Connecticut Audubon Society recently released its 16th annual “State of the Birds” report that included multiple scientific-based articles written by experts in the field.

The public was invited to get a closer look at the report and hear firsthand from those authors during a free virtual program titled “Three Billion Birds Are Gone. How Do We Bring Them Back?” on December 2.

Connecticut Audubon Society Executive Director Patrick Comins led the discussion.

“The starting point for the report is a study published in Science in September 2019, which was written by 11 top ornithologists in the US and Canada, and it shows that over the last 50 years, North America has lost about 30% of its birds," he said. "In other words, there are three billion fewer birds in North America than there were in 1970. And of course, that is concerning.”

Comins went on to say that this “State of the Birds” report is a call to action to the crisis at hand.

“It focuses on our role in the conservation of birds and how Connecticut can help to reverse population declines of certain species; it also focuses on six different species that nest, spend the winter, or migrate through Connecticut, for which Connecticut provides significant habitat for; and on the scientists working to understand why [the birds] are in decline and how to best conserve them,” he detailed.

Comins added that the benefits of bringing back birds not only impacts the 400 species of birds in Connecticut, but it also helps improve land and the state’s goals of reducing climate change.

Ultimately, the information that is included in the report — about rusty blackbirds, common and roseate terns, long-tailed ducks and white-winged scoters, wood thrush, and semipalmated sandpipers — will help with conservation efforts going into next year.

Authors’ Discoveries

Dr Peter P. Mara, from Georgetown University’s Georgetown Environment Initiative and the senior author of the 2019 Science report, was the first guest speaker. His work, titled “Reimagining Bird Conservation in the 21st Century,” focused on what the response needs to be after seeing such dramatic declines in bird populations.

“We have to continue to do the types of broad scale conservation that we are doing [such as] land protection, removal of threats. But I kind of felt like we needed to think more [carefully] about the specific declines happening with species level declines,” Mara said.

There is new science available that can help them understand what is going on with individual species, as well as coalitions of people nationally who are working together.

“We started a new group called the Road to Recovery to try to bring together everyone at the species-specific level to try to understand why these declines are happening for these specific species and you’re going to hear some examples today,” Mara said.

He added that he remains “hopeful and optimistic” that together they can help these species like they have done with others in the past.

Following Mara was Dr Carol R. Floss, of New Hampshire Audubon, who wrote “Searching the Forest of Far Northern New Hampshire for the Key to Rusty Blackbird Declines.”

The medium-sized songbird breeds across America and winters in the eastern United States, according to Floss.

Her slide noted that a rusty blackbird Breeding Bird Survey “estimated a 97% decline over 40 years.”

Floss discussed how tracking the birds, taking samples, and monitoring their nests are some ways that help researchers understand more about the rusty blackbird.

“We’ve been collecting and analyzing used nests after the breeding season to document the level of parasitism in our population. We finally have enough years of data to start looking at relationships between spring weather and the rate of parasitism,” she said. “So maybe in another 10 years or so we’ll have enough data to have some insight into whether and how climate change may be affecting the range retraction and population decline.”

Floss also noted that collaborative research has identified high mortality in the non-breeding period of rusty blackbirds, especially for juveniles, which is a key factor driving the population decline. She looks forward to using available tracking technologies in the next few years to understand when it is specifically happening and what is causing it.

Climate Change

Dr Peter Paton, of University of Rhode Island, is the coauthor, alongside Pamela Loring, of “One Good Tern Deserves Another: Common and Roseate Terns in Long Island Sound.”

Roseate terns have been federally listed as endangered since 1987, and common terns are considered a species of concern.

Paton explained, “Common terns can nest by themselves, but roseate terns, at least in the Northwest Atlantic, only nest on islands where there are common terns … there’s this symbiotic relationship between the two species that [is] critical for the long-term survival of roseate terns.”

In the Northwest Atlantic, there are colonies on Long Island Sound, Great Gull Island, Falkner Island, Bird Island, and Ram Island.

He noted that climate change and storm impacts are a concern for roseate terns. Thankfully, there have been efforts to increase nest sites for them, which is currently helping their population.

“The major concern is the relationship between colony size and the number of pairs of roseate terns in the region,” Paton said.

Great Gull Island, Bird Island, and Ram Island account for 90% of the roseate tern population, so if anything happens to those islands the birds would be in trouble. Also, if sea-levels rise in the future, their nesting habitats would be impacted.

Dr Timothy White, from Department of The Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, wrote “Food-Rich Shoals Provide Refuge for Collapsing Sea Duck Populations.”

He spoke about long-tailed ducks and white-winged scoters on the Nantucket Shoals. He was part of a collaboration that conducted aerial surveys of these bird populations.

White found that there are “high concentrations of these ducks on the shoals,” where they can feed on crustaceans. The concern comes from them choosing specific locations, similar to the concern with terns.

Dr Calandra Stanley, of Georgetown University, is the author of “Wood Thrush Have Declined by 60% — Chasing Them Through Their Annual Cycle to Learn Why.”

She started off by saying, “Unfortunately, the wood thrush has been the poster child for declining songbirds for decades now. Over the last 50 years, their global population has declined by 60%, according to bird survey data.”

Stanley noted that in Connecticut specifically, they are declining at an annual rate of 2.4%.

Monitoring Breeding Cycle

To learn more about this decline, they are evaluating the wood thrush’s annual cycle of breeding, fall migration, wintering, and spring migration, known as migratory connectivity.

Within the last 15 years or so, new tracking technology for small songbirds has been developed. Geolocator deployments is being done two ways: with archival light loggers and archival GPS tags on the birds.

Researchers have found that deforestation on both their breeding and wintering grounds are key threats to the species.

Following Stanley’s talk, Dr Brooke Bateman, of the National Audubon Society, discussed her article, “Birds Are Telling Us It’s Time to Act on Climate Change.”

“Global warming and climate change pose a threat to birds in that we can think of climate change as a threat multiplier,” Bateman said. “We already have an existing crisis where birds are declining dramatically, and climate change is only going to make that worse.”

The study she conducted showed that if nothing is done now, 389 bird species will be on the brink of extinction.

“The really good news from our science, though, is that when we looked at the different amounts of climate change in the future, if we can take dramatic action now to sort of stabilize climate change and do climate mitigation … 76% of those species at risk to climate change will be better off,” Bateman said.

Additionally, she said that climate change and the issue of biodiversity must be tackled together. By restoring carbon-rich and species-rich ecosystems, it can help limit biodiversity loss and climate change.

Comins then stepped in to briefly deliver findings from David Mizrahi, of New Jersey Audubon Society, about semipalmated sandpipers.

He explained that semipalmated sandpipers are facing multiple threats, including to their nesting grounds, from climate change, attacks from red foxes, and difficulty finding food and rest during migration.

Connecticut has four “globally important bird areas,” which he listed as the Connecticut River, Milford Point on the Housatonic, Long Beach in Stratford, and Sandy Point in West Haven, that help them on their migratory journey.

“This is a species that has declined about 80% over the past, I think about 30 years,” Comins said.

What You Can Do

The last speaker of the event was Connecticut Audubon Society Senior Director of Science and Conservation Dr Miley Bull, who focused on what the public can do to help bring back birds.

Recommendations he shared included helping pass important legislation in Congress. He specified that there are two bills that need to get passed immediately: The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act and Migratory Bird Protection Act of 2021.

Bull also advises that people in power protect open space, fund the Community Investment Act, and increase funding for both the Open Space And Watershed Land Acquisition Grant Program and the Recreation And Natural Heritage Trust Program.

“These programs are critically important as we look for new and innovative ways to fund land conservation and stewardship. We need to find more land, protect more land, and need to steward it the right way,” he said.

Bull said the public can help reduce the birds from dying by keeping their cats indoors, preventing window strikes, reducing their use of pesticides, and planting native species.

Comins concluded the program by thanking everyone who participated in the discussion and opened the floor for any questions.

For more information about the Connecticut Audubon Society’s “State of the Birds” 2021 report, visit ctaudubon.org/state-of-the-birds. For a list of recommendations on ways to help, visit ctaudubon.org/2021/12/ct-state-of-the-birds-2021-recommendations.

Reporter Alissa Silber can be reached at alissa@thebee.com.