SPECIES OF GREATEST CONSERVATION NEED LA WAP—OCTOBER 2015
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species. Migratory species may be threatened by habitat loss within their breeding and
nonbreeding ranges, including loss of stopover sites. Disturbance of nesting birds,
particularly of colonial nesting species, may greatly negatively impact productivity and
should be prevented. Stewardship at beach nesting bird colonies can be extremely
effective. Natural system modifications of all types, including fire suppression and
hydrological modification threaten a wide range of bird species. Aforementioned habitat
impacts and stressors listed below will likely exacerbate loss of birds when those impacts
are combined with effects of climate change. High mobility of birds may mitigate
impacts to some species, but others, particularly coastal obligates, remain at high risk due
to SLR.
In addition to loss of habitat or habitat function, birds suffer direct mortality from
many other anthropogenic sources including ingestion of plastics, electrocutions from
power lines, fisheries’ by-catch, collisions with infrastructure (e.g., communication
towers, wind turbines, power lines, glass windows, etc.), vehicle strikes, poisoning from
toxic releases, predation by outdoor cats, and many others. Although great strides have
been made in recent decades in addressing and reducing some sources of pollution,
including pesticides such as DDT, pollution of various types remains a threat to bird
SGCN. Inland, nearshore, and offshore oil spills pose serious direct threats to both inland
species and, particularly, coastal species, which frequently nest in high densities.
Although not yet a major issue in Louisiana, concern exists regarding the potential
impacts of wind farms on birds, especially in areas of high bird density (e.g., rice fields
with waterfowl or wading birds) or areas utilized by large, soaring species such as
vultures and eagles, which are killed disproportionately compared to other bird groups.
Mortality resulting from collisions with communication towers is significant, but may be
minimized, in part, by changing light schemes on these towers or even the structures
themselves. Glass windows kill more birds in the U.S. than all other mortality factors
except outdoor cats; more than 350 million birds are killed annually in the U.S. due to
window-strikes (Loss et al. 2014). Incorporation of bird-safe or bird-friendly building
design into new structures could aid in reducing this loss [see Audubon Minnesota’s
Bird-Safe Building Guidelines (2010) and American Bird Conservancy’s Bird-friendly
Building Design (2011)]. Reduction of the reflectance of existing windows and covering
windows with screen (traditional or natural materials) will reduce mortality.
The most insidious threat to birds is predation by Feral Cats (including outdoor,
owned cats), which are considered a Tier I invasive species in the 2015 WAP (Chapter
6). Cats kill far more birds annually in the U.S. than all other direct anthropogenic
sources (Loss et al. 2013), with current estimates exceeding 2 billion birds per year.
Other invasives, both plants and animals, threaten native birds as well, whether through
predation, competition for nest cavities or other resources, or habitat modification. In
addition, the full extent of intentional, illegal destruction of birds is unknown, but for
some high profile species, it is a conspicuous source of mortality.