Your New Jersey Community Can Help Migratory Birds
|
         |
New Jersey’s Avian Heritage
The Garden State is rich with bird life! New Jersey may be small, but its climate and geography provide a great diversity of bird habitats across rugged ridges, vast marshes, sandy beaches, pine barrens, protected bays, rich lowlands, grassy meadows, and winding rivers. Centrally located at a crossroads of bird migration routes, New Jersey’s diverse habitats support over 450 bird species including over 200 that breed here – from songbirds to shorebirds, woodpeckers to waterbirds, hummingbirds to hawks. This hub of bird activity does not go unnoticed. About 1.7 million residents and visitors spent over $500 million watching New Jersey’s wildlife in 2006.
Birds in Trouble
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service classifies about a quarter of the Nation’s 836 species of migratory birds as endangered, threatened, or “of conservation concern.” Habitat loss and degradation are the primary threats, but other sources of human-caused mortality exacerbate declining bird populations. Collision and electrocution at man-made structures, poisoning from environmental contaminants, and predation from feral and outdoor cats collectively kill many millions of birds each year.
Ways You Can Help
The good news is that your community can help protect migratory birds for the continued enjoyment of residents and visitors alike. The actions listed below can be taken by county and municipal officials, environmental commissions, nature centers, schools, garden clubs, and individual land owners. See what you can do to protect New Jersey’s amazing bird life!- Preserve important bird habitats. Work with the New Jersey Office of Smart Growth and Division of Land Use Regulation to direct development away from sensitive areas. Support acquisition of key habitats, for example through the New Jersey Green Acres Program.
For more information see:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Grant Programs
New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife
New Jersey Endangered and Nongame Species Program
Conserve Wildlife Foundation
Garden State Preservation Trust
The Handbook of Landowner's Options: A Guide to Land Protection in New Jersey [PDF]
Association of Environmental Commissions
NJ Geoweb Mapping
- Consider ordinances and zoning to protect birds and their habitats.
For example:
- Direct development away from important bird habitats.
- Discourage development patterns that fragment bird habitats.
- Seasonally restrict tree clearing from March 15 to July 31 to avoid "take" of eggs and chicks, which violates the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
- Require reforestation when areas are cleared for temporary disturbances.
- Seek compensatory mitigation for loss of bird habitats.
- Regulate the construction of structures that pose a potential electrocution or collision hazard to migratory birds. See the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's bird mortality fact sheet [PDF] for an overview.
- For new or replacement power lines, require Avian Protection Plans [PDF] and consistency with the Suggested Practices for Avian Protection on Power Lines.
- For proposed communication towers, require consistency with the Service’s tower siting guidelines, and coordinate with the New Jersey Field Office on structures over 200 feet tall.
- For proposed wind turbines, require consistency with Service's wind turbine guidance [PDF] and coordinate with the New Jersey Field Office during project review.
- For glass windows in existing buildings and proposed buildings two stories or less, encourage the adoption of practices to minimize bird collisions such as glass coverings and careful landscaping. For proposed buildings three stories or taller, coordinate with the Service during project review and require practices such as turning off indoor lights, minimizing and down-shielding outdoor lights, and using bird-friendly glass or glass coverings as recommended by the Fatal Light Awareness Program.
- Enforce and strengthen dog leash laws in sensitive wildlife habitats, support the Cats Indoors campaign, and consider an ordinance to prohibit free-roaming cats.
For more information see:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Cats and Birds: A Deadly Combination
American Bird Conservancy: The Cats Indoors! Campaign
New Jersey Audubon Society: The Cats Indoors! Campaign
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Cats and Dogs on the Beach [PDF]
- Join other municipalities, the Service, the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Beach Management Planning [PDF] to protect birds that depend on sandy beach habitats.
- Identify and pursue opportunities to manage, and restore bird habitats. Technical and material assistance may be available through Federal and State programs.
For more information see:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Grant Programs
Habitat Restoration Links
- Promote establishment of bird habitats in backyards, corporate parks, and golf courses, emphasizing native vegetation.
For more information see:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serivice: Bird Feeding [PDF]
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Backyard Birding Pamphlets
Habitat Restoration Links
- Limit the use of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Promote proper disposal of household chemicals and hazardous waste. See these pollution links.
- Promote participation in citizen science (e.g., volunteer monitoring) for birds, such as Breeding Bird Surveys, Christmas Bird Counts, Project Feeder Watch, Great Backyard Bird Count, the New Jersey Wildlife Conservation Corps, and the Conserve Wildlife Foundation.
- Promote the purchase of Duck Stamps. Proceeds support the expansion of National Wildlife Refuges, including the five refuges in New Jersey.
- Promote shade-grown coffee [PDF]. Traditional plantations, where coffee shrubs are grown under a canopy of diverse tropical trees, harbor an abundance of birds, including migrant songbirds that breed in New Jersey.
- Promote passive recreation and ecotourism, including bird watching. Celebrate International Migratory Bird Day.
For more information see:
American Birding Association
Birding.com - New Jersey
Survey of Wildlife-Associated Recreation
Environment for the Americas: International Migratory Bird Day
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: International Migratory Bird Day web site
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: International Migratory Bird Day fact sheet [PDF]
- Become familiar with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Birds of Conservation Concern [PDF] and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs). Through the the LCCs, the Service and our partners are seekeing to integrate information and efforts across numerous existing bird conservation initiatives including:
For more information see:
Partners in Flight
Atlantic Coast Joint Venture
U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan
North American Waterbird Conservation Plan
North American Bird Conservation Initiative
Important Bird Areas
New Jersey Wildlife Action Plan
Working together, New Jersey’s communities can make a difference for migratory birds!
Last updated:
July 19, 2012
