IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS

IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM
A Global Currency for Bird Conservation

Audubon, as the U.S. Partner for BirdLife International, is working to identify a network of sites that provide critical habitat for birds. This effort known as the Important Bird Areas Program (IBA) recognizes that habitat loss and fragmentation are the most serious threats facing populations of birds across America and around the world. By working through partnerships, principally the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, to identify those places that are critical to birds during some part of their life cycle (breeding, wintering, feeding, migrating) we hope to minimize the effects that habitat loss, and degradation have on bird populations. Unless we can slow the rapid destruction and degradation of habitat, populations of many birds may decline to dangerously low levels. The IBA program is a global effort to identify areas that are most important for maintaining bird populations, and it focuses conservation efforts at protecting these sites. In the U.S. the IBA program has become a key component of many bird conservation efforts, for example: Partners in Flight, North American Waterbird Conservation Plan, and the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan.

ALABAMA
ALASKA
ARIZONA
CALIFORNIA
COLORADO
CONNECTICUT
DELAWARE
FLORIDA
GEORGIA
IDAHO
ILLINOIS
IOWA
MARYLAND
MASSACHUSSETTS
MISSISSIPPI
MONTANA
NEVADA
NEW MEXICO
NEW YORK
NORTH CAROLINA
NORTH DAKOTA
OHIO
PENNSYLVANIA
SOUTH CAROLINA
TEXAS
TENNESSEE
UTAH
VERMONT
VIRGINIA
WASHINGTON
WEST VIRGINIA

ALABAMA'S IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM
Alabama is new to the Important Bird Areas Program. Earlier informal efforts led to unofficial recognition of some of the state's most important bird areas, providing a basis upon which an official IBA program can be built. The current effort involves representatives from Audubon, the Alabama Ornithological Society, South Alabama Birding Association, Alabama Natural Heritage Program, Alabama Partners in Flight, Auburn University, US Forest Service, and US Fish and Wildlife Service.

CANDIDATE* IMPORTANT BIRD AREA
Name: Bankhead National Forest
State: Alabama
County(ies): Winston and Walker Counties
Nearest Community: Double Springs and Cullman

Site Description: Bankhead is the largest remaining tract of unfragmented deciduous forest in the state. It also contains mixed deciduous-hemlock forests in the ravines surrounding some of the most picturesque streams in Alabama. Aquatic diversity in the streams is extremely high and includes several endangered species. Bankhead is National Forest land, parts of which have been managed for timber production, including establishment of pine plantations on higher ridges.

Ornithological Summary: Bankhead contains the state's largest known breeding population of Cerulean Warblers, which is estimated at 7 - 15 breeding pairs. Several other songbirds typical of the Appalachian Mountains reach the southern limit of their breeding range here, such as Black-throated Green Warbler and Blue-headed Vireo. No population size estimates are available. Other species uncommon in Alabama that breed commonly in Bankhead are Black-and-white Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher, and Kentucky Warbler. A few young clearcuts in scattered locations are known to attract Bachman's Sparrows, but the site's breeding population has not been measured.

Conservation Issues: A primary conservation issue is conversion of deciduous forest on ridges to pine plantations. Past forestry efforts focused on establishing economically profitable pines for harvest at the expense of the naturally occurring deciduous forest. U.S. Forest Service scientists have established a network of point counts to monitor Neotropical migrant abundance during the breeding season and some of these counts are located on the pine ridges. Conservationists have argued that ridges should be allowed to revert to deciduous woodland.

* Candidate sites are being considered for designation as Important Bird Areas by the respective State Technical Committee.

ALASKA’S IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM
The State of Alaska has a land mass of more than 365 million acres, 47,000 miles of marine shoreline, 100,000 glaciers, more than 3 million lakes and rivers, and a diversity of habitats that range from temperate rainforest to Arctic tundra. Alaska also has more than 50 million seabirds, 10 million waterfowl, and many species of breeding birds that breed nowhere else in the United States (e.g., Surfbird) or that are global endemics (e.g., Bristle-thighed Curlew). Identifying IBAs in Alaska is a monumental undertaking. Ideally, Audubon Alaska would approach this task on a comprehensive basis. However, due to funding limitations, regional projects have been initiated in the Bering Sea and the Cook Inlet.

Bering Sea Project
In 2000, in cooperation with the Russian Union for Bird Conservation and the Asia Council of BirdLife International, Audubon Alaska initiated a project to identify marine and coastal IBAs on both the Alaskan and Russian sides of the Bering Sea. The initial list of proposed IBAs included more than 150 sites. For some sites, especially on the Russian side, information was limited and dated. A technical committee composed of Russian cooperators, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists, and others reviewed proposed sites in the Bering Sea. This resulted in the identifiaction of 130 sites as IBAs (90 are in Alaska and 40 are in Russia). These IBAs include coastal nesting grounds for about 90 percent of the world population of the Emperor Goose, staging areas for tens of thousands of Bar-tailed Godwits, the ice-bound, at-sea wintering area for many of the world's Spectacled Eiders, and seabird colonies where hundreds of thousands of Crested Auklets and other Beringian endemics nest and forage in adjacent marine waters.

Cook Inlet Project
In October 2001, Audubon Alaska initiated a second IBA project in the Cook Inlet watershed of south-central Alaska. Informational materials and nomination forms were circulated to agencies, Audubon chapters, major landowners, and others in the Cook Inlet area, and from information returned, 24 sites were identified as proposed IBAs. A state technical committee is reviewing the sites. Proposed sites include the nesting grounds of nearly the entire population of the Tule race of Greater White-fronted Goose, tide flats where nearly the entire population of the Pribilof Island race of the Rock Sandpiper overwinters, and seabird colonies where hundreds of thousands of Common Murres nest.

IMPORTANT BIRD AREA
Name: Izembek–Moffet Lagoons
State: Alaska
County: Aleutians East Borough
Nearest Community: Cold Bay

Site Description: Izembek-Moffet lagoons are marine embayments located near the southwestern tip of the Alaska Peninsula between the Bering Sea to the northwest and the lowlands of the Aleutian Range to the southeast. Lagoon and intertidal habitats are now managed by the State of Alaska as Izembek State Game Refuge; the surrounding uplands are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Izembek Lagoon was designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention because of its use by migratory waterbirds, particularly geese.

This IBA site is about 48 km long by 3-10 km wide and partially enclosed from the southwest and northeast by two long spits and a series of mostly low, sparsely vegetated barrier islands. Tidal and subtidal portions of Izembek Lagoon contain what are probably the largest eelgrass beds in the world. An estimated 60-70 % of the 218 km2 Izembek Lagoon is vegetated with eelgrass.

Ornithological Summary: The location of Izembek Lagoon along avian migration routes and the presence of an abundant food resource (eelgrass) make this site one of the most important migratory bird staging and wintering habitats in the world. More than 82 species of birds have been documented using habitats in the vicinity of Izembek lagoon. The site is especially critical for the many species of waterfowl and shorebirds that undertake transoceanic flights to wintering habitats on the lower North Pacific coast or southern Pacific islands. The area regularly supports more than 90% of the eastern Pacific coast population of Brant, more than half the world population of Emperor Geese, and a significant percentage of the world populations of Steller’s Eider and Taverner’s Canada Goose.

Shorebird habitats are diverse at this site. Extensive unvegetated mud and sand flats occur throughout the lagoons. Sand beaches run the entire length of the Bering Sea side of all barrier islands and protecting peninsulas. Twenty-eight species of shorebirds have been recorded on the area; 20 of them as migrants and 8 as breeders. The largest number of shorebirds recorded on a single-day count was 41,351 in mid October. Three species — Rock Sandpiper, Dunlin and Western Sandpiper—account for more than 95% of all shorebirds recorded. Rock Sandpipers are the single most abundant species, with more than 32,000 present in early September, followed by Dunlins, that peak at 28,000 birds in mid October. Use by Least Sandpipers may exceed both of these figures combined, but areas favored by this species are difficult to survey.

Conservation Issues: There is some concern about pressure from commercial guided waterfowl hunting. At present, the Izembek State Game Refuge lacks any sanctuaries where waterfowl are undisturbed. Over the longer term, there is potential for oil development in Bristol Bay, which, because of ocean circulation patterns, could threaten Izembek Lagoon. Finally, if global climate change results in increased sea levels in the Bering Sea, this could harm eelgrass beds, which could not survive even small increases in water levels.

ARIZONA'S IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM
Arizona's Important Bird Areas Program continues through the leadership of an IBA Coordinator and the Tucson Audubon Society. Additionally, the AZ IBA program is working in partnership with the Arizona Bird Conservation Initiative, Audubon Arizona, the Sonoran Joint Venture, the U.S. Forest Service International Program, and Arizona Game and Fish among others. Since January 2002, the program has been focused on several simultaneous efforts including: identifying IBAs, implementing an Avian Science Initiative, encouraging citizen-science involvement to help generate data for IBA identification and priority species monitoring, and on the ground conservation initiatives to further habitat protection at priority or potential IBAs.

Most of the effort to implement the IBA Program, aside from the actual identification of sites, has been placed on conservation initiatives, particularly private landowner involvement. The Arizona IBA Program has been working with private landowners along the lower San Pedro River for over a year to help facilitate landowner goals and habitat protection. In July 2003, these efforts resulted in the sale of approximately 125 acres of riparian habitat to a conservation buyer, the SRP, Inc. while meeting financial needs and reserving life estate benefits for the landowners. SRP Inc. will secure the long term management of the habitat for the conservation of the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher and Yellow-billed Cuckoo nesting on the property. Additionally, a detailed guide to planning and conducting bird surveys at IBAs has been developed, and inventory and monitoring projects have been established at 11 sites, conducted by citizen-scientists (seven sites through three chapters) or by IBA/Tucson Audubon staff (four sites).

Future efforts of the IBA Program include beginning a new collaborative science and conservation initiative with Mexican biologists (species inventory and monitoring, biologist training, and landowner workshops) on shared cross-border IBAs and species. To date, 16 IBAs have been identified.

POTENTIAL* IMPORTANT BIRD AREA
Name: Lower San Pedro River
State: Arizona
Counties: Cochise, Pima, and Pinal Counties
Nearest Communities: Cascabel, Redington, San Manuel, Mammoth, Dudleyville, and Winkelman

Site Description: The Lower San Pedro River is characterized as a south to north free-flowing river with an associated riparian habitat corridor. In conjunction with the river are several different habitats including: the extensive upland Sonoran Desert, lowland Sonoran riparian habitat (extensive Fremont cottonwood and Goodding willow woodlands), velvet mesquite bosque (some of the most extensive and tallest examples left in AZ), and cienega wetlands (Cook's Lake and Bingham Cienega).

Ornithological Summary: This riparian and upland Sonoran desert habitat complex is extremely important for riparian dependent species, particularly flycatchers, warblers, doves, and riparian dependent raptors. Species of conservation concern include: Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (approximately 75 pairs in 2001), Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, (occurred at least prior to 1985), Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (3-5 breeding pairs), Mississippi Kite (85-90% of AZ breeding population), Bald Eagle, Common Black-Hawk, Gray Hawk, Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo (>15 breeding pairs known), Tropical Kingbird, Thick-billed Kingbird, Purple Martin (significantly high breeding population), Lucy Warbler, and Rufous-winged Sparrow.

Conservation Issues: This potential IBA faces a number of threats including: relatively high grazing pressure, over-extraction of groundwater for agriculture and mining, destruction of riparian habitat by fire, harvesting of fuel wood in mesquite bosques, and uncontrolled off-road recreation within river bottoms and uplands.

Given some of the unique bird species and community assemblages a number of projects are focused on the birds and their habitats of the Lower San Pedro River. On-going projects include Willow Flycatcher population monitoring by Arizona Game and Fish Department. The Nature Conservancy of Arizona in conjunction with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is working to protect and enhance native habitats. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is also involved in bird population monitoring in the Cook's Lake area. A Christmas Bird Count was initiated for the first time in Dudleyville in 2000/01 resulting in a recorded 136 species.

* Potential sites are being considered for designation as Important Bird Areas by the State Technical Committee.

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