Connecticut Audubon Society is celebrating 125 years of sharing the joys of nature with the public in 2023.

One way it is doing so is with its third annual “Young, Gifted, and Wild About Birds” program offered via Zoom, featuring five experts working on cutting-edge bird conservation issues.

The first hour-long presentation in the series was by Corina Newsome, of the National Wildlife Federation, on the evening of January 17. She focused on the 2022 State of the Birds report, reviewed specific bird populations in decline, and highlighted ways to help increase populations.

Connecticut Audubon Society Executive Director Patrick Comins prefaced her talk by saying, “Each year we publish the State of the Birds report. In 2021, the report was titled, ‘Three Billion Birds Are Gone. How Do We Bring Them Back?’”

The report detailed the drastic loss of birds in North America over the last 50 years.

He described how that “momentous finding” inspired multiple institutions to go to work trying to find solutions.

Comins said that Newsome would go over the first steps in “the road to recovery for birds.”

For background, he shared that she has a Master’s of Science from Georgia State University, is on the student committee of Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, and was a co-organizer of Black Birders Week in 2020.

‘Ecological Community’

Newsome said that birds are not only a central aspect to the work she does as an ornithologist, but they are also important in her personal life.

“They are a way that I connect with my community around me and the way that I connect with the world around me — the larger ecological community of which I am a part,” she said.

Newsome explained how when she heard the past State of the Birds report about declining bird populations it inspired her to drive from South Georgia to Tennessee to join other bird conservationists in seeing what they could do to help.

Not only do scientists contribute to the data about bird populations, but so can everyday birders by sharing what they see.

“When it comes to the bird losses that we have experienced, those three billion birds, some of the numbers that you may be familiar with include our grassland birds, which experienced the steepest loss of all land birds. We saw a decrease of about 720 million when it comes to grassland birds,” Newsome said.

Specifically, three out of four Eastern Meadowlarks have been lost since 1970.

“When you think of migratory birds — and there are so, so many migratory species of birds across North America — 2.5 billion migratory birds were lost since 1970, including birds like the Baltimore Oriole,” Newsome said.

As for aerial insectivores, there have been 160 million birds lost since 1970, equaling a 32 percent decrease in population.

Two of every five Barn Swallows are now gone, similar to Baltimore Orioles.

Classification Trends

Newsome displayed a graph of the dramatic decline of birds based on their habitat classification from 1970 to 2020.

It showed a population decrease of 26 percent for Aridland Birds, 27 percent for Eastern Forest Birds, 30 percent for Sea Ducks, 33 percent for Shorebirds, 34 percent for Grassland Birds, and 67 percent for Tipping Point Species.

According to Newsome’s slideshow, Tipping Point Species have seen 90 species lose half their populations in the last half a century. If nothing changes, 70 of them will lose another half of their populations in the next 50 years or be in a more perilous state than that.

Tipping Point Species are found throughout all the habitats, even wetlands.

She cited the Allen’s Hummingbird, Laysan Albatross, Bobolink, Greater Sage-Grouse, Prairie Warbler, King Rail, and Hudsonian Godwit as specific examples of Tipping Point Species.

Wetland Birds

“Wetlands were the only habitats where we saw an average increase in the population of birds that inhabit those ecosystems,” Newsome said.

She emphasized that it is not an accident or coincidence that wetland bird trends show an average increase in population.

It is due to the Wetlands Conservation Act, as well as public and private partnerships under the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.

As a result, the positive trend mostly represents waterfowl populations.

“But birds that live, for example, in coastal marshes, salt marshes, or even freshwater marshes are seeing really steep declines. Birds like Saltmarsh Sparrows, Seaside Sparrows, and some of our rails are seeing declines even though they live in that wetland bird category,” Newsome said.

With that in mind, she explained that “targeted efforts are needed” for the species that are in decline in wetlands, just like what was done for waterfowl.

Sparrow Predators

Newsome had the opportunity to study sparrows, such as the Saltmarsh Sparrow, for her master’s research.

She showed what a saltmarsh environment looks like in Georgia and how there is more activity going on than what might appear there at first glance.

“It was really eye-opening to be able to see up-close the dynamics that are threatening [birds’] existence. There are some natural threats that face coastal birds like predation,” Newsome said.

She highlighted how a seaside sparrow predation event can be when an American Mink takes an egg out of a bird’s nest.

“That is a natural dynamic that has always existed,” Newsome said. “But in the context of, for example, climate change, which is an exacerbating threat for species everywhere, we are seeing coastal species like Saltmarsh Sparrows and Seaside Sparrows having essentially this increase or exacerbated threats from threats that may have already existed.”

She then prefaced a video she took during her research with a warning that it may be graphic, even though it is blurry.

“This is a Seaside Sparrow nest that has two eggs and a chick floating on top of water,” Newsome narrated. “It is a high tide event that has unfortunately over-topped the nest. The chick you see had hatched earlier that day, so it is only hours old.”

She continued, “Unfortunately, sea level rise, which is a consequence of climate change, is one of the threats that is being exacerbated for coastal marsh dwelling birds. Flooding itself is a source of mortality … but one thing I found in my research is that flooding actually comes with other aquatic predators.”

The video then revealed a fish accessing the bird nest, because of flooding, then eating the chick.

“When we think of a changing world that birds have to survive in, we’re having to navigate a sweep of novel threats in particular created by climate change,” Newsome said.

Conservation Works

Newsome emphasized that, as seen with waterfowl populations, populations rebound when people invest in conservation through resources and policy.

“Conservation does work … Bird conservation not only benefits birds, it of course benefits the other species that inhabit the ecosystems they live in, but it also benefits us as another species that shares their ecosystem” she said.

Newsome listed that conservation strengthens our natural infrastructure from floods or droughts, it can strengthen climate adaptation to be less susceptible to wildfires and extreme heat, and it increases peoples’ quality of life.

For the latter she said, “There was actually a study that was done, I believe in 2019 or 2020, that showed there is a measurable increase in quality of life with the increase of the diversity of birds, similar to the quality of life increase that we experience when we have a pay raise.”

Another positive aspect of bird conservation that she brought up was how it is a multiplier for environmental justice.

Newsome voiced, “When I say ‘environmental justice’ I’m specifically referring to the fact that there are communities of people, both here in the United States and around the world, that carry the burden of environmental harm or environmental degradation much, much more than other communities. So, Black communities, Indigenous communities, Brown communities, low-wealth communities are typically more exposed to environmental harms and hazards and have decreased access to environmental amenities — the ecosystem services that actually help to sustain our lives. That is environmental injustice, so environmental justice means countering those dynamics and investing in the wellness, the health, and the access to environmental amenities of the communities that have worn those burdens more than anybody else.”

She went on to say that birds connect landscapes as well as communities.

People can read specific story examples of this topic in the State of Birds report, including testimonies from Jose Puente, the Community Leader of Hamilton City, California, and Helen Drummond, executive director of the Houston Audubon.

“There are truly countless examples of these kinds of co-benefits when it comes to bird conservation,” Newsome said.

How To Help

Everyday people can get involved and help fill data holes on eBird. The data holes are generally in places of low wealth or environmentally vulnerable communities.

As for policy, there are two key pieces of legislation that have not passed through Congress, yet. The first is the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act.

“Sixty-two of the 70 Tipping Point Species are Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN). Recovering America’s Wildlife Act will provide much-needed funding for state and tribal conservation,” her presentation detailed.

The other is the Grasslands Act which, she said, “will help farmers, ranchers, Tribal Nations, and others work to collaboratively address the immense challenges facing America’s grasslands and prairies.”

Newsome encouraged everyone to urge their congress members to pass these acts.

Lastly, people can help restore bird populations by coordinating and engaging with all communities and habitats where birds are found.

She ended her presentation on a positive note by reciting a line from an Emily Dickinson poem, that reads, “Hope is the thing with feathers.”

A Q&A portion was then offered for attendees to ask Newsome questions.

For more information about the 2022 State of the Birds report, visit ctaudubon.org/state-of-the-birds.

Upcoming Speakers

Joanna Wu of UCLA had her presentation titled “The Most Overlooked Birds in North America: Females,” on February 2.

The public is still able to register for three upcoming Young, Gifted, and Wild About Birds presentations.

Mikko Jimenez of Colorado State University will be giving his talk “Tracking Migration with BirdScan,” on Thursday, March 2, at 7 pm.

Then, Allison Black, formerly of Connecticut Audubon, will share her experiences as a sea bird and marine mammal observer for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) during her presentation “Birding the High Seas,” on Thursday, March 16, at 7 pm.

Concluding the series will be Kathi Borgmann, PhD, from Cornell Lab of Ornithology, with her session “From Sound Recording to eBird Status and Trends Maps: How Citizen Science Informs Bird Conservation,” on Thursday, April 13, 7 pm.

One hundred percent of the ticket costs for the series goes toward improving bird habitats in the Connecticut Audubon’s 22 sanctuaries.

To register for the remaining sessions, visit ctaudubon.org.

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