The first-ever comprehensive assessment of bird population trends in the U.S. and Canada reveals that 2.9 billion individual birds have been lost in the region since 1970. This is a 29% decline—more than 1 in every 4 birds gone. This includes even common birds: more than 90% of the losses come from 12 bird families that include familiar species like Dark-eyed Junco, both species of meadowlark, and Red-winged Blackbird.
Yet there is hope! Simple actions like eBirding can help us better understand and therefore potentially control these declines—sharing your observations allows us to understand population changes over time and better inform conservation efforts. The information from your everyday eBird checklists is critically important in helping us understand how bird populations are doing at the continental, hemispheric, and global scales. Thank you.
Learn more about the study results and see how you can help.
Citation: Rosenberg, K. V. et al. 2019. Decline of the North American Avifauna. Science 365(6461). doi: 10.1126/science.aaw1313