From American Bird Conservancy: Looking for that last-minute gift for someone who cares about birds? With 45 million Americans who enjoy bird watching, there certainly is a demand for such products. The experts at American Bird Conservancy have a few suggestions that can help solve that gift-giving dilemma and make a real difference for the thousands of bird species that call the Americas home.
- Bird-friendly Coffee: Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages worldwide. As a result, the way coffee is grown has a big impact on habitats—and birds. Unfortunately, most coffee on the market today is produced through destructive farming practices such as clearcutting of tropical forests and using large amounts of pesticides. Anything we can do to discourage such actions ultimately helps birds. That’s where bird-friendly coffee helps: Achieving this certification requires that coffee producers do such things as reduce or eliminate pesticide use and increase the amount of shade cover provided at coffee farms. Here are two of the many sources for coffee that helps birds: Birds and Beans, Caffe Ibis.
- ABC BirdTape: Recent studies say that up to a billion birds are killed each year in the U.S. by colliding with glass, nearly half at homes. ABC BirdTape is an affordable solution that is easily applied, removable, and lasts up to four years on outside surfaces. Most important, tests show that this translucent tape can significantly reduce bird collisions with glass windows or doors. It comes in a ¾-inch tape in a 75-foot roll or 3-inch x 3-inch pre-cut squares in a 30-foot roll. Order some now for application before the spring migration, a time when bird collisions are at their highest.
- Catios: There are 84 million owned cats in the U.S., and at least 35 million of them are let outside to roam. Unfortunately, in the course of roaming, those owned cats—as well as at least another 50 million feral cats—are devastating bird populations, killing about 2.4 billion birds annually. The good news is that cat owners who wish to allow their cats outdoors without the worry of their pet either killing wildlife or getting injured from a variety of other predators have an alternative. It is called a “catio,” and it comes in a variety of configurations available in various sizes and finishes. Check out these sources for catios: Catio Showcase, Catio Spaces.
- Support bird conservation: Gift a membership to a bird conservation organization: a year-long ABC gift membership only costs $30 through December 31. Your chosen recipient will receive our publications (Bird Conservation magazine and Bird Calls newsletter) as well as other updates, and you can feel confident that your gift will be supporting real conservation results for birds. ABC is one of a very select group of organizations that has received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator—a mark of extraordinary effectiveness and remarkable fiscal accountability.
- Once-in-a-lifetime birding trip: Go ahead, give yourself (or a friend) a trip to Central or South America. Just make sure you go to a reserve that folds their tourism revenue back into the reserve. That means that your vacation dollars not only give you the birding experience of a lifetime; they also help the local conservation group maintain or even expand the reserve in order to protect more birds for future generations. Our Conservation Birding website is a great starting point for your planning effort.American Bird Conservancy is the Western Hemisphere’s bird conservation specialist—the only organization with a single and steadfast commitment to achieving conservation results for native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. With a focus on efficiency and working in partnership, we take on the toughest problems facing birds today, innovating and building on sound science to halt extinctions, protect habitats, eliminate threats, and build capacity for bird conservation.