Target: Birds as beneficials and indicators of foodshed health (with Hummingbirds highlighted separately).- Importance to Food & Agr: Birds are critical in eating a wide variety of pests affecting crops and livestock including insects and small mammals. They can also indicate the quality of the garden, farm, and ranch ecosystem and the broader foodshed especially in relation to pesticides and habitat.
- Issues: Birds are threatened by many factors including agricultural pesticides and habitat loss due to monocultural agriculture and elimination of hedgerows and wild margins around fields. Climate change can add to these stresses on birds.
- Observing Options: Watching for birds eating insects on specific crops and noting the time of their activity in the growing season can be very instructive. It is not uncommon for large numbers of insect-eating birds to descend on the garden or field for a short time when insects are abundant. Recording these occurrences from year to year can indicate trends. As indicators of ecosystem health, specific birds of conservation concern can be monitored, or simply the abundance and diversity of birds and sightings of uncommon species.
- Getting Started Tip: Joining a local bird club can help you with identification, finding birding hotspots in your area, and company on your bird outings. Cornell’s Merlin ID helps you identify birds with species descriptions, sound recordings, photo ID, maps, and more.
- Citizen Science:
- Cornell University Citizen Science sponsors a number of programs that help scientists study and conserve birds. eBird allows you to submit your sightings of specific birds very flexibly—such as every bird you saw on a birding hike, or just a favorite or rare bird you happened to see, and to sign up to receive alerts of rare birds seen in your area.
- Project Feeder Watch is for all ages, but well suited to a schoolyard setting and can even been used by preschool children who point out birds seen that match pictures on their classroom walls.
- Audubon’s Climate Watch volunteers survey three species of bluebirds, four species of nuthatches, two goldfinches, Painted Buntings, and two towhee species twice a year. You can join experts in these surveys, or simply look especially for these climate-sensitive birds and report on eBird.
- Bird watching events that you can participate in include The Great Backyard Bird Count each February, and Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count.
- One of our favorite birds, the American Dipper or ouzel is a wonderful bird to watch for (and report on eBird) as it forages on invertebrates underwater in rivers. As such, it can indicate river water quality after floods, fires, or pollution events.
- Additional Resources: See Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon for bird identification apps, webcams, and much more. Wild Farm Alliance’s free pdf on “Supporting Beneficial Birds and Managing Pest Birds” connects birds directly to foodsheds and food production.
