Reports

Audubon's new report, Water and Birds in the Arid West: Habitats in Decline, examines the critical habitats that birds like these American Avocet and the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo rely on. By clarifying the relationships among birds, water, and climate change in the region, the report offers recommendations for a sustainable water future for birds and people in the American West.

Although a handful of species have done surprisingly well, many Connecticut birds are suffering slow, steady population declines caused by the loss of their specialized nesting areas, the Connecticut Audubon Society reported this week in its Connecticut State of the Birds 2016 report.

One of the nation's largest and most important wading bird breeding areas—south Florida, which includes Everglades National Park—has seen wading bird nesting plummet 28 percent below 2013 levels and about 18 percent below the nine-year average for the area.

The State of the Birds 2014-the most comprehensive review of long-term trend data for U.S. birds ever conducted - finds bird populations declining across several key habitats and includes a "watch list" of bird species in need of immediate conservation help.

A new report shows that increases in precipitation and changes in vegetative structure in Argentine forests are leading to increased parasitism of young nesting birds by fly larvae (botflies).

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is making available a final report that is designed to help guide the efforts of the States and other partners to conserve the Greater sage-grouse with a landscape level strategy that will benefit the species while maintaining a robust economy in the West.

As part of a study on impacts from the world's most widely used class of insecticides, nicotine-like chemicals called neonicotinoids, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has called for a ban on their use as seed treatments and for the suspension of all applications pending an independent review of the products' effects on birds, terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, and other wildlife.

According to a recently released policy document from the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM), migratory bird deaths at oil and gas operation waste pits have been reduced by 50 -75 percent in the last 15 years, saving an estimated one to one and a half million birds from grisly deaths caused by their landing in chemical-laden waste water pits associated with oil and gas operations.