Just Released:
This Partners in Flight plan revision is a guide to landbird conservation in the U.S. and Canada over the next 10 years. It presents new assessments and tools as well as recommendations to address continental threats, reverse long-term population declines, and prevent landbirds from becoming at risk.
Partners in Flight—A Coalition of Diverse Partners
Our dynamic and welcoming network of more than 150 partner organizations throughout the Western Hemisphere engages in all aspects of landbird conservation, from science, research, planning, and policy development to land management, monitoring, education, and outreach.
We collaborate to protect landbirds through strategic monitoring and assessment tools, and development of priority species lists, conservation plans, maps, and databases that facilitate cross-border cooperation among the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
“Partnerships allow us to spread our wings beyond our own nests.”
Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change On the Release of The State of North America’s Birds Report, 2016
Helping Species at Risk
Using the best, most up-to-date science to assesses the vulnerability of all landbirds, this Plan presents the 2016 “Watch List,” which identifies 86 species of highest conservation concern. All of these birds will require immediate and coordinated actions across their full range and life cycles to reduce threats, reverse declines, and prevent future extinctions.
Keeping Common Birds Common
Partners in Flight promotes proactive strategies to conserve species before they become imperiled, with the goal of avoiding costly federal protection and risky long-term efforts to recover populations. Common birds are integral to healthy habitats and ecosystems—this Plan identifies still-common, yet steeply declining species in nearly every habitat that need our help.
Voluntary Partnerships for Birds, Habitats and People
Our network of government, non-government, and industry partners is committed to voluntary solutions that reduce the need for regulatory action. Because birds are indicators of overall environmental health, successful conservation provides healthy habitats for birds as well as for people who depend on those same landscapes for their economic and social well-being.
A New Sense of Urgency
New metrics indicate that the window for reversing declines and preventing endangerment is narrower than we thought. Of 86 Watch List species, 22 have already lost at least half of their population in the past 40 years, and are also projected to lose an additional 50 percent of their current population within the next 40 years.
For six Watch List species, this “half-life” window is fewer than 20 years:
Black Swift
Bendire’s Thrasher
Yellow-billed Magpie
Allen’s Hummingbird
Scaled Quail
Pinyon Jay
Elements of the Revised Plan Include
Continental Priorities and Objectives
To foster proactive conservation, the Plan identifies 86 species of highest continental conservation concern on its Watch List and an additional 24 species as Common Birds in Steep Decline. The two most pervasive threats to landbirds in the U.S. and Canada are habitat loss due to urbanization and habitat degradation due to changing forest conditions. Maintaining abundance is fundamental for healthy habitats and functioning ecosystems. To support this mission, PIF assigns stewardship responsibility to geographic areas that have a high proportion of the global population or range of a species.
New Opportunities for Regional Implementation
Effective bird conservation is best delivered by regional and self-directed partnerships, such as the Migratory Bird Joint Ventures, that combine national expertise with people who know best how local natural and human communities will respond to conservation efforts. The Landbird Conservation Plan features profiles of each Migratory Bird Joint Venture in the U.S. and Habitat Joint Ventures and Bird Conservation Regions in Canada to provide both existing success stories and the necessary next steps for moving forward to reverse bird population declines.
Full Life-Cycle Bird Conservation
Migratory birds often depend on multiple habitats and countries throughout their annual cycle. Successful conservation strategies therefore require new knowledge of population limiting factors and connections, as well as greatly expanded international cooperation and support. This plan uses eBird data to present new metrics of abundance and area importance for Watch List species during the nonbreeding season.
Conservation Action Makes A Difference!
We know that when we use the best science to develop conservation plans, and commit to the implementation of those plans, we can make a difference. Thriving populations of Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, and Wild Turkeys today are a testament to what we can do if we work together.