Cerulean Warblers Link Conservation on Two Continents
In winter, the Cerulean Warbler forages in tree-tops of the Andes Mountains. In May, at the other end of a 2,500-mile migration, the very same bird sings from the tree-tops in the Appalachian Mountains. The Cerulean Warbler is one of the most threatened birds in the US. American Bird Conservancy is working to save this bird and its two homes. ABC presents a roadmap for conserving birds in the Americas in their book, The American Bird Conservancy Guide to Bird Conservation.
Choosing shade-grown coffee can help save the Cerulean Warbler.
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Cerulean Warbler – Conservation Links Continents
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote.
[Cerulean Warbler song]
The sun rises on a January morning, as a little azure bird forages in the tree-tops of the Andes Mountains in Colombia. Back in May, at the other end of a 2,500-mile migration, the very same bird sang from the forest canopy in the Appalachian Mountains.
[Cerulean Warbler song]
The bird, named for its sky-blue plumage, is a Cerulean Warbler. [Cerulean Warbler song] Its story links conservation efforts in Colombia’s coffee country with those in the coal-mining regions of Appalachia.
The Cerulean Warbler is one of the fastest declining songbirds in America. Since the 1960s, its population has plummeted by more than 70%.
[Cerulean Warbler song]
But an international conservation effort is under way, led by American Bird Conservancy and its partners in South America. The Cerulean Warbler Bird Reserve in Colombia focuses on reforestation and shade coffee cultivation. And in Appalachia, a partnership brings together private landowners, federal and state agencies, and nonprofits to manage forests in a way beneficial for birds and other wildlife.
[Cerulean Warbler song]
When you purchase coffee grown in the shade, you’re using your power as a consumer to help bring back the birds.
[Cerulean Warbler song]
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
Mary McCann: BirdNote celebrates the everyday actions of our listeners and the work of our conservation partners to reverse the alarming decline in North American birds. Together, we can bring them back. Learn more and get involved at birdnote.org.
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Song of the Cerulean Warbler provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Feature recorded by W.L. Hershberger 85100 [CD 65 T7] with G.A. Keller recording in background.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Sallie Bodie
Editor: Ashley Ahearn
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Assistant Producer: Mark Bramhill
© 2020 Tune In to Nature.org January 2012/2020 Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# SotB-CERW-01-2011-01-19 SotB-CERW-01b
https://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/international/CERW_plan.pdf
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