| |  | Bird-Safe Buildings Act Rocks With Second House Passage!
We’re closer than ever to getting the Bird-Safe Buildings Act across the finish line. The U.S. House of Representatives has now passed this bill twice! Most recently, it was part of a promising energy package, H.R. 4447, the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act, which passed the House last month. Next, it will make its way to the Senate. Bird mortality from building collisions is estimated at up to 1 billion per year in the U.S. alone. This commonsense measure would direct federal buildings to incorporate bird-safe design and materials, reducing collisions and potentially saving the lives of millions of birds. Please ask your Senators to pass the Bird-Safe Buildings Act and make federal buildings safer for birds. For more information, check out this presentation by Dr. Chris Sheppard, ABC's Collisions Program Director: "The Bird-Safe Buildings Act: How to Save 1 Billion Birds from Collisions." You can access the full recording of the webinar here. In addition, check out all of ABC's briefings, archived in this YouTube Playlist. | | | | | | House Energy Bill Includes Important Wildlife Protections
The U.S. House of Representatives passed an energy bill, H.R. 4447, that proposes to expand renewable energy development, and includes key provisions to mitigate and avoid impacts to birds and other wildlife. The bill requires support for wildlife impact mitigation technologies and strategies, including the use of distributed solar technologies, to avoid, minimize, and offset the potential negative impacts of solar energy systems on wildlife, including bird species, habitat, and local flora and fauna. The bill also supports the application of wildlife impact mitigation technologies or strategies to avoid, minimize, and offset the potential impacts of wind energy facilities on: (1) Bald and Golden Eagles; (2) bat species; (3) marine wildlife; and (4) other sensitive species and habitats. Ask your members of Congress to support bird-smart wind energy. | | | | | | | | Eastern Black Rail Gains Endangered Species Act Protection
The eastern population of the Black Rail has been listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This elusive bird has all but disappeared from many parts of its range. ABC is glad to see this population listed, and steps taken to conserve the bird. Cooperative conservation and other ESA recovery funds can now be used by various partnerships, like the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture (ACJV), which recently released the Black Rail Management Plan. This plan can help guide actions to contribute to recovery of this species. | | | | | | | | Why Did Thousands of Migratory Birds Suddenly Die in New Mexico?
Last month, thousands of birds died across New Mexico. At the White Sands Missile Range, where researchers normally encounter one or two dead birds each week during fall migration, there were suddenly hundreds. In northern New Mexico, people reported large numbers of “small, yellow birds,” mostly migratory Wilson's and MacGillivray's Warblers, dead on the ground. Along the Rio Grande, a journalist discovered more than 300 dead birds, most of them Violet-green Swallows, next to the river. Similar events were observed in neighboring Colorado, Arizona, and Texas. Across the region, the total number of dead birds was estimated in the hundreds of thousands. What does this mean for conservation? See analysis by ABC's John Mittermeier, Ph.D. | | | | | | | | ABC is Hiring for its New Bird City Americas Program
ABC is partnering with Environment for the Americas to launch Bird City Americas, a new program that will help implement the Bird City model across the Western Hemisphere. The Bird City model was pioneered by Bird City Wisconsin and provides communities with recommended actions in habitat conservation, reduction in threats to birds, education, and climate/sustainability. Communities that achieve the Bird City designation receive public recognition for their work as well as resources and assistance. We’re hiring a Coordinator to help make this exciting work happen — learn more. | | | | | | | | Ghosts of the Coast: Protecting the Gulf of Mexico's Beach-Nesting Birds
Wilson's Plovers and Black Skimmers are as much a part of the beach as sun, sand, breeze, and surf. But many people don't even know they exist, let alone lay their eggs on the sand. And this creates problems. ABC's Gulf Coastal Program team spends a lot of time watching and protecting beach-nesting birds, and educating beachgoers about the four declining species we call the “Fab Four”: the Wilson's Plover, Snowy Plover, Least Tern, and Black Skimmer. The Gulf Coastal Program was established as a response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that began with an oil platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana on April 20, 2010. During this disaster, 4 million barrels of oil entered the Gulf over 87 days. Initially, our team's focus was to ensure that beach-nesting birds recovered from the spill's direct and indirect impacts, but our work quickly morphed into something more. Find out how this program evolved! | | | | | | | | Fixing Hawai'i's Power Lines and Street Lights to Save Seabirds and Sea Turtles
Infrastructure in Hawaiʻi, such as power lines and lighting put wildlife at grave risk, and some much-needed, straightforward solutions would have a huge impact. Integral parts of community infrastructure — the lights that brighten the streets and the power lines strung along them — are decimating native species. Disoriented by the lights, endemic nocturnal seabirds such as the Endangered Newell's Shearwater (‘a‘o) and Endangered Hawaiian Petrel (‘ua‘u) are especially at risk. Earlier this year, ABC ramped up its efforts asking local companies and government agencies to implement proven solutions to minimize the impact of this infrastructure, and to offset remaining impacts with conservation action. What can still be done? | | | | | | | | Join "Lights Out Texas" Now To Protect Migrating Birds
"One of the most extraordinary events in nature has begun — autumn bird migration. Starting now, reducing or eliminating nighttime lighting can make the journeys safer for the more than 1 billion birds that migrate through Texas. The Lights Out Texas project even sends an alert for nights that will have the heaviest bird migration traffic and when cutting the lights will do the most good. Lights Out Texas asks that homeowners, businesses, and managers of tall buildings eliminate or reduce lighting between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. during the September 5 through October 29 migration window. Nationwide each year, studies estimate 365 to 988 million birds are killed when they collide with buildings." Cornell Lab of Ornithology | | | | | | | | Proposed Down-listing of Red-cockaded Woodpecker
"For decades, the US Forest Service in partnership with more than 30 public and private groups, has focused on bringing back the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers’ preferred habitat — longleaf pine forests, through such projects as the America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative and the Million Acre Challenge. More than 1.3 million acres of new longleaf pine stands have been established and many hundreds of cavity inserts have been installed in these younger longleaf pine landscapes to help the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers’ recovery. Now, the US Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking input from the public on down-listing the species from endangered to threatened status." The Birding Wire | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | American Bird Conservancy
P.O. Box 249 | The Plains, Virginia 20198
(540) 253-5780 | info@abcbirds.org | | Photo captions (top to bottom): Banner: Black-and-white Warbler, Foto Request, Shutterstock; Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Jayne Gulbrand, Shutterstock; Black Rail, Agami Photo Agency, Shutterstock; Wilson's Warbler, Greg Homel; Black-throated Blue Warbler, Brian Lasenby, Shutterstock; Wilson's Plover, Gerald Marella, Shutterstock; Hawaiian Petrel, Andre Raine; Yellow Warbler, Tani Thomson, Shutterstock; Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Anders Gyllenhaal. | | | | | | | |
