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Friends,
Recently, I was fortunate enough to make a family trip to Italy. One morning, as I walked around the olive groves near our hotel, I ran into a local who asked me quizzically what I was looking for. I replied that I was looking for birds. His reply: Why? I said that I was looking for birds for fun, that I enjoyed hearing them sing. He then said, oh, you are not hunting them? He then announced in English “Bird-watching”, laughed and went on his way.
The pleasure of watching and enjoying the company of birds does not extend to many parts of the world like it does here in North Carolina. In Italy, bird feeders are extremely rare, and birds there face many more perils than those in the Blue Ridge mountains. It was only much more recently that Mediterranean countries outlawed the hunting of even songbirds, and President Mitterrand of France only 30 years ago decided that his last meal would feature an Ortolan Bunting (caution: gruesome details in the link). A highlight of my Italian vacation was running into a group of Northern Bald Ibis, a bizarre bird that is critically endangered (with a known worldwide population of 59 birds in the 1980s) that had been extinct for over 300 years until a reintroduction effort led by the Vienna Zoo started 10 years ago. Still, a recent study showed that 60% of the mortality of these reintroduced birds from 2016-22 was the result of poaching or encounters with electric fences.
Birds worldwide still face a myriad of threats, and while poaching here in the United States is not nearly as big a threat as it is in other parts of the world, it was not that long ago that our birds faced similar threats. Indeed, The National Audubon Society was founded as an organization to act against the threats to egrets and herons from a flourishing millinery industry at the end of the 19th century. And the birds we enjoy here in the summer breeding season still face rather fiendish threats in their wintering habitats, as the persistence of hummingbird markets in Central America illustrate.
Blue Ridge Audubon Chapter takes all these threats seriously. We strive to provide birds with a safe environment to thrive here in the mountains but also along their migratory corridors and in their wintering habitats. That is why we are excited about continuing our partnership with SELVA Colombia to help protect our summer birds in their wintering habitats in the Colombian Andes. We started this partnership last year, raising almost $14,000 in our Birdathon to help support the community of Santa Maria, Boyaca, in their protection of vital bird habitat. This year we are hoping to expand on that theme: in addition to Birdathon support, we are investigating support of their bird-friendly coffee and chocolate farms in the area and perhaps a field trip to see our conservation dollars in action. Stay tuned for more details.
Bird protection and bird habitat conservation is truly a global endeavor. That is why the National Audubon Society has launched its Hemispheric Strategy. It’s ambitious—and badly needed. Thanks for being part of Audubon and helping protect our local birds and birdy places—and also those farther away.
John
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