"The ripples from a single conservation effort can spread all over the world," says writer and researcher Scott Weidensaul in his latest book, "The Return of the Oystercatcher: Saving Birds to Save the Planet."
Weidensaul is a writer and researcher specializing in birds and bird migration. He is the author of nearly 30 books, including the Pulitzer Prize-finalist "Living on the Wind."
His new book explores the recovery efforts that are not only preventing declines in bird populations but are helping them to thrive.
The Something Wild team caught up with Weidensaul before he left on an ornithological expedition in the Colombian Andes.
This is an excerpt from the conversation, lightly edited for clarity.
Scott Weidensaul: The book is about what's working for bird conservation, bird conservation success stories. There haven't been a lot of them in the shorebird world, because many of these species, their numbers are in pretty steep and accelerating decline, at a time when so much of the news about birds is grim.
What I'm trying to do is highlight, essentially, roadmaps for recovery, and American oystercatchers are a really good example of that. We've seen about a 45% increase in oystercatcher populations.
Grace McCulloch: What exactly is an oystercatcher? What does it look like?
Scott Weidensaul: The American oystercatcher is found on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast. It's black and white, with sort of pinkish-orange legs and this bright orange traffic cone-like bill. They're brash, they're bold, they're loud. They have this really ringing cry. They are not a shy and retiring bird, let's put it that way.
Dave Anderson: So we've talked about how birds are in decline. There's a statistic that says that North America has lost 3 billion birds since 1970. Were there any other conservation success stories that surprised even you while you were researching the book?
Scott Weidensaul: Waterfowl, like ducks and geese and swans, and other water birds, like herons and egrets and raptors [have had a resurgence].
I graduated high school in 1976, the bicentennial year. That year, there were fewer than 1,000 bald eagles in the entirety of the lower 48 [states]. If you had told me then, that 50 years later, when we were celebrating the 250th birthday of the country, that there would be 400,000 bald eagles in the lower 48 [states]...that would have seemed delusional.
A lot of species, because of DDT, were on the cusp. And so we've seen this sea change in our attitudes toward raptors.
Grace McCulloch: It's like changing the hearts and minds of people is almost that first step.
Some of the conservation success stories in the book are happening right here in New England. Could you share with our listeners a little bit more about them and the role that New England plays in global conservation?
Scott Weidensaul: The ripples from a single conservation effort can spread all over the world. And I imagine many of your listeners are probably familiar with Project Puffin, which was a National Audubon Society project started by a fellow named Steve Kress.
The toolbox that Steve and his colleagues at Project Puffin developed, that toolbox has been used on something like 138 species of imperiled seabirds all over the world. So what started on this little tiny, desolate island off the coast of Maine….those ripples have gone worldwide.
And it's funny, I've talked to people using those techniques in other parts of the world who had no idea they started on the coast of New England.
Dave Anderson: What gives you hope? And why should we all be hopeful?
Scott Weidensaul: We are in really difficult times right now. We've seen an evisceration of science programs and conservation work that's being done by federal agencies. We've seen the Endangered Species Act just absolutely torn apart.
But, as seen, birds are more resilient than we give them credit for. And all they need is half a chance. Those of us who care about the environment can't give up. Particularly now when the temptation to give up is so great – we just can't.
Grace McCulloch: So what can people do in their everyday life?
Scott Weidensaul: A bunch of really simple things.
One of the most important is if you have a cat, keep it in your house. Cats kill 2 to 4 billion birds in the United States every year. If you have windows that birds fly into, that's like another billion birds a year that die at window strikes.
There are really simple things that you can put on your windows, and gardening and landscaping with native plants where you're reconnecting broken ecological connections.
Really crazy one: if you're a coffee drinker, you have a choice between buying coffee that protects and enhances and restores bird bird habitat, or one that destroys bird habitat.
So cats, windows, native plants, coffee, those are four simple things that you can do to help birds.
Dave Anderson: And I'd add one more, which is to bring youth out to watch birds and learn about birds. I think all of us had some spark.
Scott Weidensaul: Yes!
Something Wild is a partnership of NH Audubon, the Forest Society, and NHPR.
