticide uses, the EPA says it will review labeling language and requirements, and conduct a general review of seed treatment use. The EPA also announced that it “may explore the option” of issuing a rule to ensure coated seeds are used properly — a process that could take years to have any meaningful impact.
This decision means that pesticides applied as a seed coating will continue to be used without being tracked, quantified, or regulated like other pesticides — despite scientific evidence that seeds coated with particularly toxic insecticides called neonicotinoids (neonics) are known to kill birds and other wildlife, often with little benefit to crops.
Pesticide-coated seeds are the number-one use of neonics. When ingested, a single neonic-coated seed can kill a songbird. But the danger to birds doesn’t stop there: With neonic-coated seeds, just 2 to 20 percent of the chemical is taken up by the plant as it grows — the rest leaches into soil and groundwater, where it kills invertebrates that birds rely on for food, and that people need for crop pollination.
Coated seeds remain the most poorly regulated pesticide products, due to the “Treated Article Exemption” introduced to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act in 1988. The amendment makes socalled “pesticide-treated articles” exempt from registration, labeling, and tracking. Because of this loophole, farmers might not even know when they are buying treated seeds.
In 2017, ABC teamed up with other groups representing pollinator health and food safety and petitioned the EPA to track and regulate coated seeds like other crop pesticides. After the EPA failed to respond, members of the petitioning group filed a formal complaint in December 2021, which resulted in the EPA announcement in September.
Actions the EPA suggested instead include putting clarifying language on seed bag tag labels and reviewing
Seeds coated with neonicotinoid pesticides pose multiple threats to Yellow-headed Blackbirds and many other species. Photo by Jennifer Davis.
possible misuse of coated seeds. While these steps might improve understanding of coated seed usage, the agency’s decision effectively endorses the continued use of neonic-coated seeds with minimal oversight or regulation.
“We are extremely disappointed by this news,” says Hardy Kern, Director of ABC’s Pesticides and Birds Campaign. “Without a change to the Treated Article Exemption, it is impossible to accurately enforce the Endangered Species Act and other wildlife-saving laws. ABC will continue to fight for change in the way these chemicals are regulated.”
ABC is grateful to the Raines Family Fund for its generous support of our Birds and Pesticides Campaign.
Birds make the places we love and explore special through their songs, beauty, and the ways that they connect us to the natural world.
Birds also play key roles in their habitats and contribute to human health, improve agricultural production, help boost local economies through ecotourism revenue, and serve as indicators of environmental well-being.
Birds do all this, and so much more for us, but many of them are in trouble.
The U.S. and Canada have lost nearly 3 billion birds, which translates to more than one in four, since 1970. Bird declines, however, aren’t confined to one continent: Populations are down across much of the globe.
We all want to live in a world filled with birds, and with your support, there is hope.
This giving season, please help us save wild birds and their habitats. Thanks to a dedicated group of supporters, we have a 1:1 Match with a goal of raising $1 million by December 31.
Will you make an impact for these incredible creatures that do so much for us, with your most generous gift for birds today? Your support will help us reverse population declines across the Americas and combat the risks birds face daily. When you support American Bird Conservancy, your gift will be used immediately to:
• Bring Endangered birds back from the brink of extinction, such as the Gray-bellied Comet — a hummingbird with an estimated population of fewer than 1,000 adult birds.
• Conserve breeding, wintering, and migratory stopover habitat for birds of concern, such as the Eastern
Whip-poor-will, Painted Bunting, and Chestnutcollared Longspur.
• Reduce threats to all birds by removing trash and plastics from Texas coastlines that impact migrating and beach-nesting birds such as the Snowy Plover.
• Build capacity for a growing bird conservation movement through ABC’s Bird City Network programs, which help communities make their natural areas, parks, main streets, and backyards better for birds and for people.
We are determined to save wild birds, but we cannot do it without YOU by our side.
Please donate today to our 1:1 Match and help us raise $1 million by December 31. Will you please give your most generous gift for birds today?
