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The birds’ decline was a stark example of humanity’s lethal effect on wildlife and frightening capacity to exterminate animals, they said. ‘‘It’s terrible,’’ Hunter Bird Observers Club member Chris Herbert said. ‘‘You feel rather helpless that you’re monitoring the decline of a whole group of species in the estuary.’’The Hunter had the most important estuary along the NSW coast for the abundance and diversity of shorebirds, experts say. Birdlife Australia conservation partnerships manager Golo Maurer said the Hunter was ‘‘a key example’’ of threats shorebirds were facing worldwide. Mr Maurer said his organisation had continuously lobbied the federal government about the problem. Mr Herbert said more than 10,000 migratory shorebirds had come to the Hunter estuary every year in the 1970s. ‘‘We can now barely count more than 3000 of them,’’ he said. ‘‘If you project that decline into the future, they’re heading for local extinction in about 20 years.’’

Data collected in 2012 by the British Trust for Ornithology showed there were only 3,300 breeding pairs left in the UK. Over the last 14 years, numbers have fallen by 57%. The birds are already on the amber list as a species of conservation concern, but plans to develop in a woodland where they live could threaten the species further. Conservationist Chris Rose said: “Unfortunately developers and politicians don’t care enough to ward off the most obvious threats – Lodge Hill in Kent, Britain’s only woodland specifically designated as a valued breeding site for nightingales, is under threat from developers.” There is a real concern that these native songbirds may disappear forever, with many UK residents never hearing their song. The song of a nightingale is said to be the most beautiful of any British bird.

Stadtpark statt Wiese und Hausgarten statt Feldflur: Immer mehr Vogelarten zieht es aus der freien Landschaft in Dörfer und Städte. Dies zeigt die diesjährige "Stunde der Gartenvögel", an der 39.600 Naturfreunde aus ganz Deutschland teilnahmen. Für die gemeinsame Aktion des NABU und seines bayerischen Partners, dem Landesbund für Vogelschutz (LBV), beobachteten und registrierten sie vom 9. bis 11. Mai eine Stunde lang die Vögel in Gärten und Parks. Die "Stunde der Gartenvögel" fand bereits zum zehnten Mal statt. Bei insgesamt mehr als 930.000 gemeldeten Vögeln landete wie in den Vorjahren der Haussperling (Passer domesticus) auf Platz eins, gefolgt von Amsel (Turdus merula), Kohlmeise (Parus major), Blaumeise (Cyanistes caeruleus, Syn. Parus caeruleus) und Star (Sturnus vulgaris). Doch auch im Siedlungsraum gibt es Sorgenkinder. Besonders gravierend sind die Rückgänge bei Mehlschwalben (Delichon urbicum) und Mauerseglern (Apus apus), die in diesem Jahr mit Abstand ihre niedrigsten Werte erreichten. Damit setzen sich die Trends der vergangenen Jahre fort. Ein historischer Tiefstand ist auch bei der Amsel zu verzeichnen. Seit Beginn der "Stunde der Gartenvögel" vor zehn Jahren setzt sich ihre kontinuierliche Abnahme fort. Die Amsel ist zwar immer noch zweithäufigster Gartenvogel, hat aber in diesem Zeitraum ein Viertel ihres Bestandes verloren. Nur ein kleiner Teil dieser Verluste lässt sich auf das Usutu-Virus zurückführen, das seit 2011 im Rheintal zu einem größeren Amselsterben geführt hat. Noch dramatischer sah es in diesem Jahr beim Grünfinken (Carduelis chloris) aus, der gegenüber 2013 einen Einbruch um 27 Prozent erlitt.

Prairie chickens (Tympanuchus cupido) require vast expanses of grassland to survive. Agricultural practices are thought to be the prime reason for the bird’s demise. Biologists recognized the precipitous decline nearly 80 years ago. As a result, the state purchased a couple of parcels of property around the Iroquois and Green rivers in northern Illinois. However, the birds eventually disappeared in those areas. Once again the state stepped in, buying property in Marion and Jasper counties, forming the Prairie Ridge State Natural Area in the early 1960s. And, the prairie chicken population remained fairly stable until the past few years. In a last ditch effort to save the residual population, a federal grant was obtained to move 300 prairie chickens from Kansas to Prairie Ridge. The program will introduce 100 birds per year over a three-year span. The first 91 birds, 50 males and 41 females, were released earlier this year. The birds are outfitted with radio telemetry equipment before being released. Early reports from the field are encouraging. Prairie Ridge State Natural Area contains about 4,000 acres of habitat. The long-range plan is to release more birds in areas like Pyramid State Park. According to The Associated Press, the program will cost $520,000.

Pesticides have been linked to Parkinson’s disease, declines in cognitive performance, developmental disorders, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children. Their application has also been tied to environmental issues, such as the collapse of honeybee colonies and the development of resistant pests and weeds. But we know surprisingly little about population-wide health effects of the low doses that are in the foods we eat every day, panelists at the Harvard School of Public Health said Thursday. “We can’t tell for sure if you eat a bowl of salad today for lunch if it will lead to cancer in 10 to 20 years,” said Chensheng Lu, an associate professor of environmental exposure biology at the Harvard School of Public Health. Lu, whose recent research has tracked the mysterious collapse of honeybee colonies to a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, said that broad studies on the effects of pesticide residue in foods are difficult to do. Funding is hard to attract because there isn’t a specific health impact being investigated. Also, there are daunting challenges to designing a scientifically valid study, stemming from the fact that so much of the population has been raised on foods treated with chemicals.