Conserve NH Birds

What You Can Do to Help Conserve New Hampshire’s Birds

Whether you’re a bird watcher, landowner, business owner, or community official, there are ways you can help New Hampshire’s birds. This section highlights actions we can take as enlightened and concerned citizens to help ensure all of New Hampshire’s birds are here for generations to come.

Conservation Goals

In the context of trends and threats to New Hampshire’s birds, there are three overarching conservation goals:

Reverse species declines

These species need our help, and we need to implement a diverse array of actions to ensure they remain on the landscape. We also want their populations to recover to the point that they are no longer conservation priorities.

Keep common species common

Just because a species is currently increasing or stable doesn’t mean it always will be. Declines in common species may be early indicators of unforeseen environmental problems. Maintaining healthy habitat for widespread species will also benefit the rarer or declining ones that co-occur.

Gather critical baseline data

Many rare or secretive species have unknown trends, and as a result we don’t always know their true conservation status. If they’re declining we’ll need to start thinking about possible conservation actions, but in the absence of more information it’s impossible to set priorities.

Each goal applies to groups of species showing similar population trends. All actions listed in the following contribute to these goals.

As an Individual

Advocate for:

local regulations that protect wildlife
reduced use of pesticides and other toxins
continued state and federal funding in support of bird conservation and habitat protection
organic farming-friendly laws and regulations
a national ban on lead sinkers and lead jigs and lead shot
a ban on the export of chemicals banned in the United States
climate change control legislation
acid rain control
other bird friendly legislation
strong federal environmental regulation

Help close the knowledge gaps here at home

You don’t need to be an expert to contribute to research on New Hampshire birds. Helping gather data as a citizen scientist can be as simple as counting birds at your feeder or watching swallows nest on your barn.

Sign up for NH Audubon’s annual Backyard Winter Bird Survey.
Report your bird sightings to eBird.
Check the NH Audubon web site for volunteer opportunities.
Sign up for the Nature Groupie email list to learn about outdoor volunteer opportunities in New England.

Protect birds against predators and disturbances

Keep your cat indoors! Domestic cats are among the greatest threats to wild birds in the United States. Even well fed cats and cats with bells will kill birds. The American Bird Conservancy web site has details.
Obey signs posted to protect nesting birds, typically found on dunes, shorelines, and other sensitive nesting areas, and keep dogs leashed when near such areas. These precautions should continue into fall migration, when our coastal beaches in particular are critical resting areas for shorebirds on their journeys south.

Avoid Toxic Chemicals

Avoid using pesticides and herbicides; if you currently have pesticides, dispose of them at a household hazardous waste collection day.

Promote non-toxic control measures when necessary for mosquitoes in your home or community. Mosquitoes are an important food source for swallows, as well as bats and dragonflies, and these predators will help to keep them in check. To protect yourself from mosquitoes, use repellent, cover up, and reduce mosquito breeding opportunities around your house. Check state and federal web sites for prevention actions you can take in your yard.

Make your home, yard, and community bird friendly

Landscape and maintain a bird friendly yard. Plant native bird-friendly bushes and trees (they have more caterpillars for feeding young birds). Research indicates that a yard with 70% native species (by biomass) will provide enough food for sustainable chickadee reproduction (see video by Professor Doug Tallamy). Add plants to your yard with berries or mast (seeds and nuts); provide dense vegetation for shrub nesting birds; leave leaf litter and brushy areas where birds and their insect food can hide. Reduce lawn area and allow plants to grow under trees for caterpillars to complete their life cycle.
Keep your yard free of invasive plants. Educate yourself and others about the common invasive plants so you can act effectively to eliminate them.
Be on the lookout for invasive insect pests. Learn to identify insects like the Asian longhorn beetle and the hemlock woolly adelgid. Participate in organized surveys of vulnerable areas. Report any sightings to NHBugs. Use local firewood.

Windows are invisible killers because birds see only plants and sky reflected in them. Millions of birds are killed annually from flying into windows, more often during migration and most often from windows in homes. Not all windows are equally hazardous. Certain situations, such as highly reflective windows and those near bird activity areas like feeders deserve the most attention. There are a number of strategies for reducing reflections in glass. The simplest solution is to break up the reflection on the outside of the glass, and there is now special tape available for homeowners to modify their windows in this way. If you are replacing windows, ask for bird-friendly glass. There are products available and glass companies need to know there is a demand. Locate bird feeders and birdbaths less than two feet from any window so that birds cannot build up enough momentum to be injured if they do hit the window.
Birds can be disoriented by lighted windows at night. Many migrating birds move at night and are particularly susceptible. Some cities, including Boston, have initiated “lights out” programs during peak migration that need your support. Start a Fatal Lights Awareness Program (FLAP) in your city. Turn off unnecessary lights at night, even if you’re not in a big city.
Remove chimney guards from late April through early August. Participate in Chimney Swift conservation.
Leave dead trees standing and put up nest boxes with predator guards for cavity-nesting birds. Be sure to use proper dimensions and placement for the species in your habitat. Do not install boxes where House Sparrows are present unless you take action to prevent their nesting. This non-native species out-competes our native cavity nesters and is known to kill adults, youngsters, and eggs in the nest.

Protect birds on wintering grounds

Buy bird-friendly, shade grown coffee to help conserve wintering habitat and create a demand for this product. Shade grown coffee plantations maintain natural tree canopies similar to those of an undisturbed tropical forest and can support more than 150 species of birds – rivaling the numbers found in undisturbed tropical forests and including “our” orioles, tanagers, warblers, and thrushes. Sun coffee produces higher yields, but at tremendous ecological cost. Buy coffee that is certified “bird friendly” under the Smithsonian Institution’s program.
Avoid produce that is grown using toxic agrochemicals; buy local and organic whenever possible; advocate for accurate food labeling. Although the effects of pesticides in use are not fully known, experience with DDT offers a cautionary tale, from which we are still learning. As recently as 1996 the pesticide monocrotophos, applied to fields in Argentina, resulted in the deaths of thousands of Swainson’s Hawks, and we know that pesticides that kill insects eliminate a food source for insectivores. Neonicotinoids, a common pesticide, has been found to be toxic to birds, even in small quantities, and they persist in soils for months and even years. Many seeds come pre-coated with neonicotinoids, so pay careful attention to what you plant and plan accordingly.
Support reputable conservation organizations in the Caribbean, Central and South America. International field trip leaders can often provide information on local organizations.

Support bird research and monitoring

Support local and regional land conservation efforts and the organizations behind them

New Hampshire has a strong land trust community, and most cities and towns are served by a local or regional land trust. Become a land conservation advocate and a land trust member, or put your land into permanent conservation. For the land trust nearest you, visit NH Land Trust Coalition. Town and city conservation commissions are also often active in land protection efforts. Contact your town offices for more information, maybe the commission even needs a new member!
Support efforts to address threats and identify and protect critical stopover and wintering habitat in the US as well as the Caribbean, Central and South America.

Reduce Plastic Pollution

Minimize or eliminate use of single-use plastics such as drinking straws, shopping bags, and plastic utensils.
Use reusable canvas or durable plastic bags for shopping.
Retrieve lost monofilament line while fishing, and collect this dangerous litter when you encounter it.
Recycle plastic waste in your home and advocate for community recycling programs.
Participate in trash clean-ups.

As the Owner or Manager of Forest Land, Farmland, or a Wetland Habitat

UNH Cooperative Extension provides numerous resources on managing land for wildlife including a very helpful series of brochures on habitat stewardship for several different types of habitats. They also offer landowners free advice on forest management issues.

If you own spruce-fir forest land, manage it for age class and structural diversity.
If you own a large tract of forest land, maintain it as such. Consider putting it into permanent conservation with a conservation easement, whereby you would continue to own and manage the land.
Create habitat for shrubland species without compromising the habitat for interior forest species. This can be done with timber cuts planned to maximize early to mid-successional habitats that still maintain a large intact forest, or by allowing natural disturbances (fire, native insects, wind) to create openings within the forest. Always work with a licensed forester to ensure sound woodlot forestry practices on your land, and let your forester know that creating and preserving bird habitat is important to you!
Time logging operations to avoid the nesting season.
If you already own shrubland habitat, consult a wildlife expert about the value of managing your habitat to prevent trees from growing in. Even in small patches, berry bearing shrub habitat is valuable for birds prior to and during migration. The UNH Cooperative Extension Habitat Stewardship Series on shrublands can provide guidance on shrubland maintenance.
If you have fields, time mowing to avoid disturbance to ground nesting species. Talk with a wildlife specialist from UNH Cooperative Extension about managing the land for grassland birds and consult Mass Audubon’s Best Management Practices for Nesting Grassland Birds.
If you own marsh and scrub-shrub wetlands, floodplain forests, vernal pools, saltmarsh, or other special wetland habitats, learn what to do to encourage maximum wildlife use.
When developing or maintaining public trails, consider wildlife and habitat concerns in their placement.

As a Community Official

Ensure that your local ordinances and regulations protect wetlands and buffers along the wetlands, ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers in your community.
Keep abreast of emerging technologies to control aquatic weeds without herbicides. Native aquatics are not usually a problem. In New Hampshire, the most serious weeds are non-native species, especially milfoil (Myriophyllum heterophyllum). The most effective strategy is to keep non-native species out of lakes and ponds to begin with. Educating boaters about this threat and carefully inspecting boats for plant fragments before launching are important preventive steps.
Check your regulations to make sure they discourage road construction in undeveloped areas, and they do encourage connections between and among conservation properties. Every new road and cul-de-sac not only fragments the landscape but also heightens the risks to birds.
Do an audit of your municipal regulations with respect to wildlife and natural resources protection. See Resources for More Information.
Advocate for proper siting and design of towers to decrease risk of bird kills.
Identify the large, unfragmented blocks of forest and grassland in your community, including lands that abut undeveloped land in adjacent towns. In looking at your community, remember: town borders are even more meaningless to birds than international ones!
As conservation commission members, work with landowners, adjacent municipalities, and your local/regional land trust to help maintain these unfragmented lands.
As planning board members, engage developers in discussions about habitat protection. Minimize fragmentation by clustering houses and minimizing road construction in undeveloped land. In your planning work, use the publication Innovative Land Use Planning Techniques.
As regional planners, help communities identify intermunicipal conservation opportunities for protecting and connecting natural habitats. Keep abreast of efforts to identify significant habitats within your region. Consult the WAP or NH Fish and Game Department for assistance.

As a Business Owner/Leader

For landscaping your building, use native vegetation appropriate for your site. Businesses situated in special habitats, like the pine barrens in Concord, could reduce habitat fragmentation by keeping native pitch pines and other local plants of sandy soils rather than planting lawns and hardwood trees that need watering and change pine barrens habitat. Seek advice from a landscaper who specializes in native plants. See the Landscaping chapter (Section 3) in Innovative Land Use Planning Techniques and Integrated Landscaping: Following Nature’s Lead.
Pay attention to windows and night lighting. Turn off unnecessary lights when a building or office is unoccupied. This both saves energy and reduces the risk of disorienting migrating birds at night. Install outdoor lighting that is directed downward for the same reason.
Help create demand for bird friendly windows by asking for them in new construction or renovations. The glass industry needs to know there is a market.
If nighthawks, Cliff Swallows, or other native urban nesting birds choose your business for raising young, it is often easy to co-exist with them. They usually finish raising their young in a couple of months, they very rarely approach people, and a bird such as a nighthawk creates no mess to clean up. NH Audubon can help you identify the bird (not all urban nesting birds are native or welcome) and provide information about their habits and length of stay.
If you own a gravel pit and Bank Swallows move into an exposed bank, wait for the young to fledge before removing the gravel. They typically fledge in two months, although late nesters may linger until the end of July. These birds actually appreciate newly exposed sand and gravel banks for nesting, and may return the following year to occupy other parts of an active excavation.
Take steps that reduce your contribution to climate change.