Some recent reports regarding an ongoing study conducted by the journal Science, have indicated a progressive drop in bird species across North America. We are down roughly 3 million birds since 1970. As might be expected, some species are more hard hit than others, while a few have actually increased in that time frame.
This is a very good overview from National Geographic. You’ll see that there are a number of factors at play here, most notable are habitat loss, pesticides, window collisions, and believe it or not, free-roaming house cats, the latter of which is estimated to kill from 1 to 4 million birds a year!
Fortunately, most, if not all of these issues can be addressed and managed in a way that can surely help bird populations, as well as many other affected critters (like honey bees for example) to recover in a robust fashion. I could go into detail about such steps, but frankly I could not say it any better than Bruce Beehler did in this opinion piece on The Hill. It’s a fantastic summary…but most importantly, its doable…IF as a people, we have the resolve to make it happen…and make no mistake, it will not be the legislatures or corporations that will do it…it will be because of a public that cares enough to demand the changes that will see it through.