[TN-Bird] Conservation on the Wing

We've all read a great deal recently about the actions of a few intolerant 
apartment owners and the subsequent reactions of bird lovers in New York and 
elsewhere in the story of Pale Male.  A friend and colleague, Pat Patterson, 
penned this article calling birders across the country to stand united for the 
conservation of birds and the well being of the environment. The article ran in 
this morning's Washington Post.  Michael Roedel - TWRA - Nashville
 
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16725-2005Jan17.html
Conservation on the Wing 
By Pat Patterson

Tuesday, January 18, 2005; The Washington Post, Page A17 
About three weeks ago a red-tailed hawk named Pale Male was homeless in New 
York City, robbed by a real estate management company of the habitat (a spiked 
ledge on a Central Park co-op) that he and his mate had occupied for years. 
Although red-tailed hawks are fairly common, there was a great hue and cry in 
New York, and the management company finally agreed to relocate the spikes on a 
different ledge in hopes of providing a new nesting place. 
But Pale Male is only one bird having a hard time. Across the planet, birds, 
which are recognized species indicators of healthy ecosystems, are facing a 
host of challenges. In our immediate area, cerulean warblers are losing nesting 
habitat in the forests of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the effects of climate 
change have the potential to make the Baltimore oriole the Bangor oriole. The 
entire area around the Chesapeake Bay, used by millions of migrating song and 
water birds, is being transformed from bird-friendly habitat into habitat for 
people pursuing birdies, or their own place to nest, among other things. 
Habitat for nesting, food and migration is being fed into the maw of 
consumption and development. 
This doesn't have to be. There are 80 million people in this country who have 
some interaction with birds, ranging from feeding them in their back yards to 
traveling halfway around the world to see a particular species, to hunting them 
for sport and food. Those 80 million people share the lands and waters of Earth 
with 9,917 species of birds. Today more than a thousand of those species are 
considered to be of conservation concern, more than 300 classified as 
endangered and more than 150 thought to be on the edge of extinction. 
The capacity that birds have to ignite our imagination and define our need to 
conserve habitat is powerful. "Bird" is one of the first words we teach our 
children. Birds have been the catalyst for many of our country's greatest 
conservation programs. But with so many species looking at the edge of 
oblivion, isn't it time for us to expand our imagination and do more? 
I have three suggestions. First, this administration needs a conservation 
program it can hang its Stetson on, and birds should be a good fit. Laura Bush, 
according to a story that ran in The Post at the beginning of President Bush's 
first term, says she is a birder. The first lady should use the power of her 
office to do for birds what Lady Bird Johnson did for wildflowers. Second, her 
husband, who claims that he is managing habitat on his ranch for the endangered 
golden-cheeked warbler, should support $100 million in funding for the 
Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act. The act, originally sponsored by 
then-Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.), is up for reauthorization. Bird lovers all 
over the country should make themselves heard on this. 
Finally, there is a need for some focused leadership in the bird conservation 
world. Pale Male's story was covered widely in the papers and was on every 
major news network. But the National Audubon Society's spokesman seemed content 
to focus on one nest for a pair of birds when the real news is hundreds of 
species of birds facing annihilation. What a wasted opportunity. 
Bird conservation organizations such as the American Bird Conservancy (at 
www.abcbirds.org) could attract more supporters, and get to work on the 78 
places they have identified in our hemisphere where birds are in immediate 
danger of extinction. John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of 
Ornithology, says that a focus on birds and their conservation needs would 
produce broad positive gains for conservation in general. You don't have to 
look much further than at what Ducks Unlimited has done for wetland 
conservation to see the truth in that. 
But making such things occur will require more than the words of birding 
conservationists. As David Sibley, the conservationist and author of "The 
Sibley Guide to Birds," has said, "Birds can still be saved if the millions of 
people who love birds band together and become a political and market force for 
conservation." 
What went on in front of a building in New York gives me hope that this could 
happen, that Pale Male's need for a home will begin to resonate far beyond the 
Upper East Side, and that the millions of Americans who say they care about the 
environment and conservation will do more than just say they care. 
The writer is president of the Fairfax Audubon Society and has worked for 
conservation nonprofits for 14 years. 
© 2005 The Washington Post Company 



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