Birds and Wetlands
If you care about birds, you care about wetlands
Birds need wetlands
* Eighty percent of U.S. threatened and endangered bird species rely on wetlands or the functions that wetlands provide.
1* Birds use many different types of wetlands and riparian habitats for nesting, breeding, shelter, feeding and drinking water as well as for crucial resting periods during long migrations.
2* One-third of the 1,900 North American birds species use wetlands.
3 138 of these species are wetland-dependent 4, meaning they cannot survive without wetland habitats.* Concentrations of small wetlands are often critical to birds. For example, the Prairie Pothole region of the upper Midwest accounts for only 10% of the total duck-breeding habitat in North America, yet produces 50% of the continent's remaining duck populations.
5* Migratory birds continue the cycle of wetland life by carrying wetland vegetation seeds and depositing them along their migratory flyways.
6Human alteration of natural wetlands seriously affects the health of bird populations.
* Water use and associated human alteration of water levels in wetlands contributes to many declining bird populations.
7Nationally, more than 100,000 acres of wetlands continue to be destroyed every year.
8* Shorebirds by definition feed in wetland tide- and mudflats. Due to degradation and destruction of habitats, the estimated decline of some shorebird populations has been extreme. In recent years the Dowitcher population declined by 40%, Whimbrel by 60% and the Sanderling population declined by a staggering 80%.
9* Populations of nesting wading birds in the Everglades have declined 80-90% during the last half of this century.
10 This decline is largely due to the draining of over half of the Everglades wetlands in this time period. 11* In the Atlantic flyway, 21% of wading bird species are undergoing widespread population decreases.
12* Eighty percent of known hazardous waste sites are in, adjacent to or drain into wetlands. About 20% of the nation's endangered species are imperiled at least in part because of the harmful effects of contaminants.
13* Small, seasonal, and temporary wetlands are under increasing pressure for reduced protection and are being filled and drained, yet many migratory birds, shorebirds, waterfowl, salamanders, and other amphibians depend on them.
14* Preserving existing natural wetlands is essential for birds. While wetland creation and restoration may be possible in some situations, we do not yet fully understand the complexity of wetland ecosystems
15 and cannot rely on created and restored wetlands to achieve our nation's no net-loss goal.Migratory birds need wetlands along their entire migration route
* There are four major migratory flyways: the Pacific, Central, Mississippi, and Atlantic. Many birds spend the winter in Latin or South America, flying north to breeding grounds in Alaska, Canada and the continental U.S., and utilizing millions of wetlands along the way.
16* The blue-winged teal travels 9,600 kilometers from its home above 60
degrees North latitude in Canada to Argentina and Uruguay below 30 degrees South latitude, stopping at wetlands all along its route. 17* Research suggests that the number of birds migrating over the Gulf of Mexico in the springtime has decreased by one-half since the mid-1960's. This decline is due in part to loss of habitat in both North America and wintering grounds in South America.
18* For migrating shorebirds, degradation of one critical wetland habitat could result in the loss of an entire species.
19 Conversely, protecting one critical habitat can help protect an entire species.1- Karen Day Boylan & Donald R. MacLean, "Linking Species Loss with Wetlands Loss," National Wetlands Newsletter 19 (6) (Nov-Dec, 1997): 1, 13-17.
2- Robert E. Stewart, Jr., "Wetlands as Bird Habitat," in National Water Summary on Wetland Resources, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2425 (Washington, DC: US G.P.O, 1996), 49.
3- Donald E. Kroomsda, "Habitat Values for Nongame Wetland Birds," in Wetland Functions and Values: the State of Our Understanding, Proceedings of the National Symposium on Wetlands November 7-10, 1978, Lake Buena Vista, FL (Minneapolis, MN: American Water Resources Association, 1979), 321.
4- American Ornithologists' Union, Checklist of North American Birds (Lawrence, KS: Allen Press, Inc., 6th edition, 1983) as qtd. by Robert E. Stewart, Jr., "Wetlands as Bird Habitat," in National Water Summary on Wetland Resources, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2425 (Washington, DC: US G.P.O, 1996), 51.
5- Ralph W. Tiner, In Search of Swampland: A Wetland Sourcebook and Field Guide (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1998), 81.
6- Robert W. Bateman, Antony W. Diamond, and Rudolf L. Schreiber, Save the Birds (St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada: Breakwater Books, 1989), 140.
7- Dale E. Gawlik, "Effects of Water Depth on Feeding-Habitat Quality for Wading Birds in the Everglades: An Experiment Using `Giving-Up Density' of Prey," at the 1998 Meeting of the Colonial Waterbird Society, October 21-24, 1998, North Miami Beach, FL, October 23, 1998.
8- T.E. Dahl, R.D. Young and M.C. Caldwell, "Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Conterminous United States." U. S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service (Washington, DC, 1997) 1.
9- Paul R. Ehrlich and Jamie K. Reaser, "Birding for Fun: Neotropical Migrants and the Art of Turning Birders into International Conservationists," in American Birds (48) 1: (Spring, 1994), 22.
10- John C. Ogden, "A Comparison of Wading Bird Nesting Colony Dynamics (1931-1946 and 1974-1989) as an Indication of Ecosystem Conditions in the Southern Everglades," in Everglades: The Ecosystem and its Restoration (Delray Beach, FL: St. Lucie Press, 1994), 541.
11- Ibid., 566-567.
12- Michael Rands and Martin Kelsey, "Call to Action," in American Birds (48):1 (Spring, 1994) 38.
13- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Contaminants Program, Ensuring Quality Habitat for Fish and Wildlife. United States Dept. of the Interior (Washington, DC, 1998) 5.
14- Ann Robinson, "Small and Seasonal Does Not Mean Insignificant Research, 32 (3) (March 1996),: Why it's Worth Standing up for Tiny and Temporary Wetlands," in Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 50 (6)
(November-December 1995), 586.15- Randy J. Hunt and David P. Krabbenhoft, "Groundwater inflow measurements in wetland systems," in Water Resources Research, 32 (3) (March 1996), 495.
16- Russell Greenberg and Jamie Reaser, Bring Back the Birds (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1995) 16-20.
17- "World Wetlands Day," Wetlands International website, cited 12 April 1999.
18- Bonney, Rick, Susan Carlson, and Martha Fischer, Citizens Guide to Migratory Bird Conservation
(Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, 1995) 3-5.
19- Ian Davidson, "Linking Communities, Wetlands, and Birds," in Waterfowl 2000: News from the North American Waterfowl Management Plan 11 (1) (April 1998), 23.
How you can help birds and wetlands!
Resources for Protecting Birds and Their Wetlands Habitats
Get the Data That Can Help You Educate Others and Make the Case for Protecting Wetlands
National Audubon Society - http://www.audubon.org/
>Wetlands Inventory - (703) 358-2201 or http://www.nwi.fws.gov/
Information about national wetland trends and wetlands maps.
Regional United States Fish and Wildlife Offices and state wildlife departments - Check your local directory or call the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies at (202) 624-7890. These offices often have information about wetland-dependent birds in your region as well as information on policies and laws that you can use to help protect birds and their wetland habitats.
BIRDNET - http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/
An excellent website compiled by the Ornithological Council. Includes links to many different bird organizations and contains lots of information on bird-related issues, online journals and scientific papers.
National Water Summary on Wetland Resources, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2425 (Washington, DC: US G.P.O, 1996.) An excellent compendium of wetland science and management issues. Includes an informative overview of birds and wetlands by Robert E. Stewart.* Book may be obtained from the U.S. Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, MS. SSOP, Washington, DC, 20402-9328. Some articles also available on the USGS website at http://www.usgs.gov/.
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program - http://www.fws.gov/
A federal program operated by the United States Department of Fish and Wildlife (USFW), Partners for Fish and Wildlife works with private landowners to provide funding and technical assistance to restore degraded wildlife habitats, including wetlands. Their web site includes an overview of the program, contact information, a list of frequently asked questions, and a page with details on numerous award-winning projects.
