Every year I get several letters like one that came in mid-February from WXPR listener Doug Heise, who lives in Rhinelander and has been feeding birds for 30 years. He wrote about the species he’s fed over the years: “So many different varieties. chickadees, nuthatches, many types of finches, Pine Siskins, Chipping Sparrows, cardinals, Blue […]
Tag: endangered species
The decline, East to West, of the Golden-winged Warbler
The once common Golden-winged Warbler now has one of the smallest populations of any songbird not on the Endangered Species List. An estimated 400,000 breeding adults remained in 2013—a drop of 66 percent since the 1960s, based on Breeding Bird Survey numbers. This survey, which focuses on males singing on territories, began in 1966; we […]
Endangered Species Act: A Big Success!
One of the most frustrating elements for me of the toxic political climate today is how little facts seem to matter anymore in public discourse. It’s become a common belief that the Endangered Species Act hasn’t worked because, since its passage in 1973, only a handful of species have recovered enough to be de-listed. Just […]
Kirtland’s Warbler: Endangered Species Act Success Story!
In the movie When Harry Met Sally, Sally Albright orders a piece of pie in a restaurant saying, “I’d like the pie heated and I don’t want the ice cream on top, I want it on the side, and I’d like strawberry instead of vanilla if you have it, if not then no ice cream […]
Piping Plovers Here and There
In June 2013 during my Conservation Big Year, when I still needed to see an endangered Roseate Tern, I learned that I had a good chance of seeing one or more feeding at Popham Beach State Park in Maine. Sure enough, I saw one there—the only Roseate Tern I saw all year—but that listing conquest […]
Is It Spring Yet?
I realize the east coast of the US is reeling from the latest of many severe winter storms this winter. But here in SW Colorado spring is in the air. It has been unseasonably warm with snow pack far below normal. The ski resorts are hurting and exceptionally dry conditions may cause issues later this year. But […]
Nearly Half of Our Birds Are at Risk of Extinction This Century
The National Audubon Society’s Birds and Climate Change Report should give us all deep cause for concern. The findings are heartbreaking: Nearly half of the bird species in the United States will be seriously threatened by 2080, and any of those could disappear forever. For the first time, Audubon scientists have analyzed decades of historical […]
EXPOSED – USDA’s Secret War on Wildlife
The United States Department of Agriculture’s “Wildlife Services” is a rogue organization that kills over 100,000 native predators and millions of birds each year, including Endangered Species. This killing agency is supported by tens of millions of our tax dollars each year. You can view an interactive graphic showing the number and variety of animals […]