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Three Ways You Can Help Songbirds SurviveMy Canada, Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada; Even if you can't identify these calls with the songbirds that make them, the songs are probably familiar to you. Unfortunately, there are a lot fewer birds singing these days than there were 10, 20 or 30 years ago. This is because most of our songbird populations are in decline. Here are three important things you can do to slow this trend. Support Land ConservationSupport initiatives in your local area that will reduce sprawl and conserve open land. Large tracks of wilderness are important for birds, but so are small parks and woodlands that create a network of habitat in populated areas. The National Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation both have lots of local, state and national initiatives that protect and preserve wildlife habitat. Remember that most of “our” songbirds actually spend half their lives in Central and South America. In the past several decades, deforestation in many of these tropical areas has reduced critical bird habitat by 50% or more. International conservation organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy and Partners in Flight are making significant progress in understanding and addressing the issues of habitat loss in the Americas, and they deserve our support. As consumers, we can seek out products that promote land and habitat conservation. For example, shade-grown coffee is produced beneath a canopy of native trees—an environment that’s good for birds as well as coffee plants. These forested coffee plantations provide important winter habitat for many of our backyard songbirds. When purchasing products made from teak and other tropical hardwoods, look for a seal of approval from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). This certification program ensures the wood was grown and harvested in a way that protect wildlife habitat. Create Wildlife HabitatMany songbirds are perfectly content to live in close proximity to humans. You can help them out by providing food, fresh water, cover and places to raise young, right in your own backyard. Local birds will benefit, as will migrating birds that stop along their journey to rest or feed. Birds are attracted to yards that have a variety of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. Read How to Build a Backyard Bird Haven to learn more. When possible, choose native plants over non-native plants. A recent study in Illinois found that birds that nest in native plants lose fewer eggs to raccoons and other predators than birds that nest in introduced species and cultivars. Encourage local businesses and organizations, farmers and landscapers to change their land management practices too. For example, not mowing fields during the spring allows ground-nesting birds to raise their young undisturbed. Airports, military bases, golf courses and corporations, to name a few, all manage millions of acres of land in the U.S. If all of these groups managed their land for wildlife as well as for people, an enormous amount of habitat would be created. Control Free-Ranging CatsIt’s difficult for cat lovers to admit it, but research confirms that cats kill many millions of songbirds every year. Domesticated cats are strong and well fed and have an unfair advantage over nesting or feeding birds. University of Wisconsin researchers estimate that cats kill about 8 million songbirds each year in southern Wisconsin alone. Keeping cats indoors, especially early and late in the day when birds are most active, will reduce the possibility that it will attack a bird. If you feed birds on the ground, install a low fence right around the area to make it less accessible to cats or other predators. By the way, about those familiar bird songs? The vocalists are white-throated sparrow, robin, yellow warbler and tufted titmouse. For More Information
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