Christmas Bird Count is Coming Up!

If you're a birder, you know just what I'm talking about. If not, get savvy and hop on board the Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count. Not only is it a fun excuse to get outside on wintery days, it's also a way to contribute valuable information to bird conservation efforts.

You probably won't spy an endangered Kirtland's warbler which migrates from the northern U.S. to the Bahamas during the winter.

Photo by USFWS Joel Trick

Learn More:
Count Birds for Christmas

This Land is Your Land

Now, the question is: what will you do with it? Or, more aptly, what will become of it when you're no longer in charge of it? 

Photo by David Ball / Wikimedia

If you care about wildlife and the habitat that our wild neighbors so desperately need, consider placing a portion of your property (or, heck, all of it) into a conservation easement with the help of a land trust. This is a way to legally protect your land from development or other destructive practices forever ...

Or at least as long as the U.S. government reigns supreme.

Learn more:

Land Trusts Support Endangered Species Habitat

 

 

Pets and Endangered Species Don't Mix

Our pets provide comfort, companionship, and faithful service. We name them, and we pamper them to the point that they become part of the family. It's easy to forget that Tabby or Fido are instinctive hunters. A flutter of feathers or a twitch of a tail proves irresistible to them. 

Photo by Lxowle [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL] / Wikimedia

Regardless of how tame they seem or how much food they eat at home, they will hunt without concern for their impact on prey populations.

Learn how you can prevent your kitty from killing wildlife:
Do Cats Kill Endangered Species? 

 

Will Species Topple off the Fiscal Cliff?

The media is muttering about the potential effects of the impending "fiscal cliff," but few newscasts are mentioning the impact this so-called "sequestration" will have on our natural resources - endangered species included.

Photo by Bicycle Bob (CC-BY-SA-2.0) / Wikimedia Commons

Learn more about the grim forecast:
Will Endangered Species Topple off the Fiscal Cliff?

And urge congress to get their ducks in a row before December 31: 
Tell Congress: Don't send wildlife over the budgetary cliff