Bird Calls Blog

Bird Calls brings birds to life on the page with a stream of bird-related stories, tips, perspectives, and more.

Creating ABC's Conservation and Justice Fellowships
Over the next month, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) will publish a series of blog posts written by our 2022 Conservation and Justice Fellows on topics ranging from farmworker rights to the cultural importance of Hawaiian forest birds. The following is the origin story of ABC's fellowship program, written by ABC's Chief Diversity Officer Naamal De … Read More>>
ABC Birding: Palila Forest Discovery Trail, Hawai'i
Lay of the Land: Located on the island of Hawai‘i, the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve's Palila Forest Discovery Trail — designed and supported with help from American Bird Conservancy (ABC) — goes through one of the largest remaining tracts of high-elevation dry forest remaining in the state. Accessible only via four-wheel-drive vehicle, this area is home … Read More>>
ABC Garden Tour: Cutting Down Pesticide Use in a Native Plant-Rich Yard in Ohio
Hear the birds! Sniff the flowers! Drink some lemonade! Summer is in full swing here in Ohio, which means tons of time spent outdoors enjoying nature. Whether in your yard, on your fire escape, in a community garden, or throughout a public park, we humans LOVE tending to plants and digging in the dirt. It … Read More>>
Majority of U.S. State Wildlife Websites Do Not Have Clear Information About Lead Impacts on Birds
American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is dedicated to mitigating the harmful impacts of human activity on bird habitats. This includes advocating for more transparency about how toxins put into the environment, including chemicals like insecticides and metals like lead, impact birds and other wildlife.  As part of this work, in June 2023, ABC conducted a survey … Read More>>
Five Ways to Take Action to Reduce Pesticides
Around 1 billion pounds of conventional pesticides are sprayed and scattered each year in the United States, and many of these chemicals remain in soil and water for months or years, killing far more than just the garden pests we hope to eliminate. Pesticides can harm birds in a number of ways. They can suppress … Read More>>
The New Farm Bill Could Increase Native Plant Availability for Grassland Birds. Here's How.
The Farm Bill, the United States' largest source of funding for conservation, is up for revision this year. Drafts of the Farm Bill are being developed now by both Houses of Congress, though the new legislation probably won't be completed until 2024. A lot still has to happen before Farm Bill legislation can be introduced, … Read More>>
Helping Birds Weather Climate Change
Climate change menaces birds in many ways, but conservationists are already hard at work tackling some of the most significant threats. Below are some strategies for adaptation and mitigation being used by American Bird Conservancy (ABC), our partners, and other conservationists — each for a different threat posed by climate change. Fire Prevention and Control … Read More>>
Demystifying Rosy-Finches: Understanding the American West's Off-the-Grid Endemics
About 250,000 years ago — just a few moments in evolutionary time — small songbirds, likely patterned in brown and pink, island-hopped from Asia to what would become Alaska. Over the ensuing millennia, these birds' descendants spread across western North America and evolved into three of our continent's least-studied songbirds: the rosy-finches. North America's three … Read More>>
Hazardous Protections: The Challenge of Shielding Birds and Farmworkers from Pesticides While Temperatures Rise
In June in Central Valley, California, migrant farmworkers rise before the sun. They wrap themselves tight in personal protective equipment — socks, boots, a bandana, gloves, goggles, and, finally, coveralls. They're in the field by 4 a.m. The field is dark, save for distant wildfire's flickering flame. As the sun rises and the hours go … Read More>>
How Are Seabirds Impacted by Ocean Plastic, and What Can You Do to Help?
As the use of plastic has grown throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, so too has the ubiquity of plastic waste in the world's oceans. Of all the world's birdlife, seabirds such as albatrosses, gannets, and gulls are hit especially hard by this threat. As we enter beach season, the American Bird Conservancy Action Fund … Read More>>

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