BirdNote; How to Count Three Billion Birds

BirdNote®

How to Count Three Billion Birds

Written by Mark Bramhill

This is BirdNote.

In 2019, a study was published in the journal Science that found that North American bird populations have declined by 30% in the past 50 years — a loss of three billion birds. The study got a lot of peoples’ attention, and led to new conservation efforts. A whole team of scientists worked on the study, including biostatistician Adam C. Smith. He’s the one who crunched the data and came up with that headlining number. But Adam says that their findings wouldn’t have been possible without years of work from volunteer community scientists logging bird data.

Adam C Smith: We had all the data, we've got 50 years of hard work, lifetimes of work to rely on because of skilled and committed volunteer birders. Without those data, we would not be able to run these models. We would not know how those numbers have changed over the last 50 years.

Through programs like the North American Breeding Bird Survey and annual Christmas Bird Counts, everyday people like you and me have played an essential role in conservation. And Adam knows how valuable that is:

Adam C Smith: I swim in gratitude all the time. It's just, it's just incredible.

You can hear more from Adam, including how you can be a part of these amazing community science efforts, on our new podcast: Bring Birds Back. Follow the show in your podcast app, or listen at BirdNote.org. I’m Tenijah Hamilton.

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Senior Producer: John Kessler

Production Manager: Allison Wilson

Producer: Mark Bramhill

Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone

Digital Producer: Conor Gearin

Bird sounds recorded by Gordon Hempton.

BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.

© 2021 BirdNote June 2021 Narrator: Tenijah Hamilton

ID# PodBBB-02-2021-06-08 PodBBB-02

Reference

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6461/120