Kansas is losing its birds and it’s only getting worse
Birds in Kansas are facing major threats to their survival and without fast action, the state will lose significant numbers and even entire species, researchers say.
In Kansas, there are 52 species of birds that are highly or moderately vulnerable to continued global warming, according to a recent study by the National Audubon Society. This means they could lose more than 50% of their current habitat in the next few decades and be at risk of extinction.
In Sedgwick County, there are four high-risk bird species:
- Red-Headed Woodpecker: The 8-10 inch bird is known fondly as the “flying checker-board” with its distinctive red head, white body and black and white wings. The bird is the only American Woodpecker known to cover its food with wood and store it for later.
- Brown Thrasher: Between 8-12 inches long, the Brown Thrasher is a fearless fighter and is the only Thrasher to predominately live east of the Rocky Mountains. They have been heard singing more than 1,100 different songs and often mimic other birds.
- Field Sparrow: Tiny birds, between 5-6 inches, these sparrows eat insects and stay in the southern part of the state year round. Every year, couples will raise several bunches of babies, making new nests with every iteration higher and higher off the ground, starting in the dirt and ending in trees.
- Least Tern: Weighing as much as a golf ball and the smallest of the tern family, least terns are fierce defenders of their ground nests. They will screech, dive and poop on any who come near. Terns are currently nesting in Sedgwick County.
“Birds are very, very important to people culturally and emotionally,” said Stanley Senner, Audubon vice president for bird conservation and a Kansas native. “Birds are indicators of the health of the environment that also support people. When we have a landscape that can no longer support birds that ought to be sending warning signals to everyone that it’s a landscape that isn’t as well equipped to support people either.”
Of these 52 species the study says is mostly at risk due to climate change, 49 of them could face reduced protections if the federal government continues with its plan to rollback protections afforded to birds by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Most birds in the U.S. and all native birds are classified as migratory birds, according to Senner.
Government rollbacks
Earlier this month, the federal government proposed changes that would reduce the liability of companies for the deaths of birds, including Kansas’ state bird, the Western Meadowlark, in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The act “prohibits the take (including killing, capturing, selling, trading, and transport) of protected migratory bird species without prior authorization by the Department of Interior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”
The proposed rollbacks would loosen protections regarding “incidental take,” or when birds are killed in the normal course of business, meaning companies would not be held accountable if birds fly into wind turbines, land in waste pits, get caught in oil spills or die from the spraying of insecticides.
An estimated 710 million birds are killed yearly by industry in North America, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“There are many sources of mortality for migratory birds that are completely avoidable. By changing the law, we are reducing the incentive for industries that do have practices and facilities that kill birds, to use the best management practices to avoid killing birds,” Senner said. “We’re not talking about someone driving down the turnpike and hitting a Meadowlark, which certainly has happened, but has never been enforced as a matter of law. We’re talking about the industry practices that can be changed at reasonable practical cost to kill less birds.”
Rollbacks to federal bird protections also means less government money to help conserve their habitats, according to Dr. Robert Penner, the Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands avian programs manager in central Kansas. Scientists and conservationists will have to be more reliant on private donations.
“When they’re migrating and they’re not getting the food resources they need down south because of the timing of migration or the loss of habitat, we’re going to continue seeing our bird species in Kansas decline,” Penner said. “We also might see some of these hugely important wetlands either dry up or not have water when the birds are actually migrating through.”
The news comes after a study published late last year that found that the North American bird population had been reduced by 25% or about 3 billion birds since the 1970s. Extinction could be in the cards for more than two-thirds of all North American birds due to climate change.
The federal government is expected to make a final decision about the proposed rollbacks after a public comment period that will end July 20.
Habitat loss
Birds are losing their grassland habitats, as less than 40% of U.S. grasslands that once existed remain. In Kansas, the tallgrass prairie, shortgrass prairie and mixed-grass prairie provide crucial homes to several bird species, such as the endangered Whooping Crane in Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, 90% of all Stilt Sandpipers and Baird’s Sandpipers in Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area, and Lesser Prairie-Chickens at Cimarron National Grassland.
If global warming and other climate change effects continue unchecked, 34 species of songbirds could leave their homes in Kansas, according to the National Wildlife Federation. Audubon scientists found that as birds relocate and look for other homes, it’s a search they may not outlive.
“For many of these birds, the ranges are simply going to be shrinking so much that there may be very little habitat left that is suitable for them,” Senner said. “Sometimes people think ‘Oh well it’s getting warm, so everything’s just gonna shift to the north’ and sometimes that is going to happen...but if you think of birds that are much pickier about where they live and more restricted in their habitat choices that just greatly increases their vulnerability to extinction.”
As the bird species population and their habitat decrease, they’re more likely to become extinct from any number of factors, according to Senner.
What can be done
But the science shows that if actions are taken, the possibility for survival can be improved for more than 75% of the bird species in danger through conservation and political efforts.
Currently, the Nature Conservancy at Cheyenne Bottoms works with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks to manage the vegetation in the wetlands to make it more hospitable for the different species of birds.
“We’re trying to address through management to offset this (effect of climate change,)” Penner said. “But we’ve found out that our best defense against climate change is large...natural areas. A large tract of grassland should be fairly resilient to climate change because of the nature of the large landscape. We’re trying to create larger, connected landscapes and within some of these landscapes do specific management to make the habit as desirable as possible for these species.”
What you can do
If Kansans can, they should plant trees and shrubs in their yards and catch rainwater to water them, according to Penner.
“That sequesters the carbon out of the air and creates more fresh oxygen,” Penner said. “If you’re landscaping, have those plants that don’t require a lot of water.”
And, when possible, use solar or other renewable energy, drive less and properly insulate your home, according to Penner and Senner.
“Beyond that, are we engaged in policy making decisions, even at the level of our cities and counties? What’s the city of Wichita and what’s the city of Newton and other places doing to encourage alternative energy and to have a more bird friendly environment? You can take that all the way up to the U.S. Congress,” Senner said. “Right now the current administration is rolling back things like fuel efficiency in our automobile fleet. That’s exactly the wrong thing to be doing if we care about a changing climate.”
Purchasing federal duck stamps, which funds duck management, waterfowl conservation and protects wetlands, also helps according to Penner. He buys duck stamps every year to fund conservation efforts but doesn’t hunt.
Unfortunately, Penner says, there’s no current mechanism to raise money for other bird conservation efforts in a similar fashion.
“They need to bring in those hunters and so there’s lots of money going into management and restoration of these types of wetlands for hunting,” Penner said. “We got federal agencies, state agencies and private organizations all working towards the conservation of waterfowl because for humans that’s a direct benefit. You can pay some money and then you can go out and hunt some ducks.”
Duck stamps will become available this year on June 26.
“There’s still hope because we see that in ducks and geese,” Penner said. “If we ever find a mechanism to put more money into these birds that don’t have a voice, so to speak, there’s still hope.”
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 5:01 AM with the headline "Kansas is losing its birds and it’s only getting worse."
