For the first time ever, a group of government wildlife agencies and conservation groups have published a comprehensive report on the dire state of the U.S. bird population and the resultant environmental implications.
The publication is entitled The State of the Birds, the 2009 Report and is available online. Government participants include the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Private organizations, including the Nature Conservancy and the Audubon Society, were also involved.
Today there are 67 endangered or threatened bird species and at least 184 species of conservation concern in the United States. There are around 800 bird species that live in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.
These statistics point toward an endangered health of our environment, particularly in ecosystems with the greatest decline in species.
Birds serve as environmental warning signs - quite literally, the canary in the coal mine - because their survival is intimately linked to human-influenced factors. These include loss of habitat, climate change, energy demands, contaminants and invasive species.
The report stresses that individuals can contribute a great deal toward slowing the decline of American birds. Efforts as small-scale as keeping pet cats indoors, landscaping with native species and buying shade-grown coffee all make a difference for keeping bird species alive.
The United States is home to over 800 different species of birds, including several species and groups of species that are not found anywhere outside North America.
Over the last few decades of observation, four species have gone totally extinct and at least 10 more in the Hawaiian islands may be extinct as they have not been observed in more than 40 years.
Hawaii is in the direst straits of all the 50 states - more than one third of its bird species are threatened. Island birds are thought to be especially vulnerable to threats because they are often highly evolved and adapted to a particular environment.
Other dramatic declines in bird populations were observed in the grasslands and arid lands of the nation. This is yet another late-seen consequence of the destruction of United States ecosystems.
Since the birth of the country 98 percent of our tall grass prairie has been destroyed. Half of the 46 species that live on the American grasslands are of concern.
On a somewhat more positive note, forest birds have not fared as badly - though they are still on the decline - and wetlands birds have actually shown a hopeful response to conservation efforts from sightings by professionals and volunteers.
As mentioned in the report, the remarkable recoveries of the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon from near extinction are testament to what we may be able to achieve once we add human efforts.
Of utmost concern are shoreline birds, the indicators of the health of our oceans. Almost 40 percent of United States marine birds are declining, including half of all coastally migrating birds.
The main causes are coastal development (nearly half of the nation's citizens live and work in coastal areas), resource use such as over harvesting, pollution and climate change.
With such results presented, the report lends itself to asking: How can the average citizen help? And what is the long-term outlook for American birds?
The solution, as posted on the official Web site of the report, is to become involved in citizen science. Such studies are incredibly dependent on the volunteer efforts of thousands of backyard birdwatchers and ornithographers.
Work can be as simple as keeping notes of the number and type of species seen at your bird feeder. And of course one should not lose sight of the health of our ecosystems. The earth is a shared space, after all.
For more information, please visit http://www.stateofthebirds.org.
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