Articles

by Dick Lamster, Count Coordinator

The 27 observer teams in the 77th ECBC mobilized on Sunday, December 30. For the first time in recent memory, the Eugene Christmas Bird Count (ECBC) had good weather—a day with no ice, no snow, and no wind! The sun even came out for a short time. And just to remind us it was December in Oregon, it did rain for a few minutes mid-afternoon.

The 155 Field Observers, along with the 76 Home Counters, identified 131 species of birds, plus three more during Count Week. That’s a total of 77,239 individual birds. These numbers are about average for the past few years. Our species record of 140, plus 2 more during Count Week, was set in 2005. Our record of 129,874 individual birds was set in 2000. A complete listing and analysis by the Species Compiler, Vjera Thompson, can be found on this website under Resources/Christmas Bird Counts.

The bad news first. The conservation group BirdLife International’s latest report found that 40 percent of the world’s 11,000 bird species are in decline. The good news is that many people are seeking to protect nature in a myriad of ways. They develop conservation programs to protect ecosystems and for various specific species. Some of this is done in the field, some through communication with policy makers, and some in the courts. It’s easy, but deceptive and disempowering, to think that we as individuals can’t make a difference. One of the most important things we can do now is to vote and let our representatives know that we value laws that protect species and habitats. Protective laws can work: 70 percent of the birds listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) have populations that are now stable, increasing, or have recovered enough to be delisted.

Some of the many other things we can do as individuals to make a difference are listed below.

I prefer bird tweets to presidential tweets. It’s too easy to get distracted by the rhetoric and scandals, which may lead to the false impression that not much is getting done. However, while we are distracted, the current administration has sought to roll back many bedrock environmental protections. The vast scope of these changes and proposals makes it difficult for me to read or listen to the news. The following is a sampling of the more than 60 policy changes. Some are in the proposal stage, while others have been enacted.

• The federal government is reversing a policy that would have increased vehicle mileage standards for cars made over the next decade. The standards that were to go into effect would have limited vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. They would have also lessened other forms of pollution, reduced the need for fossil fuels, and saved people money at the pump.

This school year, Lane County Audubon Society has put a record number of Audubon Adventures kits in classrooms! We couldn’t have done this without our generous sponsors. Thanks to them, we were able to place 62 kits in 51 classrooms across 21 Lane County schools! That’s about 1,275 students that have been enriched with standards-based science content about birds, wildlife, and their habitats.