International Migratory Bird Today

Today was International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD). Though I would usually be out birding today, a conservation meeting took up my morning and it was too late to do a count. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to check out the International Migratory Bird Day website. Our Arkansas Valley Audubon Society is proud that this year's IMBD poster was painted by long-time board member, Mark Yeager (aka Radeaux).

The theme of this year's IMBD was the Boreal Forest: Bird Nursery of the Americas. A consortium of bird conservation groups have joined together to form the Boreal Songbird Initiative with lots of information on birds of the boreal forest. This group states that "80% of the waterfowl species of North America, 63% of the finch species,and 53% of warbler species breed in the Boreal." More than 60 bird species that are regularly seen in Colorado breed in the boreal forest including both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs (did you know that these are ecological different species and recent studies indicate they may not even be related!).

Today was also designated as Endangered Species Day by the US Senage. Success stories as a result of the Endangered Species Act are celebrated on a Center for Biological Diversity website

The bad news is that "Polar bears and hippos are among more than 16,000 species of animals and plants threatened with global extinction," according to a press release this week from the World Conservation Union. "The list includes one in three amphibians, a quarter of the world's mammals and coniferous trees, and one in eight birds, according to a preview of the 2006 Red List. The full report is published later this week. read more here


SeEtta