Bird Conservation – It’s Up to You

by Grant McCreary on November 9, 2010

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or preferably, birding some exotic location with no communication with the outside world), you’re aware that the United States just had an election. Some are ecstatic with the results, others are dejected. But one thing hasn’t changed – “There’s not a party, a congressman, a senator, etc. elected that will fix your life. YOU have to fix YOUR life.” as Dave Ramsey said recently. This isn’t to minimize the importance of elections, but to make the point that you shouldn’t rely on the government to make your life better.

Nor should we do so for conservation. Certainly, there are some things that the government has the power to do that individuals and other organizations cannot. But if we rely on the government, or anyone one else, to save the environment or conserve the birds and wildlife that we love, then we’re going to be disappointed, no matter who’s in power.

Of course, that doesn’t abrogate us of our responsibility to petition our elected officials to make the best choices or watch them to make sure they don’t misbehave. Those, in fact, are things that each of us should be doing. So what are some others?

cover of The American Bird Conservancy Guide to Bird Conservation First, though, we need to know the threats our birds face. This is now very easy thanks to the newly published American Bird Conservancy Guide to Bird Conservation, “the most thorough assessment of threats to birds published to date”. Just about everything dealing with bird conservation in North America is compiled together in this amazing book. It catalogs threats to individual species and habitats, but even more importantly presents actions that you can take to combat each of these threats. I will discuss this book in more detail in a future post.

cover of 101 Ways to Help Birds For more, and often more practical, ways to help birds, there is the aptly named 101 Ways to Help Birds. Every birder should read this book. And if you already have, you should look over it again to remind yourself what you should be doing (that is directed to myself as much as to anyone else). For more information about the book, see my review at The Birder’s Library.

There are two things that I would urge everyone to do immediately. First, check out the American Bird Conservancy and see what they are doing for birds throughout the Americas and how you can help. And, of course, please consider joining. It’s worth it. Secondly, read Ted Eubank’s blog. He has been posting lately on the matter of conservation, and it is something every birder should read and consider.