Monday, May 17, 2010
Report
Urges Action to Protect Mexico, Canada & USA Birds
Partners
in Flight
The United States, Canada and Mexico, on behalf of
the group Partners in Flight, announced the release of the first comprehensive conservation assessment of bird species in North
America in a report that lays out priorities for bird conservation.
Saving our Shared Birds: Partners in Flight Tri-National
Vision for Landbird Conservation was unveiled May 11 at the 15th annual Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation
and Management meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The report was developed by bird conservation experts from the three nations’ leading conservation organizations.
Partners in Flight, a nonprofit organization, is a
cooperative effort involving federal, state and local government agencies, philanthropic foundations, professional organizations,
conservation groups, industry, academic institutions and individuals. The organization seeks effective conservation of Western
Hemisphere bird populations through combining the resources of public and private organizations in the Americas.
The United States, Canada, and Mexico share 882 native
land bird species, almost one-third of which depend substantially on ecosystems in at least two countries during the year.
The report identifies 148 bird species in need of immediate conservation attention because of their highly threatened and
declining populations.
“This Partners in Flight report will help us
build on the great work currently being done by the many federal agencies, conservation groups, academic institutions and
individuals who care about birds throughout the Western Hemisphere,” said Rowan Gould, acting director of the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service. “We are committed to increasing our cooperation with Mexico and Canada and working together to
help save our shared migratory birds.”
“The release of this report illustrates our three
countries’ commitment to the long-term conservation of biological biodiversity and to working with each other to protect
our natural heritage through forums like the Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management,
the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, and the International Year of Biodiversity,” said Virginia Poter, Canadian Wildlife Services’ director-general at Environment Canada.
“The government of Canada is proud to contribute to the conservation of our migratory birds and to collaborate with
the United States and Mexico to protect our shared birdlife.”
“The winter ranges of shared migrants show a
striking geographic overlap with the ranges of species at greatest risk of extinction,” said José Sarukhán Kermez, national
coordinator of Mexico’s National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO). “More than 100
of the migrants shared substantially among our three countries depend on the same tropical and pine-oak forests in Mexico
that support highly threatened tropical residents.”
The report made several key findings:
• The most imperiled birds include 44 species
with very limited distributions, mostly in Mexico, including the thick-billed parrot and horned guan.
• Also at risk
are 80 tropical species with ranges in Mexico that for some — like the red-breasted chat and resplendent quetzal –
extend as far as South America.
• Twenty-four species that breed in the United States and Canada, including the cerulean
warbler, black swift and Canada warbler, warrant immediate action to prevent further declines.
• Populations of 42
common bird species, including the common nighthawk, the eastern meadowlark and the loggerhead shrike, in the United States
and Canada have declined by 50 percent or more in the past 40 years.
The United States has been extending federal protections
to migratory bird species for more than a century. In March, it expanded the regulations that implement the Migratory Bird
Treaty Act of 1918 to protect an additional 186 species.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as the lead federal
agency for managing and protecting migratory birds in the United States, is involved in a wide range of conservation activities.
The success of these activities depends on close coordination and effective partnerships with other federal and state agencies,
tribal governments and private entities, as well as with governments of other nations.
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Washington, D.C., May 13, 2010; America.gov, Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.
