Saving Birds Thru Habitat

An online conversation this week about how best to teach about bird conservation focused on putting feeders out.  Virtually all participants said that bird feeding opens the door to conservation.  But there is a more effective and direct way to connect kids (adults, too) to birds and other wildlife than putting out food that may or may not help.  Get youngsters outdoors and teach them about the effectiveness of healthy habitats.  Saving Birds Thru Habitat brings in many elementary students for habitat-based field trips focused on birds.  On these field trips we stress the fact that the most important food for birds is insects.  Insects are essential for the survival of many species (swifts, swallows, warblers, flycatchers, and others) and they are crucial to nestlings.

Increasing numbers of Americans have been offering seeds, suet and nectar over the past four or five decades, a time that has seen dramatic losses in our migratory bird populations.  Among the reasons for those declines are loss of habitat and more subsidized predators which are aided by bird feeders.

At our Habitat Discovery Center, there are no feeders.  Instead, brochures for our prairie garden and woodland walk point out that insect biomass is at the base of the food web.  That biomass is supported only by native plants.  We believe that demonstrating how a native plants garden benefits birds, butterflies, frogs and other wildlife is the most effective way to connect people to conservation.

Piping plovers (Charadrius melodus), plump little shorebirds, with soft tan back and crown, and white underparts, once nested around the Great Lakes.  Sadly, this population of these winsome little birds dropped to under twenty pairs, and it was listed as endangered in the mid-1980’s.  Ten years ago, the population had climbed to just over thirty breeding pairs, but with careful and caring guidance from the US Fish and Wildlife Department, and considerable assistance from a large cadre of volunteers, there are now 70 breeding pairs.

At their low point, the birds were reduced to a small breeding population in Michigan, but as their numbers have increased, they have expanded their range.  That is great news;  this year, there were nesting plovers in Illinois, Wisconsin and Ontario.

Unfortunately, the fledge rate for this past breeding season was low.  Many chicks were underweight and did not fledge successfully.  While the reasons are unknown, it is suspected that the colder than normal weather during spring and early summer may have suppressed insect production.

We can all hope this year’s results are an anomaly, and that next year the birds will be on track to continue in the growth pattern established over the past decade.

On Friday afternoon, July 10, professional landscaper and nursery owner Brian Zimmerman was the invited speaker at the SBTH annual Nestbuilders’ reception.  (Nestbuilders contribute a minimum of $250 annually.)

Brian is not a poet, but at the end of his talk, he read the following poem, which he wrote, inspired by his love of nature and his appreciation for Saving Birds.

Why did I join?
•    I love plants.
•    I love nature
•    I love the feeling of being connected to this planet
•    I love the symphony that birds play for me every morning and through the day
•    I love the symphony the wind and the trees play to each other

•    I believe that the web of life is a circle made of many pieces
•    I believe all the pieces are only as strong as the weakest link in the circle
•    I believe the circle includes every part of this planet, from the core to the dark space beyond
•    I believe that nature is sometimes very cruel but always strives to keep the circle whole
•    I believe humans can break that circle

•    I hope that humans will understand there is a circle.
•    I hope that humans learn to step into the circle and observe instead of peering in from the outside
•    I hope that humans then realize the circle must never be broken
•    I hope the tapestry of life can forgive us our ignorance
•    I hope that Saving Birds Thru Habitat will teach us all that any loss of habitat is a loss of humans’ habitat.

Brian owns Four Season Nursery in Traverse City.  A wonderful source of native plants, his nursery’s website can be found here:  http://www.fourseasonnursery.biz/

On the afternoon of Sunday, June 28, the Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay hosted Disney Studio’s film “Earth” as a fundraiser for SBTH.  Those who have not seen this phenomenal undertaking should make every effort to do so, and they should see it at a theater on a big screen.  Small screens simply will not do justice to the exquisite shots of our planet from space, or the incredible struggle of Damoiselle Cranes attempting cross the Himalayas – beating against a violent cauldron of wind currents – or captivating scenes of a mother polar bear exiting her winter den with her two cubs as they take their first tentative steps in the vast Arctic outdoors.

The showing was followed by a wine and hors dourves reception, with entertainment by gifted pianist Wyatt McDonnell.

The fundraiser was a great success, with many thanks to the Bay for hosting the film, to Silver Tree Deli for accommodations for the reception, to Chateau Grand Traverse for donating their wonderful wines, to Evola Pianos in Traverse City for the use of the electronic piano, to Wyatt for his terrific music and to Four Season Nursery for native plants used to decorate the reception room.