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There are now US fish and
Wildlife Service Annual Breeding Bird surveys that span more
than the last three decades. Many Arizona birdwatchers
have participated in these. A recent article in USA
Today pointed out that of the 116 songbirds whose population
has varied since 1966, 76 species showed declines and 40
showed increases in these surveys.
Birds which are well known as
threatened to birdwatchers are species such as the Kirtland's
Warbler which was a victim of overzealous fire control.
The young pine trees needed for nesting were disappearing with
decades of fire control. Now intentional fires as well
as cowbird control have brought this Michigan bird back from
the edge of extinction to some 1,800 individuals.
Florida Scrub-Jay, is another
fire-dependent species. It has radically declined to
some 2,500 individuals due to fire suppression of its scrub
oak habitat which historically renewed itself with fire on a
regular basis.
Another fire dependent species
here in Arizona is the Buff-breasted Flycatcher.
With both fire suppression and unbridled Forest Service
overgrazing, the species has lost both its high quality
grassland open space, and the forest fragmentation and open
space mosaics it needs. Grazing, besides degrading this
bird's grassland habitat, also acts adversely by suppressing
normal fire cycles.
The California Gnatcatcher is
down to perhaps 5,000 birds. The prime ocean frontage
real estate needed by this bird is being developed rapidly.
those who have not seen or heard this perky little gnatcatcher
would be wise to do so. Though it may survive longer in its
presently undeveloped Baja (Mexico) California environs,
current pressures in California are formidable.
The Golden-cheeked Warbler,
now down to an estimated 9,000 to 30,000 individuals, is one
President Bush claims he has seen on his Texas ranch.
Urban sprawl and land clearing is responsible for destruction
of its limited oak-juniper scrub
habitat.
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Military bases like Ft. Drum in
upper New York state can be refuges for the rapidly
disappearing hay fields and pastures needed by the northeast's
Henslow's Sparrows. the spontaneous reforestation of
fallow, abandoned farmlands. while helping the Goshawk return
to New York State, has impacted this sparrow. Originally
natural forest fires opened forested lands for such species.
The Spargue's Pipit, which we
Arizona birders work so hard to see during winter in our
state, has total numbers listed at only some 10,000
individuals. Conservation of the Great Plains prairie
grasslands to croplands, overgrazing, and the introduction of
exotic grasses for cattle has taken a toll on the bird's
limited Dakota, Montana, and Canadian habitat. Also, the
impact of overgrazing in Arizona and elsewhere in its
wintering habitat is a problem.
But we can help save our
songbirds in various ways. According to the American
Bird Conservancy, some 8 million songbirds a year are killed
by cats.
Canopied forest habitat in
Central and South America essential to over-wintering,
migratory North American songbirds is being destroyed by
forest clearing for row crops such as sun coffee. Sun
coffee also requires much more insecticide and
fertilizer. My Safeway store, for the first time, is now
carrying shade coffee. If you can't find shade coffee at
your supermarket, please, come and buy it at our MAS monthly
meetings at the Phoenix Zoo.
Happily, many forest mangers
across the U.S. are now realizing fire is an essential tool in
species survival. However, the billions now being
proposed by Congress for forest thinning as a means of fire
prevention is either subterfuge for old-growth logging or a
tragically misdirected failure to focus on protecting homes
and property at the wildland/urban interfaces between forests
and homes. The western Congressmen supporting this
boondoggle fail to comprehend the importance of fire in
renewing forest ecosystems. They should be focusing on
protecting homes and property at the forest/home edge, rather
than the enrichment of logging companies deep in the forest.
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