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EDITORIAL: A Message From The Birds

Posted on: Thursday, 1 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By The Hartford Courant, Conn.

May 30--Just as canaries were once used to test air quality in mineshafts, the health of the overall bird population is a good indicator of the quality of our landscape. In Connecticut, the dwindling population of many species of birds is alarming.

The first Connecticut State of the Birds Report, recently released by the Connecticut Audubon Society, says 50 species are endangered, threatened or of special concern, and many others are in jeopardy, because development has destroyed or compromised the fields, wetlands or woods where they live.

What's bad for birds is also bad for people. Loss of diverse landscapes means degradation of the visual and recreational environment that is such a part of living in Connecticut.

While birds such as the northern cardinal that can adapt to suburban back yards are doing fine, the report says, many who need specialized habitat are struggling. The state has a half-dozen discrete bird habitats - shoreline, tidal and inland wetlands, grasslands, shrub lands and forests.

Many wetlands were lost before current protections were put in place. The shore is used with increased intensity. Sprawl development has taken many farms and fields, and with it the home of bobolinks, brown thrashers and a number of other birds. The eastern meadowlark, a grassland bird, declined drastically from 1966 to 2004. So much shrub land, or brushy meadow, has been lost that the most important shrub land habitats left are the rights of way maintained along power lines.

The loss of shrub land and grassland has meant more forested area, which theoretically should be good for forest-dwelling birds. But not necessarily. Many species need deep forest, a large wooded area, to nest and reproduce. In many parts of the state, forest has been fragmented, leaving inadequate nesting habitat.

This is more ominous than it may seem. A decline in forest songbirds, who are major predators of caterpillars, can lead to more frequent outbreaks of caterpillars, which in turn leads to "massive defoliation and heavy tree mortality."

The Audubon Society recommends that key habitats be inventoried and mapped, and that existing habitat land be managed to produce more grassland and shrub land habitat. Perhaps more important, the society recommends that the state coordinate its open space acquisition program with high-priority habitats.

Though this will take more regional planning than the state is used to, it is essential. We need to preserve large and contiguous areas of habitat, both for birds and for people. The birds are telling us this, and we'd be wise to listen.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Hartford Courant, Conn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Hartford Courant, Connecticut

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