Why protect birds?
Native birds have been protected under federal law since the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Since then, scientific research in the fields of ecology and conservation biology has generally supported the wisdom of that act. Here’s why: birds occupy nearly every habitat on Earth and are considered an ecological indicator species, one that signals early warning of environmental changes. This means that monitoring changes in bird populations can alert us to environmental degradation, hopefully in time to reverse its effects before they reverberate up the food chain and affect human health. A classic example of this early-warning system occurred in the 1960’s, when a well documented decline in bald eagles was underway. Toxicological studies revealed the root cause to be DDT, a widely used pesticide that entered the food chain and caused chick mortality by weakening the eggshells of female eagles (as well as osprey, brown pelicans, and peregrine falcons). This linkage, plus
