AS PART OF THE 2014 STATE OF THE BIRDS REPORT, a team of scientists from the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) identified the 33 U.S. common bird species in steep decline. These are common birds that do not meet WatchList criteria, yet according to long-term monitoring surveys are rapidly declining throughout their range. They have lost more than half their global population over the past four decades.  We know that birds that are abundant today can undergo a massive population collapse with surprising rapidity. Passenger Pigeon populations crashed from 2 to 3 billion birds to none in the wild in just 40 years. Keeping common birds common, while we still can, is as important as preventing extinctions of rare species.

COMMON BIRDS IN STEEP DECLINE - Birds we've found as window collisions are highlighted.

Northern Pintail Horned Lark American Wigeon Bank Swallow Cinnamon Teal Verdin Greater Scaup Varied Thrush Long-tailed Duck Snow Bunting Scaled Quail Cape May Warbler Northern Bobwhite Blackpoll Warbler Purple Gallinule Wilson’s Warbler Franklin’s Gull Field Sparrow Herring Gull Lark Bunting Black Tern Grasshopper Sparrow Yellow-billed Cuckoo Eastern Meadowlark Snowy Owl Rusty Blackbird Short-eared Owl Brewer’s Blackbird Common Nighthawk Common Grackle Chimney Swift Pine Siskin Loggerhead Shrike