Make a Big Diff

I don’t know if you used that slang when you were a kid but I did.  Yeah, and I know I just tagged myself as 80’s but hey, what’s the big diff?  I’m gonna bring back that 80’s slang and tweak it Bird Diva style. I wanna invite you all to make a big diff as a birder.

The 2009 State of the Birds Report was recently released and I gotta say I was a little overwhelmed by some of the doom & gloom press it generated. I’m on Twitter now and have chosen to follow a number of conservation groups, some who were involved in putting together the report. I kept getting tweets telling me just about every habitat group of birds was experiencing a “serious decline”. Retweet that a couple of hundred times and that can get pretty defeatist, depressing.

My beef with all this is if you are gonna report the data that, granted, is shocking and sometimes dire ALWAYS back it up with success and action. With all the involved organizations announcing the report, the making the big diff part got lost amongst all the decline data. It is there though, on the State of the Birds website under What You Can Do and in the beautiful but unfortunately antiviral video. It is killing me that I can’t share that video through various social networks or embed it on my blog. *Heavy sigh*

I wasn’t the only one who noticed, Bird Chick blogged on it and my friends at Vermont Center for Ecostudies asked in a tweet if this is just another report to get lost in all the others.

Let’s focus on making the big diff though, taking action, finding out what you can do ‘cuz there’s a treasure chest of success stories behind all the doom and gloom hoopla. Here are some of my favorite ways to make a big diff for birds. Please share yours with me too!

1. Landscape your yard and manage your property for wildlife. Backyards, woodlot, hay field, waterways all can be managed with birds and other wildlife in mind. Often there is money available to property owners as incentives. Contact your state’s fish and game or natural resource department.
2. Donate your time to a bird organization. Take your love of watching birds and use your skills (at whatever level) to help gather information about birds. Christmas Bird Count, Great Backyard Bird Count, Bird Survey – but don’t forget to get in touch locally to find out what opportunities exist. Your local Audubon or bird club will be able to direct you.
3. Carry an extra pair of binoculars for those moments when someone asks, “What are you looking at?” Share the moment! Share what you know, admit what you don’t and use it as an opportunity to learn with someone else. Birds touch people of all ages from all walks of life, get them jazzed and they’ll be making a big diff too!

Popularity: 10% [?]