Resources
Forests for the Birds Webinar Series # 1
Loss and Recovery of North American Birds
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Forest Ecology Working Group, National Conservation Training Center, and Migratory Bird Program have developed a 12-part monthly lecture series to address the 50-year decline of 3 billion birds through partnerships, conservation science and forest management. The series tells a compelling story about forest bird population declines, partnership opportunities, and forest management actions that can support bird population recovery and sustainability.
After engaging with the entire series, participants will be able to:
- Describe the decline of forest-dwelling birds in the U.S., identifying causes and risk factors
- Apply species vulnerability assessment tools to identify priority bird species
- Describe the importance of forest management planning from landscape to local scales, recognizing essential forest community composition and structure for bird conservation
- Identify forest conservation and habitat management alternatives
View the webinar series home page here. Click on the title below to view the video.
Loss and Recovery of North American Birds
Recorded: March 16, 2021
Presenters: Jerome Ford (USFWS) and Ken Rosenberg (Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and American Bird Conservancy)
Duration: 57 min
Ken Rosenberg discusses the findings of his influential co-authored paper published in Science (Rosenberg et al. 2019), which describes how North America has lost about 3 billion birds since 1970. The declines are not restricted to rare and threatened species; those once considered common and widespread are also diminished. About one third of this decline are forest dwelling species, including wood warblers, aerial insectivores, finches, and thrushes. Ken discusses the threats of forest habitat loss, climate change, pesticides, and other factors, and identifies opportunities for bird population recovery. This work has major implications for forest ecosystem integrity, the conservation of forest birds, and policies associated with the protection of birds and the ecosystems on which they depend.