Bird Conservation on Private Lands Why Birds Matter

1. Bird Conservation on Private Lands Why Birds Matter

2. Why Birds Matter Keeping Common Bird Common Hazards/Threats Ecosystem Services Birds Provide Economic Value of Birds Aesthetic/Intrinsic Value

3. The Value of Birds • Everywhere we go… • Everywhere we develop… • Everywhere we live… Birds live there too… It is nearly impossible to avoid birds and their habitat

4. Why Birds Matter Keeping Common Bird Common Hazards/Threats Ecosystem Services Birds Provide Economic Value of Birds Aesthetic/Intrinsic Value

5. Goals Help species at risk Keep common birds common Work through voluntary partnerships

6. Keeping Common Birds Common Endangered species approach doesn’t work for all species Keep all species “well distributed across their historical ranges” Birds occur in all habitats except the deep sea They are critical players in all ecosystems They are excellent indicators of habitat quality Sensitive to conditions Well known – better than any other group Relatively easy and cheap to monitor Well established monitoring protocols and data management

7. 2004 U.S. + Canada 448 species 2010 U.S. + Canada + Mexico 882 species www.PartnersInFlight.org

8. Why Birds Matter Keeping Common Bird Common Hazards/Threats Ecosystem Services Birds Provide Economic Value of Birds Aesthetic/Intrinsic Value

9. #1 – Habitat loss and degradation ~Permanent loss of capacity

10. Hazards/Threats

11. Loss, S.R., T. Will, and P.P. Marra. 2012. Direct human-caused mortality of birds: improving quantification of magnitude and assessment of population impact. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 10(7):357-364.

12. The Need for Bird Conservation Historical Impacts

13. Need for Bird Conservation Unregulated Hunting

14. The Need for Bird Conservation Feathered Hats

15. The Need for Bird Conservation Modern Extinctions

16. The Need for Bird Conservation The Passenger Pigeon “A Kentucky flock was a mile wide and passed for 4 hours at a rate of 1 mile/minute giving us an estimate of 230,272,000 pigeons” Alexander Wilson

17. The Need for Bird Conservation A Moment that Changed Bird Conservation 1914

18. A New Era for Bird Conservation Migratory Bird Treaty with Canada (1916) “Whereas many of these species are of great value… [they] are nevertheless in danger of extermination through lack of adequate protection during nesting season or while on their way to and from their breeding grounds…”

19. Conserving today’s birds for tomorrow 100 Years of Migratory Bird ConservationMigratory Bird Treaty Centennial1916-2016

20. A New Era for Bird Conservation Migratory Bird Treaty Act (1918)

21. Why Birds Matter Keeping Common Bird Common Hazards/Threats Ecosystem Services Birds Provide Economic Value of Birds Aesthetic/Intrinsic Value

22. Ecosystem Services Insect predation During outbreaks of western spruce budworm, the Evening Grosbeak provides biological control services worth $5,167/km2 Pollination Seed dispersal and caching Scavenging and nutrient cycling Rodent predation Tree cavity production The Need to Quantify Ecosystem Services Provided By Birds (The Auk, Wenny et al. 2011)

23. Value of Birds Ecological Role “Birds are technologically advanced, highly motivated, extremely efficient, cost-effective insect pest controllers.” Research Scientist Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center Bird populations can be good indicators for the overall health of habitats, reflecting the health of these habitats and the environmental services they provide.

24. Value of Birds Environmental Services Barn Swallows breed in North America and winter in Central and South America. A single Barn Swallow can eat 60 insects in an hour, up to 850 per day.

25. Value of Birds Environmental Services Carrion eaters are nature’s decomposers. Removing dead and decaying material from the landscape, preventing disease.

26. Why Birds Matter Keeping Common Bird Common Hazards/Threats Ecosystem Services Birds Provide Economic Value of Birds Aesthetic/Intrinsic Value

27. Economic Value of Birds

28. Economic Value of Birds

29. Value of Birds Adding to the Economy • 2.6 Million Migratory Bird Hunters • $1.8 Billion annual hunting expenditure • “Of all the wildlife in the US, birds attract the biggest following.” • 48 million birdwatchers • 50 million people feed birds • $35 Billion annual expenditure Vaux’s Swift – Mike Danzenbaker

30. Why Birds Matter Keeping Common Bird Common Hazards/Threats Ecosystem Services Birds Provide Economic Value of Birds Aesthetic/Intrinsic Value

31. Aesthetic/Intrinsic Value Michael Potts

32. Path To Solutions Full Life-cycle Conservation

33. International Migratory Bird Day

35. Proactive Conservation Non-regulatory Non-advocacy Voluntary Looking for shared interests among all partners Combine priorities & objectives with opportunities

36. Proactive Conservation Science-based Priorities and Objectives

37. Joint Ventures Joint Ventures are self-directed, regional partnerships of public and private organizations, and individuals, dedicated to implementing bird habitat conservation. Dave Smith – NRCS background

38. Proactive Conservation Occurs at other scales too Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act USFWS Birds of Conservation Concern Focal Species Plans Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Bird Conservation Committee Resident Game Bird Working Group Waterfowl Working Group PIF/Shorebird/Waterbird Working Group North American Bird Conservation Initiative Council for the Conservation of Migratory Birds Implement Executive Order 13186

41. Value of Birds Environmental Services Yellow Warblers summer in North America and winter in Central and South America. On their wintering grounds, Yellow Warblers control harmful insects that attack coffee plantations. Birds increase coffee yield—up to $310 per acre.

42. Value of Birds Environmental Services Red-tailed Hawks play a vital role controlling small mammal populations. 85% of their diet consists of mice, shrews, voles, squirrels, rabbits and opossums.

43. WHY BIRDS? State of Idaho Management Authority

44. Idaho Statute 36:103a WILDLIFE PROPERTY OF STATE PRESERVATION. (a) Wildlife Policy. All wildlife, including all wild animals, wild birds, and fish, within the state of Idaho, is hereby declared to be the property of the state of Idaho. It shall be preserved, protected, perpetuated, and managed. It shall be only captured or taken at such times or places, under such conditions, or by such means, or in such manner, as will preserve, protect, and perpetuate such wildlife, and provide for the citizens of this state and, as by law permitted to others, continued supplies of such wildlife for hunting, fishing and trapping.

45. Idaho Statute 36:103b Commission to Administer Policy. Because conditions are changing and in changing affect the preservation, protection, and perpetuation of Idaho wildlife, the methods and means of administering and carrying out the state's policy must be flexible and dependent on the ascertainment of facts which from time to time exist and fix the needs for regulation and control of fishing, hunting, trapping, and other activity relating to wildlife, and because it is inconvenient and impractical for the legislature of the state of Idaho to administer such policy, it shall be the authority, power and duty of the fish and game commission to administer and carry out the policy of the state in accordance with the provisions of the Idaho fish and game code. The commission is not authorized to change such policy but only to administer it.

46. http://birdnote.org/show/brewers-sparrow-sageland-singer