Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

Birds are dying at an alarming rate, and it’s a warning sign to humans that the quality of our environments are getting worse. Bird populations are an ecosystem indicator. The massive decline in bird species serves as our collective canary in a coal mine, an urgent reminder that what matters to birds matters to humans.

The North American Bird Conservation Initiative’s 2025 State of the Birds report showed that one-third of U.S. bird species are in need of conservation action. The initiative identified 112 “tipping point” bird species. These are birds that have lost more than 50% of their populations within the past 50 years and “require immediate, focused scientific action to pinpoint causes of declines and develop strategies for recovery.”

The question becomes: Which birds should we help first?

It’s why I wanted to talk to Matt Williams, who is the director of conservation for the Sam Shine Foundation. He leads their newly formed bird conservation program.

Williams looked at the birds that are declining and selected seven ambassador birds for this program that the foundation could have the biggest impact on based on location and partnerships. The cerulean warbler rose to the top. “That’s been the one that we’ve put the most effort into, right out of the gate,” Williams said. The population of this beautiful sky-blue bird has declined over 70% since 1970. And conservation work that helps the cerulean warbler helps other species, too.

The cerulean warbler prefers big blocks of mature forests where they spend their time in the treetops. Their breeding grounds span from southern Missouri to eastern Pennsylvania in the U.S., and they overwinter on the eastern slope of the Andes Mountains in South America.

“They’re getting hammered on both ends of the spectrum” when it comes to habitat loss, Williams said, and in that the cerulean warbler is not alone. Close to 5 billion birds migrate between North America and South America each year.

Appalachian forests were extensively logged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries while other forests across the eastern United States have dwindled over time with coal mining, commercial development and suburban sprawl.

In Columbia, according to the International Crisis Group, cattle ranching stands out as the single biggest cause of deforestation. It is now causing more tree loss than coca, illicit logging or illegal gold mining.

This is where the Cerulean Warbler Birdscape comes in. It’s a brand-new collaboration of 15 different agencies across two continents with the intention of addressing the loss of habitat and resources for this tipping point bird species.

The focus of this program centers in Brown County, Indiana, which is home to the largest intact forest block in the state. Not all of the acreage is protected but it includes Morgan Monroe State Forest, Yellowwood State Forest, Brown County State Park, Hoosier National Forest and Camp Atterbury.

Program leaders are also reaching out to private property owners. One easy way people can help is by agreeing to let researchers record bird songs on their property by installing automated recording units. “We download and process all that data,” Williams explained, and “it’ll give us a picture of where we picked up Cerulean Warbler singing and help us start to map the population.” Williams hopes that “maybe it’s a first step that gets people engaged in conservation and to care about Cerulean Warblers.”

The birdscape project is also working to tag birds with geolocators to track migration patterns using Motus towers installed both in the United States and South America. In order to increase the bird population, they must first find out where the birds are nesting as well as where they are spending the winter and then work in both places.

Improving bird habitat benefits humanity with healthier working lands, cleaner water and more resilient landscapes that can withstand the fires, floods and drought that so commonly plague our communities. When we help birds, we help ourselves.

To get involved visit www.SamShineFoundation.org.

Do you know anyone who’s doing cool things to make the world a better place? I want to know. Send me an email at Bonnie@WriterBonnie.com. Check out Bonnie’s weekly YouTube videos at https://www.youtube.com/bonniejeanfeldkamp.