Threats to songbirds

Bird populations are declining steeply across North America and worldwide and Wisconsin is experiencing these trends.

• Globally, nearly half of the world’s roughly 11,000 bird species are declining and 1 in 8 is currently threatened with extinction, according to BirdLife International’s State of the World’s Birds 2022.

• In North America, nearly 3 billion birds have vanished since 1970, a drop of nearly 30%, according to a landmark 2019 study by major bird groups. Sparrows, warblers, blackbirds and finches, all songbirds, were among the hardest hit.

• In Wisconsin, grassland and northern forest birds have suffered significant declines, with both rare and once common species affected. Connecticut Warblers, Western Meadowlarks and Evening Grosbeaks all declined by at least two-thirds over the past 20 years, according to the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II Survey.

What’s causing the declines?

Habitat destruction and degradation are widely recognized as the biggest causes of bird declines in North America and in Wisconsin. “Our results signal an urgent need to address the ongoing threats of habitat loss, agricultural intensification, coastal disturbance, and direct anthropogenic mortality, all exacerbated by climate change, to avert continued biodiversity loss and potential collapse of the continental avifauna,” concluded the authors of the 2019 study on bird loss in North America since 1970.

“Direct anthropogenic mortality” includes feral and free-ranging pet cats preying on birds, and birds colliding with buildings, which ranked at the top two bird killers, according to 2015 research examining human-caused bird loss.

Can small changes at home really make a difference?

Small changes we can make at home can give birds more and safer places to live: adding native plants that provide food and shelter, taking steps to prevent birds flying into problem windows, and buying coffee grown in ways that’s better for birds.

These actions are particularly important because birds and other wild animals and plants are running out of places to live. Humans have altered 75% of the Earth’s surface and 95% in the United States, according to Douglas Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home and a founder of Homegrown National Park, a grassroots effort to add 20 million acres of native plantings in the U.S., roughly the equivalent of half of suburban lawns. “It is increasingly clear that much of our wildlife will not be able to survive unless food, shelter and nest sites can be found in suburban habitats.”

What birds are at greatest risk of extinction?

68 bird species in Wisconsin are identified as Species in Greatest Need of Conservation, SGCN, because they’re officially listed as endangered, threatened or of special concern because of low or declining populations. Not all are songbirds, but many are. Here’s the list from Wisconsin DNR’s Wisconsin Wildlife Action Plan and links to DNR species web pages. More basic information, photos and sounds can be found on All About Birds, the online bird guide from Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology.

Northern Goshawk

Henslow's Sparrow

Le Conte's Sparrow

Nelson's Sparrow

Grasshopper Sparrow

American Black Duck

Eastern Whip-poor-will

Great Egret

Short-eared Owl

Long-eared Owl

Upland Sandpiper

American Bittern

Golden-winged Warbler

Bell's Vireo

Least Bittern

Loggerhead Shrike

Red-headed Woodpecker

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Connecticut Warbler

Canada Jay

Wilson's Phalarope

Black-backed Woodpecker

Red-necked Grebe

Boreal Chickadee

Vesper Sparrow