Media Contact: Jordan Rutter, Director of Public Relations, 202-888-7472 | jerutter@abcbirds.org | @JERutter
Program Contact: Mike Parr, President, 202-888-7486 | mparr@abcbirds.org | @michaeljparr

Among other programs. ABC plans to work with BirdLife partners to fill gaps in the protected areas network, benefiting birds such as the Gray-bellied Comet (shown). Photo by Manual Roncal-Rabanal

(Washington, D.C., August 6, 2020) American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is delighted to join the BirdLife International partnership, becoming the second BirdLife Partner in the United States alongside the National Audubon Society.

“It's exciting to join this excellent global network of conservation groups devoted to one cause — saving birds,” said Mike Parr, ABC President. “Connecting with like-minded groups from across the Americas and the rest of the world, we can achieve more to advance our joint mission of bird conservation at this critical time: We've lost nearly 3 billion birds from North America alone in the past 50 years. We need to turn these declines around.”

“The challenges are so huge that we need to collectively bring all the energy we can muster to this fight to save the places birds need,” said Audubon CEO and President David Yarnold.

“We are delighted to welcome the newest member of the BirdLife International family. ABC is a collaborative and passionate organization which becomes our second Partner in the United States. Nature and birds need us now, more than ever, and only by working together with effective and ambitious partnerships will we be able to make it happen,” said BirdLife International CEO Patricia Zurita.

The BirdLife International partnership is a growing network of national conservation NGOs working for the conservation of birds.

In addition to contributing to BirdLife's Americas-wide bird conservation strategy to surmount the challenges confronting birds, ABC plans to work with other BirdLife partners on programs including:

• Filling gaps in the protected areas network to conserve Endangered and Critically Endangered birds such as the Gray-bellied Comet, Antioquia Brushfinch, Blue-throated Hillstar, and Cherry-throated Tanager.
• Reducing the impacts of the wild bird trade.
• Identifying priority sites and landscapes for birds to help focus joint conservation efforts — areas such as Southern Cone grasslands, Andean forests, Brazil's Atlantic Forest, and Pacific Islands.
• Facilitating the full-life-cycle work needed to reverse declines in North American migratory birds and endemic threatened species that share habitats throughout the Americas.
• Applying innovative strategies to scale up bird conservation, such as encouraging the investment of private capital to support conservation.
• Developing outreach and engagement programs to involve diverse communities, including children and youth, in birding and bird conservation.

“ABC and BirdLife International have long collaborated on promoting the conservation of Alliance for Zero Extinction sites and Key Biodiversity Areas,” says Daniel Lebbin, ABC's Vice President of Threatened Species. “Together, we can help support a robust and vibrant community supporting bird conservation across the Americas. We are excited to strengthen our partnership with BirdLife and accomplish more for birds together.”

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American Bird Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. With an emphasis on achieving results and working in partnership, we take on the greatest problems facing birds today, innovating and building on rapid advancements in science to halt extinctions, protect habitats, eliminate threats, and build capacity for bird conservation. Find us on abcbirds.org, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@ABCbirds).

BirdLife International is the world's largest nature conservation Partnership. Together we are 117 BirdLife Partners worldwide — one per country or territory — and growing with 13 million members and supporters, over 7,000 local conservation groups and 7,400 staff.

BirdLife's vision is a world rich in biodiversity, where people and nature live in harmony. We are driven by our belief that local people, working for nature in their own places but connected nationally and internationally through our global Partnership, are the key to sustaining all life on this planet. This unique local-to-global approach delivers high impact and long-term conservation for the benefit of nature and people.

The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. Audubon works throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. State programs, nature centers, chapters, and partners give Audubon an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire, and unite diverse communities in conservation action. A nonprofit conservation organization since 1905, Audubon believes in a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Learn more at www.audubon.org and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @audubonsociety.