Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Help Boreal Birds

Yellow-rumped Warbler / Photo by Donna Dewhurst (USFWS)

The Boreal Songbird Institute is looking for working scientists to support a petition to the Canadian government on behalf of boreal birds. Boreal birds that visit our area include common loons, horned grebes, merlins, short-billed dowitchers, ruby-crowned kinglets, hermit thrushes, yellow-rumped warblers, palm warblers, swamp sparrows, white-throated sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, rusty blackbirds, and many others. Preserving their habitat helps ensure that these species will continue to visit our area during migrations and winter. From their site:
The Canadian Boreal region, stretching from Yukon across the continent to Newfoundland, contains some of the world 's most intact forests and wetlands. It represents both an unprecedented conservation opportunity and a place at great risk as a frontier for extractive natural resource industries. Already much of Canada's southern Boreal has been allocated for resource development. It is increasingly clear that the window for conserving the ecological integrity of the region is limited.

Recently over 100 Ph.D. scientists from Canada, the U.S., and throughout the world signed the letter below to urge Canadian policy makers to recognize the importance of the Boreal and their responsibility for its protection.

We invite scientists to sign the letter to show the Canadian government and the world that the scientific community, as represented by hundreds of scientists, recognizes the Boreal as one of our world 's last great conservation opportunities.
If you fit this description, visit the link to read the letter and sign the petition.