01/05/2026
Today is National Bird Day, but really, maybe it should be National Save a Bird Day.
It's staggering how many breeding birds we've lost in North America since 1970 — nearly 3 billion! I've been a birder most of my adult life and I can tell you from personal observations (and recorded data) that once-common species are in decline, from grackles to robins to purple finches and more.
Birds like the common grackle used to have two broods during the breeding season and I would see miles-long streams of them flying across the sky as they migrated in November. Now they have one brood and are gone by early July. House finches used to be numerous, but their populations have been decimated by a bacterial infection known as Mycoplasmal Conjunctivitis that spreads from feeder to feeder, and started 20 years ago. I have vivid memories of dozens of nighthawks flying the evening skies and now I rarely see one.
The single biggest contributor to all these losses in bird populations is habitat. We've destroyed woodlands, forest, grasslands, desert — the natural world that provides birds and other animals with the insects, seeds, nuts and fruits they need to survive. House cats and feral cats are also a major contributor to bird deaths, killing an estimated 1.3 billion to 2.4 billion annually just in the United States. So please keep your cats indoors.
My hope is that my photographs of birds and nature inspire you to get out and enjoy with the natural world. If we don't have that connection to nature, then there is no urgency to protect it and nurture it. We need a healthy landscape for a healthy world. We need a thriving wilderness for future generations to enjoy.
So, save a bird. Plant native plants in your landscaping for birds and insects, go easy on the pesticides (preferably don't use them at all), encourage family and friends who are landowners to join programs like the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). And keep your cat indoors.
Below is a photo of a rough-legged hawk that I recently took in Vermilion County, Illinois, a rare species for Central Illinois.
