Spurring action at home to save songbirds
Songbirds including a Baltimore Oriole and Barn Swallows appear on screen as text appears saying, “Imagine a world without songbirds” followed by the SOS Save Our Songbirds logo
SOS Save Our Songbirds launches to promote 3 actions and make them easier
MADISON - The beautiful songs and plumage of birds are welcome signs of spring, yet many people are noticing that their feeders — and nearby fields and forests — have been growing silent as a 30% loss in North American birds hits home in Wisconsin.
To help reverse that loss, the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Bird Conservation Partnership announce today the start of an action campaign, SOS Save Our Songbirds, to make it easier for people to make small changes at home that help birds.
“Our songbirds are in crisis, in Wisconsin and everywhere,” says NRF Executive Director David Clutter. “The pleasure we get from seeing and hearing them will be lost if we don’t act now. The other mental health, economic and environmental benefits that we get from birds will go away too.”
The SOS Save Our Songbirds campaign calls for Wisconsinites to take one or more of three actions at home and provides resources to make those changes easier, cheaper and more convenient.
The three actions are:
• Add a few plants that are good for birds
• Reduce window threats by addressing one window birds tend to collide with
• Buy coffee grown in bird-friendly ways to protect the winter habitats of many Wisconsin migratory birds
Information on why these actions are important for Wisconsin songbirds, suggestions for plants beneficial for birds and where to buy them, and some easy, inexpensive and effective fixes for a problem window at home, are available from the SOS Save Our Songbirds website.
Karen Etter Hale, chair of the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Partnership, says that SOS Save Our Songbirds empowers people to have a positive impact on the birds they love.
“We’re asking everyone to try making one or more of these small changes at home,” she says. “It all adds up. And if you’re already taking these actions, thank you!
“We ask, too, if you will please share what you’re doing with your neighbors, family and friends so they can do good things for birds too.”
The SOS Save Our Songbirds logo features the silhouette of a singing songbird. Songbirds make up 54% of the 226 bird species documented nesting in Wisconsin.
Countering steep losses by giving birds more and safer habitat
In North America, songbird families like native sparrows, warblers, blackbirds and finches suffered the biggest losses according to a 2019 research study that found 3 billion birds, or 30%, of the continent’s bird populations, had disappeared since 1970. Wisconsin is experiencing similar trends, with grassland birds like Bobolinks and Western and Eastern Meadowlarks, and northern forest birds like Evening Grosbeaks, Connecticut Warblers and Canada Jays, suffering some of the largest declines.
Scientists widely regard habitat loss as the biggest driver of bird loss. Through promoting three key actions at home, SOS Save Our Songbird seeks to add some habitat and make it safer by addressing problem windows. Studies have shown that up to 1 billion birds die annually after colliding with windows in U.S. buildings, nearly half of those home windows.
By taking the third action, buying bird-friendly coffee, Wisconsinites are helping protect the migratory stopover and winter grounds of many Wisconsin birds. Forests in coffee-growing regions of Central and South America are being cleared to grow more coffee.
Subscribe for updates and to get seasonal price breaks
People who subscribe to SOS Save Our Songbirds electronic updates will receive discount offers for native plants, window treatments and bird-friendly coffee, along with news about native plant sales.
“We’re very pleased and grateful for the enthusiastic response we’ve had so far from partnering businesses, and are working to secure more price breaks to help people try some of these actions,” says Lisa Gaumnitz, who is coordinating the SOS Save Our Songbirds campaign.
“Every little thing we do will make a difference for songbirds.”
Installing an insect screen to the outside of windows can help prevent birds from flying into the window by breaking up the reflections. Visit the SOS Save Our Songbirds for other options — and product discounts — to help reduce the toll of birds killed after colliding with windows.