Useful Resources

Database Resources

  • Birds of North America Online
    The Birds of North America is only the fourth comprehensive reference covering the life histories of North American birds. This site lets you access accounts for 716 species found in North America.
  • Migratory Bird Data Center
    The Migratory Bird Data Center Web site provides access to bird population and habitat information relevant to population management, conservation planning, and evaluation.
  • PIF Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory Database
    These databases were developed from the voluntary collaboration of more than one hundred ornithological experts to provide a standardized and transparent system that allows the comparison of conservation status and population estimates at multiple geographic scales for North American landbirds.
  • Ramsar Sites Database
    This new information tool will provide useful data to the public for designated wetlands around the globe in order to promote their conservation.
  • USFWS Birds of Conservation Concern – 2008 Update
    This report identifies the migratory and non-migratory bird species that represent our highest conservation priorities and draw attention to species in need of conservation action. The geographic scope of this endeavor is the United States in its entirety, including island “territories” in the Pacific and Caribbean.
  • Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey
    The Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey was initiated experimentally in 1947 and became operational in 1955. It has been conducted every year since. The primary purpose of the survey is to provide information on spring population size and trajectory for certain North American duck species.
  • Waterfowl Mid-Winter Survey data
    The Mid-winter Waterfowl Survey is a nationwide effort to survey waterfowl in areas of major concentration on their wintering grounds and provide winter distribution and habitat affiliations. This survey also serves as a primary source of data on population trends for some species that breed in remote Arctic locations and are difficult to survey using traditional methods.

Research, Papers, and Management Guides

  • Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Conservation Business Strategy
    The Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Conservation Business Strategy is an unprecedented endeavor to implement conservation for shorebirds across the entire east coast of North America. The Strategy involves numerous federal, state, provincial, and local governments, conservation groups, universities and individuals. The business strategy approach emphasizes the involvement of scientists, advocates, funders and other practitioners all working together for prioritized, on-the-ground actions that move toward specific, measurable outcomes.
  • Cerulean Warbler Management Guidelines for Appalachian Hardwood Forests
    These are forest management guidelines for enhancing Cerulean Warbler breeding habitat in Appalachian hardwood forests. This document provides land managers in the Appalachian Region with guidelines for retaining and enhancing habitat for Cerulean Warblers and a diverse bird community based on the current available science. The guidelines apply primarily to upland oak-dominated habitats where the majority of the research reported was completed.
  • Golden-winged Warbler Best Management Practices for Forestlands
    Focusing on Maryland and Pennsylvania, the best management practice guide discusses conservation concerns regarding Golden-winged Warbler and goes into detail about where to focus efforts, habitat needs, and habitat management.
  • Managing Land in the Piedmont of Virginia for the Benefit of Birds and Other Wildlife
    The publication is the 2nd edition of an existing guide developed by VABCI partners, and expands the geographic scope of the original to encompass the entire Virginia Piedmont. It provides management recommendations by land use/habitat type, including agriculture, grassland, shrubland, forest and savanna, wetland and developed areas, as well as sections on invasive exotics and biofuels.
  • Reddish Egret Conservation Action Plan
    To create the Reddish Egret Conservation Action Plan, the Working Group used the “Open Standards Approach for Conservation Measures” framework, which involved creating a range-wide conceptual conservation model for this species that highlights and ranks the greatest threats to maintaining population stability and expanding the population, explores the underlying causes of those threats, and identifies strategies to address them.
  • Survey trends of North American shorebirds: population declines or shirfting distributions?
    This paper examines whether shorebird population trend changes detected in earlier studies are still ongoing.

Working Groups and Initiatives

  • American Oystercatcher Working Group
    The American Oystercatcher Working Group seeks to develop, support, and implement rangewide research and management efforts that promote the conservation of American Oystercatchers and their habitats through individual and partnership-based initiatives.
  • Cerulean Warbler Working Group
    This group is for sharing information about the Cerulean Warbler and member activities (research, monitoring, conservation action, etc.). The objective of this group is toinspire, support and coordinate conservation effort throughout the range and life cycle of the Cerulean Warbler.
  • Golden-winged Warbler Working Group
    Implement the Golden-winged Warbler Conservation Plan as initiated by the Golden-winged Warbler Working Group.
  • Integrated Waterbird Management and Montioring Program
    Managers and scientists are working together in a new project to understand and optimally manage conservation lands along the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyways to support continental populations of waterbirds. They are using adaptive management and modeling in an innovative way that incorporates their management expertise as well as new conservation planning and modeling tools.
  • International Bicknell’s Thrush Conservation Group
    Developing a broad-based, scientifically-sound approach to conserve Bicknell’s Thrush, incorporating research, monitoring, and on-the-ground management actions.
  • International Wood Thrush Conservation Alliance
    This group is for sharing information about the Wood Thrush (and member activities (research, monitoring, conservation action, etc.). The objective of this group is to halt the population decline by 2040 by inspiring, supporting and coordinating conservation efforts throughout the range and its’ life cycle.
  • National Joint Venture Website and Outreach Materials
    Migratory Bird Joint Ventures are cooperative, regional partnerships that work to conserve habitat for the benefit of birds, other wildlife, and people. There are twenty-two habitat-based Joint Ventures, each addressing the bird habitat conservation issues found within their geographic area. In addition, three species-based Joint Ventures, all with an international scope, work to further the scientific understanding needed to effectively manage populations of specific bird species.
  • North American Bird Conservation Initiative
    The North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) is a coalition of government agencies, private organizations, academic institutions, and private industry leaders in Canada, the United States, and Mexico working to achieve integrated bird conservation that will benefit all birds in all habitats.
  • Reddish Egret Working Group
    The Reddish Egret Working Group seeks to develop, support, and implement rangewide research and management efforts that promote the conservation of Reddish Egret and their habitats through individual and partnership-based initiatives guided by recommendations of the Working Group’s membership.
  • Saltmarsh Habitat and Avian Research Project
    The Saltmarsh Habitat & Avian Research Program(SHARP) was founded by a group of academic, governmental, and non-profit collaboratorsto provide critical information for the conservation of tidal-marsh birds.
  • Western Atlantic Shorebird Association
    The Western Atlantic Shorebird Association, or WASA for short, is an association of biologists, wildlife managers, and concerned naturalists dedicated to the study and conservation of shorebirds and their habitats.
  • Western Hemisphere Migratory Species Initiative
    No single local organization can take on the entire responsibility of ensuring the protection and conservation of these migratory species’ homes, homes-away-from-homes, and everything in between, wildlife agency directors and other senior officials created theWestern Hemisphere Migratory Species Initiative (WHMSI) to facilitate international cooperation.