International
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies collaborates with partners to conserve birds of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains and the habitats they depend on – across their migratory range. The Bird Conservancy has been working internationally since the early 1990s. We officially launched our international program in 2005 to build a permanent bridge for bird conservation throughout the Americas.
Mexico is particularly important for many western migrants as more species overwinter here than in any other country. Mexico is also a mega-diverse country, one of 12 in the world that together host 60-70% of the world’s biodiversity. Thus, Mexico is a natural focus for our international efforts.
Through cooperative partnerships and innovative projects, the Bird Conservancy is helping to establish a foundation for bird and habitat conservation in Mexico and other Latin American countries at local, regional and national scales. We work with state and federal agencies, universities, non-governmental organizations and local communities to build capacity, knowledge and support for the conservation of ecosystems important to migratory and resident birds.
Click below to learn more about the Bird Conservancy’s international programs.
Chihuahuan Grasslands
Grassland birds have declined more than any other group of North American birds.
The causes for most of the declines are poorly understood but likely stem from changes in the quantity and quality of grasslands across their migratory range.
Many grassland birds utilize the Great Plains and Chihuahuan Desert region throughout their annual cycle
Two-thirds of the Chihuahuan Desert lies in Mexico. Less than 15 percent is grassland and less than half of that is suitable for species that require ample grass cover and little or no shrub cover. Many Chihuahuan Desert grasslands have been destroyed or radically altered through conversion to cropland, inappropriate grazing, urbanization and invasive species. The ongoing loss of wintering habitat is likely a principal factor in population declines among species wintering here.Of 34 grassland-obligate bird species breeding in the western Great Plains, 85 percent overwinter in the Chihuahuan Desert. Only the three prairie grouse species do not depend on the Chihuahuan Desert grasslands for at least part of their life cycle. Because so many of North America’s grassland bird species concentrate in the limited grasslands of the Chihuahuan Desert, suitable habitat in this region is critical to their conservation. However, conservation efforts on the wintering grounds have lagged far behind those to the north.
Unfortunately, the loss of desert grasslands is accelerating, especially in Mexico where the expansion of center-pivot irrigated agriculture has converted more than 100,000 acres in Chihuahua alone since 2005. This recent surge in land conversion is threatening to extirpate the last desert-dwelling Aplomado Falcons and the Mexican Pronghorn, while severely impacting other grassland species.Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, alongside our partners in Mexico and the U.S., is working conserve Chihuahuan Desert grasslands and the birds that depend on them. Until recently, little was known about how grassland birds are distributed among the grasslands of the region and what affects their abundance and survival. Bird Conservancy is leading the way to fill these critical information gaps, while developing a platform for broader conservation. We are producing the scientific knowledge and tools needed to advance strategic habitat conservation, while building international partnerships, local capacity and public support for grassland conservation throughout the region.
Wintering Grassland Bird Surveys
Since 2007, Bird Conservancy has led a bi-national effort to inventory and monitor wintering grassland bird populations in the most important grasslands in the Chihuahuan Desert. This project produced, for the first time, rigorous information on the distribution, density and habitat use of nearly 30 grassland species throughout most of the desert. We used this information to redraw the map of priority conservation sites and develop conservation tools for this region. We also developed a bi-national network and partnership of organizations with increased capacity to address grassland bird conservation.
Winter Grassland Bird Survival Research
Bird Conservancy began a pilot investigation in 2009 into the winter survival and daily movements of grassland birds to better understand if populations are limited during the winter and what factors affect their survival.
We focused our initial efforts on Vesper Sparrows, using radio-telemetry, and in the winter of 2012-2013 extended this research to Grasshopper and Baird’s Sparrows. Results from the Vesper Sparrow study suggest grass height has a strong effect on survival, with at least 30 cm of standing cover needed to provide effective protection from predators. This need for tall standing cover is also desired by many range managers, highlighting the great compatibility of bird conservation and range management objectives in the Chihuahuan grasslands.
Read more about our winter grassland bird survival research on our blog.
Education and Outreach
Bird Conservancy has developed education and outreach tools for people living and working in grasslands. Our Guia de Bolsillo para Aves de Pastizal del Desierto Chihuahuense (Pocket Guide to Chihuahuan Desert Grassland Birds) has successfully engaged landowners and increased their awareness about birds. Our manual “Compartiendo Sus Agostaderos con Las Aves de Pastizal” (Sharing Your Rangelands with Grassland Birds) provides best management practices to help landowners and range managers understand bird conservation needs and incorporate bird-friendly practices into their management and extension services. We also produced a video, with support from Habitat Seven, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and others, to engage ranchers in northern Mexico in conservation efforts and highlight options for them to enhance production.
Habitat Enhancement
Bird Conservancy partners with private landowners in Mexico and the U.S. to implement habitat improvement efforts for grassland birds. The “Sustainable Grazing Network” in Mexico engages cattle ranchers and other producers that support a mosaic of grassland conditions to benefit a range of priority species with differing habitat needs. Through rotational grazing, invasive shrub removal, prescribed grazing and other techniques, we are restoring habitat conditions needed in winter by species such as Sprague’s Pipit, Chestnut-collared Longspur and Baird’s Sparrow, while reducing sources of mortality and other limiting factors on private ranches and ejidos through simple conservation efforts. By working with ranchers, we can keep working ranches viable and increase the carrying capacity of the land to support more birds.
Next Steps
Our grassland bird demographic research has expanded to include survival and productivity on the breeding grounds of the Northern Great Plains. We are also monitoring birds on the connected Chihuahuan desert grasslands of the Trans-Pecos in western Texas. Recent advances in tracking technology bring us closer to filling in knowledge gaps for grassland birds. Bird Conservancy is spearheading the development of a collaborative network of automated radio telemetry stations in the GPCD region as part of a world-wide network, the Motus Wildlife Tracking System. With a number of university and nonprofit partners in Mexico and funding from the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, station installations are planned for northern Mexico to track birds once they arrive to the Chihuahuan Desert grasslands.
Conservation Plans
Action Plan for Chihuahuan Desert Grasslands
Chihuahuan Desert Master Plan
Chihuahuan Desert Grassland Bird Conservation Plan
Partners
Bird Conservancy thanks its partners that have helped implement these projects; in the U.S., the Bureau of Land Management in New Mexico has been an important partner, and special thanks to our international partners in Mexico, including the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Leon, Universidad Juarez del Estado de Durango, Universidad Estatal de Sonora, IMC-Vida Silvestre, A.C., The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund-Mexico, Profauna-Coahuila, A.C., Profauna-Chihuahua A.C., Pronatura Noreste A.C., Pronatura Noroeste A.C., Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Borderlands Research Institute at Sul Ross State University (SRSU) CONANP, CONABIO, Cuenca Los Ojos Foundation and numerous private and communal landowners .
Financial Support
Major funding for these programs has come from the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, U.S.D.A. Forest Service International Program, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Commission for Environmental Cooperation, Rio Grande Joint Venture, American Bird Conservancy, Rio Grande Research Center, National Park Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Rio Grande Joint Venture, Sonoran Joint Venture, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Colorado State Land Board, Arizona Game and Fish Dept., New Mexico Dept. of Game and Fish, The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies – Southern Wings Program and the City of Fort Collins, Colorado.
Tropical and Montane Forests
The tropical lowland and montane forests of Mexico and Central America harbor many millions of overwintering migrants from North America, in addition to dozens of endemic bird species found nowhere else on Earth. These forests are critical to biodiversity conservation in the Americas and are therefore a key focus of the Bird Conservancy’s international work.
Western Mexico
Western Mexico is likely the exclusive wintering location for the majority of western North American-Neotropical migrant landbirds. The region supports the greatest number of Partners in Flight Watch List species in winter and is also the epicenter of avian endemism in Meso-America, supporting well over 100 endemic and near-endemic species. The incredible biodiversity and richness of the region reflects the intersection of several major ecosystems. Increasing human populations and related threats underscore the need for proactive conservation to educate the public and protect the region’s habitats and landscapes while they are still relatively intact.
The Bird Conservancy, in collaboration with the Universidad de Guadalajara’s Manantlán Institute for Ecology and Conservation of Biodiversity (IMECBIO) and the National Forest Commission (CONAFOR), has implemented a pilot program to monitor migratory and resident birds in CONAFOR’s “Western Corridor” biodiversity priority region in Jalisco as part of their national forest biometrics monitoring program called “INFyS”. The results of this pilot effort demonstrate the importance of managed forests for biodiversity conservation and the influence of forest management on priority bird species.
The Bird Conservancy first began work in western Mexico in the winter of 1991-1992, focusing on the five Pacific coastal states of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Guerrero and Oaxaca. This work resulted in a manuscript, Status and Needs of Western Mexico Parks and Protected Areas, a compilation of information on the protected natural areas of seven states in western Mexico. Much of it was written by Mexican specialists who work toward conservation and understanding the biology of the areas and their faunas and floras. These are the people who best understand the situation at each site and across each state. Although the information presented in the manuscript is incomplete, we hope it remains sufficient to spark an impulse for gathering more information and for protecting natural habitats across western Mexico.
Find out how you can visit western Mexico with the Bird Conservancy and learn firsthand about the incredible biodiversity of this region.
Read about experiences from the field in West Mexico.
Sierra Madre Oriental
The Sierra Madre Oriental extends from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, south to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico. Like the Sierra Madre Occidental in western Mexico, this extensive mountain range supports vast pine-oak forests and other diverse habitats ranging from deserts to cloud forests. It is a primary destination for millions of wintering migrant forest birds from western North America.
The Bird Conservancy, in cooperation with the Institute for Bird Populations (IBP) and Los Guías de Aves de El Cielo, in January 2006 established six bird monitoring stations in El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, located in the Sierra Madre Oriental in southern Tamaulipas. The project trained local bird guides to employ mist-netting protocols developed by IBP to monitor survival of wintering birds.
The goals of this project are to increase capacity for bird conservation in the reserve, increase awareness and engage local stakeholders in bird conservation, and provide scientific data to guide land management in the reserve. The program is now being run in cooperation with researchers from the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas in Ciudad Victoria, and has served as the basis for academic studies while continuing to train and employ local people from the reserve in bird monitoring.
Status Assessments
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies collaborates with partners in the United States and internationally to assess the conservation status of birds using the Partners in Flight (PIF) species assessment process.
Central America
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies began working in 2014 with partners from the seven Central American countries, Mexico and the U.S. to conduct the first-ever conservation assessment of the birds of Central America. We are applying the PIF species assessment process to all 407 bird species unique to Central America, as well as 500-plus species shared between Mexico and Central America. This includes landbirds, shorebirds, waterbirds and waterfowl.
This assessment is indicating strong or severe population declines in more than half of the species being investigated though this process, a worrying situation. The population declines are associated with high rates of deforestation, agricultural expansion and urban growth of the last four decades in Central America. Another major threat identified by the experts is the lack of legal protection and forest rangers in many natural areas of the isthmus.
Read more about the assessment of Central American birds on our blog.
Mexico
In cooperation with the Mexican “National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity” (CONABIO) and Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Bird Conservancy began in 2002 applying the PIF species assessment process to the Mexican avifauna. This project was the culmination of several years of discussions about improving international cooperation to increase, better prioritize and coordinate resources for bird conservation.
Over three years, Bird Conservancy helped lead and facilitate three national and four regional workshops involving more than 100 Mexican biologists to systematically evaluate the biological vulnerability of each Mexican bird species at regional and continental scales.
These data have been used to develop the first of many products to come from this work: the “PIF Tri-national Vision: Saving Our Shared Birds”. It is also expected that CONABIO will publish the all-bird assessment for Mexico. Through building a strong biological foundation of conservation threats and statuses, we hope to increase recognition and resources for shared conservation responsibilities throughout the continent. The Mexican Species Avian Assessment Database can be accessed at avesmx.conabio.gob.mx.
