Why Birds?

Scarlet Tanager

Birds are the most visible and measurable indicators of environmental health in our natural areas and of far away places from which birds travel.

Worm-eating Warbler

Pennsylvania is located within the Atlantic Flyway—one of the main "highways" for many millions of migratory birds and is key to a number of species; PA is breeding grounds for 16% of the world's Scarlet Tanagers, 10% of the world's Worm-eating Warblers, and 9% of the world's Wood Trushes.

Atlantic Flyway (purple), one of several migratory highways of North America

Pennsylvania is also home to a rich variety of resident birds that live most or all of their lives around our homes, towns, and natural areas. Habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation are the leading causes of population declines in birds and also impacts other wildlife and plant communities. Roughly 2.1 million acres of wildlife habitat nationwide are converted to residential use every year. So we now look to our own properties as resting, nesting, and refueling stations for the most common bird species and those stopping on their long migratory travels. In the process we increase our ability to live with nature rather than against it.