Seven beauties: Bird Day celebration focuses on habitat needed by birds

Habitat — the threats to it, the importance of preserving it, and the benefits to birds of restoring it — is the focus of this year’s International Migratory Bird Day.

The poster above, created for the event by illustrator Amelia Hansen, shows seven birds and the habitats they depend on: Rufous Hummingbird (yards), Yellow Warbler (mangroves), Blue-crowned Motmot and Black-and-white Warbler (tropical forests), Northern Harrier and Northern Pintail (wetlands), and Eastern Meadowlark (grasslands).

International Migratory Bird Day celebrates and brings attention to bird migration, one of the most important and spectacular events in the Americas. IMBD began in 1993 and is now hosted at more than 600 sites from Canada to Argentina. Environment for the Americas, with the collaboration of international sponsors and partners, fosters bird conservation education in the Western Hemisphere through the celebration.

The official date of the event in the United States and Canada is the second Saturday in May, but events take place year-round. The official date in Latin America and the Caribbean is the second Saturday in October.

A version of this article appeared in the June 2015 issue of BirdWatching magazine. Subscribe.

Learn more about International Migratory Bird Day.

Read about a fun IMBD celebration in Wisconsin.

Find fun bird events taking place in May.

 

Originally Published May 15, 2015