Man bites bird

Walking on the New River Trail one day, my family and I saw something of an exotic visitor standing in the water.
As a heron stood still in the water of Chestnut Creek, my father, a frequent visitor to Virginia himself, remarked that he believed that this sighting says something about the loss of wetland habitat, the bird's preferred hunting lands.
Since then, the Twin Counties has been visited by a rufous hummingbird and an eastern towhee. Both caused great stirs among the local birdwatching community.
Folks indicated to me that these birds being spotted here is even more extraordinary because the rufous normally lives in the Pacific Northwest and the towhee in the West and Mexico.
It's reasonable to wonder why these creatures would be flying so far out of their normal range to perch, at least for a while, on the boughs and branches of the Twin Counties.
And the Audubon Society offered a possible explanation in an alarming news release on June 14.
A survey of common birds by the nature-watchers found a "nosedive" in their populations over the last 40 years, as much as 80 percent for some species.
Audubon complied a list of 20 common birds in decline, each of which have seen a 54 percent or greater population loss.
"These are not rare or exotic birds we're talking about — these are the birds that visit our feeders and congregate at nearby lakes and seashores and yet they are disappearing day by day," Audubon Chairperson and former EPA Administrator, Carol Browner is quoted in the news release. "Their decline tells us we have serious work to do, from protecting local habitats to addressing the huge threats from global warming."
Included on the list are the Northern Bobwhite, the Evening Grosbeaks, Eastern Meadowlarks, Whip-poor-wills, Little Blue Herons and Rufous hummingbirds.
"Rufous Hummingbird populations have declined 58 percent as a result of the loss of forest habitat to logging and development, in both their breeding range in the Pacific Northwest and their wintering sites in Mexico," Audubon officials said.
"Little Blue Herons now number 150,000 in the U.S. and 110,000 in Mexico, down 54 percent in the U.S.," the release said.  "Their decline is driven by wetland loss from development and degradation of water quality, which limits their food supply. "
Listed as Virginia birds in decline are the Northern Bobwhite, the Loggerhead Shrike, Eastern Meadowlark, the Field Sparrow, the Rusty Blackbird and the American Black Duck.
Each species is beset by development pressures that destroy the necessary habitat for the bird's survival and compounded by worldwide environmental threats like global warming.
Audubon officials point out that these common birds are not in immediate danger of extinction, but they hoped that public awareness would lead people to stem the tide of population loss and its causation.
"Audubon leaders hope the multiple threats to the birds people know will prompt individuals to take multiple actions, both locally and directed toward state and national policies," the news release said.
"Fortunately, people¹s actions can still make a difference," Audubon's Greg Butcher is quoted. "Average citizens can change the fate of these birds just as average citizens helped us confirm the trouble they face."
More information is available at the organization's Web site, www.audubon.org, on how to help keep common birds common and the environment healthy.

• First published March 2008.