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Take Flight From Lawn Pesticides: Tips for Organic, Bird-Friendly Gardening
Around 1 billion pounds of conventional pesticides are sprayed and scattered each year in the United States, applied to everything from the food we eat, to the grass we walk on, to the plants in our gardens. Although invisible, many… Read More »
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Five Ways to Take Action to Reduce Pesticides
Taking action to reduce pesticides can start in your own home and/or garden. Photo by Rosamund Parkinson/Shutterstock Around 1 billion pounds of conventional pesticides are sprayed and scattered each year in the United States, and many of these chemicals remain… Read More »
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Insect Freefall: What Does It Mean for Birds?
Many people quip that they’d prefer a world without “bugs,” but as the adage goes: Be careful what you wish for. Our planet cannot function normally without insects and other invertebrates. “The little things that run the world” is what… Read More »
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Hazardous Protections: The Challenge of Shielding Birds and Farmworkers from Pesticides While Temperatures Rise
Western Meadowlarks. Photo by Greg Homel, Natural Elements Productions In June in Central Valley, California, migrant farmworkers rise before the sun. They wrap themselves tight in personal protective equipment — socks, boots, a bandana, gloves, goggles, and, finally, coveralls. They’re… Read More »
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Pesticides
Thousands of Swainson’s Hawks were found dead in agricultural fields in Argentina in the mid-1990s. When the mystery was solved, a commonly used pesticide was identified as the culprit. It’s just one example of pesticides marketed as “safe” later being deemed deadly,… Read More »
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Whooping Cranes Face New Threat From Agricultural Fungicide
Whooping Cranes embody the essence of avian charisma. The tallest of North American birds, they are majestic, awe-inspiring, and world famous. But these qualities — powerful as they may be for bird lovers — proved no match for the devastating… Read More »
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Dining on Insecticides in Congress
Many Americans seek out fresh and healthy foods both to protect their families and to lend their support for a more sustainable world. But it is hard to know what you are biting into—even if you happen to be a… Read More »
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Birds Need the EPA to Oversee Pesticides (and So Do We All)
Ready for a return to the Dirty Sixties? Some in Congress seem to be! The 1960s was the decade of the Vietnam war, civil rights protests, and humankind's first steps on the moon. But it was also a decade of pollution. Among… Read More »
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Senator Booker and Congresswoman Velázquez Advocate for Reducing Agricultural Pesticides on Refuges
(July 22, 2022) Today, Senator Cory Booker and colleagues submitted a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), requesting a phase-out of the use of agricultural pesticides to grow crops for wildlife on National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) land. This… Read More »
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Neonics and Birds
The nation’s most widely used insecticides, called neonicotinoids or “neonics,” are lethal to birds and to the insects that birds consume. First introduced in the United States in 1994, these pesticides are found in hundreds of products including insect sprays,… Read More »
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Playing the Long Game to Reduce Pesticide Threats
The Bobolink is one of many species vulnerable to pesticides. Photo by Larry Master, masterimages.org. After years of advocacy, education, research, and a lot of help from our members and friends, we are seeing new progress made in protecting birds… Read More »
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Last Gasp For Bird-Killing Chemical
For Immediate Release Contact: , 202-234-7181 ext.210 Pintails. Photo: © FWS (Washington, D.C., March 22, 2010) Opening arguments will be heard in an appeal starting today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that will decide… Read More »
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EPA Cancels Registrations of Two Bird-Killing Pesticides
Baltimore Oriole by Ralph Wright (Washington, D.C., March 1, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the cancellation of two toxic pesticides that were documented by American Bird Conservancy to have recurrently poisoned hundreds of birds. “ABC has… Read More »
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The Real Neonics Threat to Birds isn't From Wild Bird Seed
When the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran a story (“Is your bird seed harmful to the birds and bees?”) on April 26, warning that wild bird seed could be contaminated with neonicotinoid pesticides, commonly known as “neonics,” readers with bird feeders were… Read More »
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Congress and the White House Need to Increase Bird Protections. Here's How.
Thanks to last fall’s election, bird advocates have new opportunities to push for bird-friendly policies and conservation funding. The new Administration is off to an encouraging start — the U.S. will rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, and more than 100… Read More »
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New Study Finds Pesticides Leading Cause of Grassland Bird Declines
Horned Lark and chicks by Middleton Evans (Washington, D.C., February 25, 2013) A new study led by a preeminent Canadian toxicologist identifies acutely toxic pesticides as the most likely leading cause of the widespread decline in grassland bird numbers in… Read More »
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Behind the Report: Neonicotinoid Insecticides 'Harm the Little Creatures'
A 2015 report from American Bird Conservancy finds that more than 90 percent of food samples taken from Congressional cafeterias contain neonicotinoid insecticides, a widely used class of chemicals that is highly toxic to birds and other wildlife. To learn… Read More »
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Streaked Horned Lark Among Ten Species Imperiled by Pesticides, According to New Report
Media Contact: Jordan Rutter, Director of Public Relations, 202-888-7472 | jerutter@abcbirds.org Expert Contacts: Steve Holmer, American Bird Conservancy, Vice President of Policy, Phone: 202-888-7490 | Email: sholmer@abcbirds.org Derek Goldman, Endangered Species Coalition, Northern Rockies Representative, Phone: 406-721-3218 | Email: dgoldman@endangered.org Washington, D.C.,… Read More »
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New Study Provides More Evidence That “Neonic” Pesticides are Driving Pollinator Declines
Western Meadowlarks and other grassland birds suffer when pollinators aren’t around to provide their essential ecosystem services. Photo by Larry Master, masterimages.org. Pesticides called “neonicotinoids” are bad news for bees, and for other invertebrates and grassland birds like the Western… Read More »
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Neonicotinoid Pesticides Threaten Attwater's Prairie-Chicken and Other Grassland Birds
Greater Prairie-Chickens by Noppadol Paothong The month of May brought yet more evidence that certain pesticides, including neonicotinoids, are a major threat to imperiled grassland birds. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published new findings on the… Read More »