Cerulean Warbler is a good example of how PIF’s voluntary, collaborative partnerships among government, conservation organizations, industry, and private landowners can help keep a bird species off of the endangered species list, benefiting both birds and people. © James Barber/Macaulay Library, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Partners in Flight (PIF) is a collaborative network of over 150 partner organizations dedicated to conserving land birds and their habitats. The partnership hatched in the early 1990s in response to widespread declines in Neotropical migratory land birds. Today, partners range from not-for-profit organizations working on the ground to conservation research-focused academics, to government agencies and funding institutions. To PIF, each partner brings their strengths, capacities, and expertise, thus enabling the partnership to achieve greater conservation outcomes of a larger scope and scale than any one partner could achieve on their own. Like our “shared” birds, PIF partners range from South to North America and many places in between.
PIF’s mission: Keeping common birds common and helping species at risk through voluntary partnerships.
Helping Species at Risk
PIF’s Avian Conservation Assessment Database is maintained using the best, most up-to-date science to assess the vulnerability of all regularly occurring bird species, from Panama to Canada, at global, continental, and regional scales. The database identifies birds of high conservation concern that need immediate, coordinated action across their range to reduce threats, reverse declines, and prevent future extinctions.
Keeping Common Birds Common
Partners in Flight promotes proactive strategies to conserve species before they become imperiled. Common birds are integral to healthy habitats and ecosystems, but many common species are experiencing steep declines. Only by conserving common species can we maintain ecosystem processes and integrity.
Voluntary Partnerships for Birds, Habitats and People
Our network of government and non-government partners are committed to voluntary solutions that reduce the need for regulatory action. Because birds are indicators of overall environmental health, successful conservation provides healthy habitats for birds as well as for people who depend on those same landscapes for their economic and social well-being.
Partners in Flight Goals:
Maintain healthy bird populations, in natural numbers, in healthy habitats and ecosystems;
Keep species from becoming threatened or endangered through proactive measures and science-based planning;
Promote full life-cycle conservation of migratory birds throughout the Western Hemisphere; and
Promote the value of birds as indicators of environmental health and human quality of life.