NEW REPORT ON LOCAL BIRDS
On April 22, Birds Connect Seattle released a major new report, Fewer and Fewer: Declining diversity and abundance in two decades of community science bird counts at Seattle green spaces.
Main findings:
From 2005 to 2023, community science bird counts from eight sites across Seattle show:
- Species richness declined by 18%;
- Average bird counts declined by 21%;
- 58% of species assessed showed declining trends;
- Larger group sizes were linked to steeper declines;
- A disproportionate number of species with declining trends are climate threatened.
The findings were broadly consistent with continental and regional abundance trends from other sources (eBird Trends and Rosenberg et al., 2019)
Birds are sounding the alarm. Ecosystems are degrading, losing their ability to support life the way they could just a few years ago. Climate change threatens to accelerate losses. Our conservation efforts are more critical than ever.
