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<br />Some, such as the evening
<br />grosbeak, used to be so plentiful
<br />Ghat people would complain
<br />about how they crowded bird
<br />feeders and finished off 50-
<br />pound sacks of sunflower seeds
<br />in just a couple days. But the
<br />colorful and gregarious gros-
<br />beak's numbers have plummet-
<br />ed 78 percent.
<br />"lt was an amazing phenom-
<br />ena all through the "70s that's
<br />just disappeared. it's just a real-
<br />ly dramatic thing because it was
<br />In peoples back yards and
<br />(now) it's not in people's back
<br />yards," said study author Greg
<br />Butcher, Audubon's bird conser-
<br />vation director.
<br />Audubon Board chairman
<br />Carol Browner, former U.S.
<br />Environmental Protection
<br />Agency administrator, called
<br />the declines "a warning signal"
<br />"We are concernerl is it an
<br />emergency? No, but concerns
<br />can quickly become an emer-
<br />gency," Browner said.
<br />Compared with 1987, there
<br />are 432 million fewer birds of
<br />these species, including the
<br />northern pintail, greater scaup,
<br />boreal chickadee, wmmon tern,
<br />loggerhead shrike, field spar-
<br />row, grasshopper sparrow, snow
<br />bunting, black-throated spar-
<br />row, lark sparrow, common
<br />grackle, American bittern,
<br />horned lark, littie~ blue heron
<br />and ruffed grouse.
<br />The northern bobwhite had
<br />the biggest drop among com-
<br />mon birds. ]n 1967, there were
<br />31 million of the plump ground-
<br />ioving bird. Now they number
<br />closer to b.5 million.
<br />But while these common
<br />birds are in decline, others are
<br />taking their place or even
<br />elbowing them aside. The wild
<br />turkey population, once in deep
<br />trouble, is growing at a rate of
<br />14 percent a year. The double-
<br />created cormorant, pushed
<br />nearly to extinction by DDT, is
<br />growing at a rate of 8 percent a
<br />year and populations of Canada
<br />geese increase by 7 percent
<br />yem'ly
<br />1 Many birds that are disap-
<br />pearing aze speciahsts, while
<br />the thriving ones are general-
<br />ists that do well in urban sprawl
<br />and all kinds of environments,
<br />Butcher said.
<br />`The robins, the Carolina
<br />wrens, the blue jays, the crows,
<br />those kinds of birds, are doing
<br />just 5ne, thank you," Butcher
<br />said. "'Phey really get along in
<br />suburban habitats, most of them
<br />even like city parks, so they are
<br />noG as susceptible to the human
<br />changes in the environment.,,
<br />Dennis Lien can be reached ai
<br />dtien(n?pianeernress.cam or
<br />651-22855&8.
<br />The Associated Press contributed
<br />to this repgrt.
<br />Failing flocks
<br />Twenty common American
<br />bird species -numbering more
<br />than half a million
<br />birds -have seen
<br />their populations
<br />drop by at least
<br />half in the
<br />past 40 years.
<br />Evening
<br />grosbeak ,,.
<br />Population change 7967.2007
<br />Northern bobwhite
<br />4:. -e2w
<br />Evening grosbeak
<br />°' tg~ -789.
<br />Northern pintail
<br />-77%
<br />Greaterscaup
<br />:~ -75°/
<br />Boreaichickadee
<br />Eastern meadowlark
<br />Common tern
<br />..._ .. ., -70%
<br />Loggerhead shrike
<br />.~ ~,.~~r _70°~
<br />Field sparrow
<br />.< . -68%
<br />Grasshopper sparrow
<br />•6s9~
<br />Source: National Audubon Society
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