The Audubon Society of RI released a report on birds in the state. The results aren't good.

BRISTOL – The news from the Audubon Society of Rhode Island's inaugural report on birds in the state isn’t good.

More than a third of species that breed in Audubon’s 14 refuges are in decline, while only a quarter may be experiencing increases in numbers.

For species that overwinter on the organization’s 9,500 acres throughout the state, just under a third are seeing a drop in population, and still only a quarter of them are experiencing any growth in numbers.

The birds disappearing aren't just specialists like the American kestrel, a colorful raptor found in grasslands, or the saltmarsh sparrow, a denizen of coastal wetlands. More common birds, like the red-winged blackbird and the grackle, are also suffering.

“Even the American robin is not insulated from these declines,” Charles Clarkson, Audubon’s director of avian research, said at a recent symposium presenting the report’s findings.

More on the saltmarsh sparrow:Race against time: Rising seas push the saltmarsh sparrow to the edge of extinction

Findings consistent with national trends in bird populations

Audubon’s holdings in Rhode Island represent about 1% of the total land area of Rhode Island. But just as with open spaces protected by other conservation groups or state, the organization’s refuges are untouched by development and they play an outsized role in the lives of the birds that breed in Rhode Island, pass through during migration, or overwinter here.

It’s one reason why, after joining Audubon a year and a half ago, Clarkson, an ornithologist who has taught at universities and led birding trips across the globe, set out to document the variety of birds on its lands.

The findings are important because they reflect larger trends. Bird populations are dropping across the United States, a consequence of pollution, habitat loss and climate change, among other factors. Since 1970, the total bird population in America and Canada has plummeted 30%, a loss of nearly 3 billion adult breeding birds, according to a landmark 2019 study.

Rhode Island hasn’t been immune to the changes. While there have been successes – notably, the comeback of bald eagles – some species, such as the northern bobwhite quail, are on the path to extinction here.

Audubon report comes as publication of state bird atlas awaited

Because Audubon’s refuges are scattered around Rhode Island, the 97-page report represents a comprehensive look at bird life across the entire state.

The goal was to analyze the bird populations that use Audubon’s land, understanding what type of habitats they need and the threats they face. Birders volunteered their time to count birds, figure out their distribution and determine if they prefer, say, scrubby forest edges, swamps or evergreen woodlands.

More on birding in Rhode Island:Where to go birding in RI in winter

The result, which includes information on 83 breeding species and more than 40 nonbreeding species, may be one of the best assessments of Rhode Island’s many birds in the absence of the long-delayed publication of an update to the Rhode Island Bird Atlas.

Clarkson came to Audubon after a five-year stint coordinating the atlas, a painstaking state project to document all the kinds of birds that are breeding in Rhode Island, where and in what numbers. It was only the second time that such a gargantuan task had been undertaken in the state, following on from a similar effort nearly 40 years ago.

The 800-page atlas was completed in 2020, and publication by the state Department of Environmental Management was set for last spring. A spokesman for the agency now says the book is expected to be published soon.

Goal is to use report for basis of conservation efforts

Reversing the declines of some birds will be impossible, but it’s not too late for others.

The Audubon report identifies nine species that it calls “responsibility birds.” They’re species that are still relatively abundant and can be helped through some type of human intervention, like carving out more of the habitats they need. They’re also birds seen as umbrella species, meaning the help they receive will benefit other bird types.

The list includes the common yellowthroat, a pocket-size warbler with a black mask. It’s easy to find in Rhode Island, but over the last 50 years the bird’s numbers have dropped 1.5% annually on a regional basis. The black-and-white warbler, a striped songbird sensitive to habitat fragmentation, is another bird on the list. It’s seen a regional decline of 2.4% a year.

The hope is to use the report’s information to manage Audubon lands and ensure that these and other species remain common.

“Collectively, it’s our responsibility to do something to mitigate and reverse these declines that we’ve been seeing,” Clarkson said at the symposium on Saturday at Audubon’s education center in Bristol. “After all, it’s because of human activity that these birds are declining in the first place.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Audubon Society of RI: Many of state's bird species declining in number