Blue Ridge Country July/August 2020 - 10

C R E AT U R E F E AT U R E

Barn swallows like to
perch on wires.

Song of the South
Large Blue Ridge forests may be protecting native songbirds.
By NANCY HENDERSON

ordan Rutter has been intrigued by avian creatures ever since she and her family began taking
birdwatching walks when she was a toddler. Over
the years, however, she's noticed a drop in some
species.
So it didn't come as a surprise when a 2019
study based on community-gathered data and released by Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, American
Bird Conservancy and other groups confirmed that 3
billion birds-nearly 30%-had disappeared in the U.S.
and Canada between 1970 and 2017. One third, including many species found in the Appalachians, are native
to the eastern part of the country. The North American population of dark-eyed Juncos, for instance, has
decreased by 168 million, while the number of whitethroated sparrows is down by 93 million birds.
"This paper is putting numbers to something that so
many of us have already seen," says Rutter, 30, director
of public relations for the Washington, D.C.-based ABC.
"This is not so much a wakeup call as a rallying call."
Of great concern is the widespread loss of easily recognized backyard feeder species.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

ordan Rutter, director of public relations at the American Bird
Conservancy, shares these tips for protecting native songbirds:

* Keep cats indoors. "That's something that takes no money, no
level of experience or expertise," Rutter says. "It's just about being
a responsible pet owner because our pets-dogs too-impact
wildlife."
* Prevent window collisions. Break up the reflection by investing in
panes made with UV film or letting your kids paint seasonal images
on the glass.
* Grow native plants in your garden to create a "restaurant" that
attracts insects. Manmade feeders don't provide the protein that
baby birds need.

BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM

"That's also what is the most shocking, because if the
common birds are declining, then that means something else is wrong," says Rutter. "We're not talking
about rare, exotic birds that only specific bird people
would know about. They're birds that people, [even
though they] can't actually name, are familiar with, like
barn swallows. Two in five barn swallows have been lost
since 1970."
Rutter cites two "buckets" of causes for the decline:
worldwide habitat loss and human actions like building
windows.
"Birds don't have windows on bird nests," she points
out. "Birds don't grow up knowing to avoid windows."
But there's a bright spot: Large swaths of woodlands,
like those in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
in Tennessee and North Carolina, might be protecting
their winged inhabitants. Although some birds prefer areas with young saplings and open canopy spaces, many
like dense, uninterrupted stretches of forest that help
keep them safer.
In addition, overwintering birds like cardinals and
towhees may fare better than those that fly south in
cold weather. Continent-wide radar monitoring reveals
a steep 10-year decline in migratory species.
"They face so many more threats," Rutter says. "They
can't make it in one trip. They don't fly airplanes that
can just go from Point A to Point B. They have to stop
and we don't know where those places are. Then on top
of that, they're encountering power lines and lights at
night and predators everywhere."
Many groups, from ABC to paper companies and
private land owners, are working to save regional birds
through awareness and smart management practices.
Although not technically a songbird-unless, perhaps,
you classify its trademark drumming as rap-the woodpecker offers one success story. Nationwide, the strongbilled birds show an 18% population growth since 1970.
"The big picture is that there is hope," Rutter says.
"We have a start in making a positive difference."

http://www.BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM

Blue Ridge Country July/August 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country July/August 2020