In the 2012 President's Budget Request, the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is terminated. As a result, all resources, databases, tools, and applications within this web site will be removed on January 15, 2012. For more information, please refer to the NBII Program Termination page.
Error - The current user does not have access to the page with ID 6597, or this page is not in the community with ID 1154.
Birds have figured prominently in human culture and societies since prehistoric times and have served as a source of inspiration for creative endeavors. Our enduring fascination with birds extends to different aspects of culture and society, as the following examples show:
Birds are vertebrates of the taxonomic class Aves. Thought of as "warm-blooded," birds are endotherms, meaning they are able to regulate their own body temperature independently of the temperature of their surroundings. Bird characteristics include feathers, wings, and a reproduction strategy of laying and incubating eggs. A wide variety of bird species inhabit the Mountain Prairie region, including many migratory birds that require conservation efforts.
Bird Species of Greatest Conservation Need
One hundred and eighty-nine bird species have been identified in state wildlife action plans as Species of Greatest Conservation Need (GCN) for the Mountain Prairie Region, which includes Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The Mountain Prairie Species of Greatest Conservation Need interactive application brings together resources on these 189 GCN bird species and other GCN taxa from multiple authoritative sources including the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) and NatureServe.
Focal Bird Species
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Migratory Bird Program's Focal Species Strategy identifies migratory bird species in need of focused conservation action and then leads targeted campaigns to return the species to healthy and sustainable levels, as a means to better measure success in achievement of conservation priorities. Learn about the focal bird species that inhabit or utilize at least one of the Mountain Prairie region states.
Ecological Role of Birds
Birds provide important ecological services that contribute to maintaining ecosystem processes and some of the necessary conditions on which humans and other organisms depend. These services range from food provisioning to modification of habitats and resource flows in biological communities. Bird declines can have negative impacts on ecosystems, and their sensitivity to environmental change often lends them as useful indicators of environmental quality.
For overviews on the ecological role of birds, see the articles by Whelan and colleagues (2008) and by Sekercioglu (2006). Examples of ecological services and functions birds perform include:
The NBII Bird Conservation Node provides electronic access to North American bird population and habitat data maintained by a broad coalition of federal, state, and non-governmental partners. These data resources are vital to the planning and evaluation of science-based bird conservation strategies. Assembling these resources is an important step toward coordination of bird conservation.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird [Photo: Phillip Jones, Department of Natural Resources]
Bird pollinators such as hummingbirds and white-winged doves, play a crucial role in flowering plant reproduction and in the production of fruits and vegetables.
The NBII Pollinators Project coordinates efforts to address the need for information and technology to support monitoring, management, and conservation of pollinators and pollinator habitats.
Economic Value of Wild Birds
Estimates on how much birds contribute to our economy reflect only a fraction of their value, because the monetary value of ecological and socio-cultural services birds provide has not been quantified. Wild birds have been part of trading and economic activity throughout history. In the United States, severe bird population declines in the early 1900s due to commercial activities led to passage of legislation restricting commercial trade of birds and their parts.
Today, recreational activities account for most of the commercial revenues generated by wild birds in the US. To learn more about the economic impact of bird-related recreational activities see:
