The Long-whiskered Owlet, one of the rarest birds in the world, was filmed and photographed in January 2010 by researchers at La Esperanza, Peru. Fewer than 15 people have ever seen this bird in the wild.

Dr. David Pashley, Vice President of American Bird Conservancy cautioned today that as climate change impacts are increasingly felt throughout the United States and beyond, conservation efforts affecting birds will take on a doubly important role in protecting not only birds that are already threatened, but also more common birds as well.

American Bird Conservancy (ABC) - the nation's leading bird conservation organization - applauded legislation introduced by Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL) that will help prevent the deaths of millions of birds that collide with windows at thousands of federal buildings across the country.

The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) is reporting that the primary causes of the recent Brown Pelican mass stranding (involving varying degrees of incapacitation of hundreds of birds) along the Oregon and California Coast are related to shortages of preferred prey items, such as anchovies and sardines, and rough winter weather likely related to the current El Nino event.

American Bird Conservancy (ABC) - the nation's leading bird conservation organization - today called the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the greater sage-grouse disappointing, but hopeful. The Service determined that the sage-grouse warrants federal protection as an endangered species, but that it will not be listed due to other priorities. Instead, it will be placed on the Candidate List with other species whose status is also in limbo.

Lihu'e, Kaua'i - Four citizen groups today advised the St. Regis Princeville Resort of their intent to sue over the luxury resort's failure to prevent the ongoing deaths of rare native seabirds, in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act. The St. Regis is owned by Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which also owns the Westin, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, W Hotels, and Le Meridien brands.

After three years without a confirmed mortality due to lead poisoning, three California Condors in Northern Arizona have recently died from ingesting lead. The condors, including a female and her chick, were recovered by The Peregrine Fund, the organization responsible for the condor release program in Arizona.

Saturday, March 27, 2010 8:30 pm, your local time, where ever you are around the globe, will be Earth Hour. By turning off 'non-essential' lights, this is a simple but powerful way for millions of people to send a very visible signal that they are concerned about global climate change.

With significant help from ABC, two new protected areas in Bolivia are providing habitat protection for the endangered Red-fronted Macaw and other rare and declining species. The first of these two areas was established in the Andean municipality of Aiquile, while the second, in the neighboring Omereque municipality, will be officially declared later this year.

Citing that numbers of the Greater Sage-Grouse have dramatically diminished in recent decades, and the continued expansion of energy developments that threaten the species' sagebrush habitat, the President of American Bird Conservancy today called on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Greater Sage-Grouse under the Endangered Species Act.>

American Bird Conservancy and its partners in 12 countries throughout the Americas have launched a new, international birdwatching tourism initiative called "Conservation Birding" that is aimed at preventing the extinction of bird species. The initiative will help to finance bird reserves across the Americas by developing them as birding tourism destinations with lodges, trails, and other facilities for visitors.

Leading U.S. bird conservation group, American Bird Conservancy (ABC), and two Hawaiian groups - the Conservation Council for Hawai'i and Hawai'i Audubon Society, have renewed calls to Congress to provide funding to clean up 70 deadly lead paint-contaminated buildings on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

Scientists are finding that environmental contaminants are still a potential threat to Ospreys in the Chesapeake Bay which is home to their world's largest nesting population -- over 2000 pairs. Barnett Rattner and his U.S. Geological Survey coworkers examined Osprey eggs in the bay for DDT and found while DDT and its metabolites were at less than half the levels reported in the 1960s and '70s, total organochlorine concentrations in eggs were only slightly lower.

In two separate cases, oil giant ExxonMobil and PacificCorp, a major electric utility, recently pleaded guilty to killing eagles and other migratory birds, and will pay fines that will be used to support a wildlife rehabilitation center in Colorado, and to fund raptor research and conservation projects in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and Montana.

States and Communities Tackle Light Pollution Harmful to Migratory Birds Communities are starting to attack the problem of light pollution, which is harmful to migratory birds, through voluntary programs and also through legislation. Inspired by Audubon Minnesota's voluntary Lights Out program, the state of Minnesota recently enacted a law requiring all state-owned and leased buildings (totaling more than 5,000) to turn off their lights after midnight during spring and fall migration seasons.

A superior court judge has ruled in favor of a coalition of conservation groups, including American Bird Conservancy (ABC), to halt the controversial practice of Trap, Neuter, and Release (TNR) of feral cats in the City of Los Angeles, pending environmental review.

In October 2010, government leaders from around the world will meet in Nagoya, Japan to discuss numerous conservation topics at the tenth Conference to the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Kaua`i Creeper or `Akikiki has been named one of America's top ten threatened species impacted by global warming in a new report released today. The report, America's Hottest Species, produced by the Endangered Species Coalition in conjunction with a coalition of groups including American Bird Conservancy, demonstrates ways that our changing climate is increasing the risk of extinction for eleven species around the United States that are on the brink of disappearing forever.

Results of a new study by biologists with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department have raised awareness of yet another hazard to Greater Sage-Grouse populations. In addition to the combined threats of sagebrush habitat loss due to development and agriculture, oil and gas exploration, and wind power development, it appears that collisions with barbed wire fences, used primarily to facilitate grazing, can be a significant source of mortality.

As wind energy production grows, efforts to mitigate the impacts to birds and other wildlife are receiving greater attention. ABC's Channel 7 in San Francisco reports that Altamont Pass wind farm has been responsible for thousands of raptor deaths. American Bird Conservancy's Dr. Michael Fry is interviewed.

A federal judge has struck down the 2008 forest planning regulations that eliminated a key wildlife protection provision known as "viability". The Wildlife Viability Requirement of the National Forest Management Act of 1976 provides important protection for the hundreds of bird species that inhabit the 193 million-acre U.S. National Forest System.

Late last week the President signed into law a key appropriations bill that included critically needed funding to address the looming bird extinction crisis in Hawaii. The 2010 Interior, Environmental, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill (P.L. 111-88) had been passed by Congress and sent to the President with $3 million dedicated for Hawaiian birds.

A broad coalition of conservation groups is asking Congress and the Obama Administration to create over 2,000 jobs and improve the environment by funding an innovative program to reforest former mining lands in Appalachia.