Bird populations across the U.S. are declining due to development, with the steepest declines occurring in Western states.
A scientific report was released this week called "The State of the Birds 2014," which is being described as the most comprehensive review ever of long-term trend data. Though the news sounds bad, the researchers also praised conservation as a solid solution that works when enough people lend a hand.
"Today, we have the science, technology and knowledge to prevent extinctions. Conservation works," said the report, authored by the U.S. Committee of the North American.
Bird Conservation Initiative is a 23-member partnership of government agencies and organizations dedicated to creating new ways to save birds.
Destruction of arid lands due to development has caused a 46 percent decline in the bird population since 1968 in places like Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and other Western states, according to the report.
The study's release marks the 100th anniversary of the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon, once considered the most abundant bird in the U.S., whose migration of 1 billion birds in 1860 was said to measure 300 miles long, and took 14 hours to pass.
In just decades however, hunting and forest clearing wiped out the population, and the last Passenger Pigeon, a caged bird named Martha, died on Sept. 1, 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoo.
The report listed 33 U.S. common bird species in steep decline, including the Snowy Owl.
A 2014 Watch List of 233 U.S. bird species most in danger of extinction and in need of immediate conservation help was also included in the report. The watch list included the White-rumped Swiftlet, California Gnatcatcher, Bristle-thighed Curlew and Sooty Grouse.
Hawaii has 33 species on the list, and was named the "bird extinction capital of the world" by the authors. The authors said no place has had more extinctions since human settlement than Hawaii, according to the study.
Steps are being taken to protect wetlands, coasts, forests, and other bird habitats or to modify human practices, like long-line fishing, which previously resulted in the accidental catch of endangered Short-tailed Albatrosses.
Such conservation practices have saved the Albatrosses, Bald Eagles, Brown Pelicans, Peregrine Falcons and even the California Condor.
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