Audubon South Carolina

Recently, National Audubon carried out a media blitz to inform the public about “Common Birds in Decline,” not endangered, threatened or WatchList birds, but the common birds that novice bird watchers recognize on a daily basis.

For the first time ever, this analysis combined data from the world’s longest-running uninterrupted bird census — Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) — with information from the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) to study how populations of all common North American species routinely encountered in these surveys have fared during the past 40 years. The CBC data are the product of swarms of volunteers —citizen scientists— who counted birds every winter over this period and submitted their reports to Audubon. The BBS is a standardized morning count of birds along roadsides organized by the U.S. Geological Survey and conducted by volunteers from May into July.

People will shape the long-term outlook for these birds. Unlike Audubon's WatchList birds, they are not in immediate danger of extinction—despite global populations as low as 500,000 for some of these species—the threshold for a "common bird" designation. Nevertheless, their declines sound a loud warning call—not only for the birds, and for our enjoyment in watching them and thrilling to their songs in the springtime breeze, but for the overall health of the environment that sustains each of us. Sound public policy that supports conservation and protects the environment—at national, state and local levels—is essential to the future we share.

“In our everyday economic behavior, we seem determined to discover whether we can live alone on earth. E.O. Wilson has argued eloquently and persuasively that we cannot, that who we are depends as much on the richness and diversity of the biological life around us as it does on any inherent quality in our genes. Environmentalists of every stripe argue that we must somehow begin to correlate our economic behavior — by which I mean every aspect of it: production, consumption, habitation — with the welfare of other species. We look around us, expecting the rest of the world’s occupants to adapt to the changes that we have caused, when, in fact, we have the right to expect adaptation only from ourselves.” (Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Times)

The following are the 20 common North American birds with the greatest population declines since 1967. The birds followed by an (*) are found in South Carolina.

1. Northern Bobwhite (*)
2. Evening Grosbeak (*) occasionally
3. Northern Pintail (*)
4. Greater Scaup (*)
5. Boreal Chickadee
6. Eastern Meadowlark (*)
7. Common Tern (*)
8. Loggerhead Shrike (*)
9. Field Sparrow (*)
10. Grasshopper Sparrow (*)
11. Snow Bunting (*) occasionally
12. Black-throated Sparrow
13. Lark Sparrow
14. Common Grackle (*)
15. American Bittern (*)
16. Rufous Hummingbird (*) occasionally
17. Whip-poor-will (*)
18. Horned Lark (*)
19. Little Blue Heron (*)
20. Ruffed Grouse (*)

South Carolina Audubon collaborated with the national science office came up with a list of the top five common birds of most concern in SC and they are as follows:

Northern Bobwhite
Eastern Meadowlark
Little Blue Heron
Red-winged Blackbird (yes, we still have many but they have greatly declined)
Blue Jay

Audubon South Carolina’s “Common Birds in Decline”
Part 1 (163 kb PDF), Part 2 (482 kb PDF)

Seabird numbers are up on the coast of South Carolina. Seabird islands are now protected by a law banning boaters and their pets during the nesting season and limiting their presence to the tidal beach in the off-season. The law is reinforced by the posting of metal signs on these islands.

Realizing the need to assist these “at risk” birds and committed to their conservation, Audubon South Carolina raised funds to hire a Seabird intern to assist the Department of Natural Resources. Stacey Stephan, a graduate student at the College of Charleston, was hired for three months. We feel that her hard work was at the very least partially responsible for the increase in successful nesting on these islands. Additionally, Charleston Audubon hosted a Birdathon to help fund her position.

Brown Pelican numbers were up from 444 in 2005 to 615 in 2007 and Royal Terns were up from 346 in 2005 to 1212 in 2007 on Crab Bank alone. "All we had to do was close it, and more and more birds are finding it. They are coming themselves. We didn't have to decoy them in. We just had to put signs up, and keep people off," said Felicia Sanders of SCDNR.