Giving Compass' Take:

• The volume of spring migration has dropped by 14 percent in just the past decade. In the wake of this and other startling studies, Melissa Breyer at TreeHugger gives 8 simple ways to help our planet's birds. 

• Bird populations in the US and Canada have plummeted by 30 percent since 1970. How can funders help conservation efforts? 

Meet the team that saved Polynesia's birds from extinction. 


You may have seen the news about a recent study revealing that we've lost almost 3 billion birds since 1970 – that is one in four birds in less than a human lifetime. We are talking ecological crisis here; a "canary in a coalmine" situation gone viral. We are losing once-common species across most biones, everything from swallows and sparrows to warblers and meadowlarks. A world without birds would be an ecological disaster and decidedly less delightful.

You can see more about the study in the ABC video at the bottom, but in the meantime, there are things that each of us can do to help the birds (and many of these actions will help other organisms as well).

A number of the country's important bird groups and institutions (ABC, Audubon, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, et cetera) have partnered to create the fantastic 3BillionBirds.org (3BB) in response to the study. The group has published a guide of simple actions that we can take to make a difference, which has inspired the list below.

  1. Make windows bird friendly
  2. Keep cats inside
  3. Ditch the lawn, plant native species
  4. Avoid pesticides
  5. Drink bird-friendly coffee
  6. Reduce your use of plastic
  7. Become a citizen scientist
  8. VOTE

Read the full article about helping the birds by Melissa Breyer at TreeHugger.