State of the Birds 2025
www.stateofthebirds.org
This 2025 edition of the State of the Birds report is a status assessment of the health of the nation’s bird populations, delivered to the American people by scientists from U.S. bird conservation groups.

Long-term Population Trends for America’s Birds

~† Shorebirds indicator trend data has not been updated since 2019.~

  • 5 Years After the 3 Billion Birds Lost Research, America Is Still Losing Birds: A 2019 study published in the journal Science sounded the alarm—showing a net loss of 3 billion birds in North America in the past 50 years. The 2025 State of the Birds report shows those losses are continuing, with declines among several bird trend indicators. Notably duck populations—a bright spot in past State of the Birds reports, with strong increases since 1970—have trended downward in recent years.
  • Conservation Works: Examples spotlighted throughout this report—from coastal restoration and conservation ranching to forest renewal and seabird translocations—show how proactive, concerted efforts and strategic investments can recover bird populations. The science is solid on how to bring birds back. Private lands conservation programs, and voluntary conservation partnerships for working lands, hold some of the best opportunities for sparking immediate turnarounds for birds.
  • Bird-Friendly Policies Bring Added Benefits for People, and Have Broad Support: Policies to reverse bird declines carry added benefits such as healthier working lands, cleaner water, and resilient landscapes that can withstand fires, floods, and drought. Plus birds are broadly popular—about 100 million Americans are birdwatchers, including large shares of hunters and anglers. All that birding activity stimulates the economy, with $279 billion in total economic output generated by birder expenditures.
  • houseofleft@slrpnk.netEnglish
    1·
    18 hours ago

    Does this still happen? I recently read Silent Spring and, maybe naively, assumed blanket poisoning from planes would surely have stopped by now.

    • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
      2·
      10 hours ago

      Oh yes, many counties have mosquito control programs, which is understandable because it’s to reduce the spread of diseases like West Nile virus, Eastern / western equine encephalitis, Zika etc.

      But they still use pesticide that affects all insects indiscriminately in most areas via aircraft.

      There are products that target only mosquitos, and it’s bacterial not chemical, but you need to apply it to the water while they are still larvae which is harder and more costly. The counties prefer to use the chemical by air because it’s easier and cheaper for the most part.