Today is International Migratory Bird Day

Colorado artist and birder, Radeaux, depicts 23 boreal-nesting species.
Can you identify all 23 species?

International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) was initiated in 1993 by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, and is celebrated on the second Saturday in May [PDF]. Now under the direction of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, IMBD continues to focus attention on one of the most important and spectacular events in the life of a migratory bird -- its journey between its summer and winter homes. Today, it is celebrated in Canada, the US, Mexico and Central America with bird festivals and bird walks, education programs, and Bird Day!

Every year, a team of IMBD coordinators and sponsors works to select a theme that meets diverse criteria to reach the varied audiences that celebrate IMBD [PDF].The theme must be current, conservation-based, positive, tangible, engaging, and educational. Once chosen, it becomes the focus of education materials and the art that is featured on the annual t-shirt and poster. IMBD is excited to announce that the 2006 theme will be North America's boreal forest [PDF].

North America's boreal forest encompasses about 1.5 billion acres (5.9 million square kilometers) and stretches from Alaska to Newfoundland. The region includes one of the world's largest intact forests dotted with lakes, rivers, and wetlands. More extensive than the Brazilian Amazon, the Boreal offers refuge to grizzly bear, caribou, wolverine, gray wolf, and a variety of other resident wildlife. The primary threat to the Boreal is logging for paper, fuel and agricultural uses. Each year, 80% of all forest products are sent directly to the US [PDF].

The region's importance, however, extends far beyond Canada and Alaska to the Lower 48, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Billions of birds of over 270 species migrate long distances from these locations to the Boreal where they nest and raise young in what is known as North America's Bird Nursery [PDF].

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I'm working with the Smithsonian's NMNH on a boreal forest project, partnered with the Canadian Boreal Initiative and working with the Boreal Songbird Initiative, Canadian Tourism Commission and Tourisme Quebec. I have a blog on here somewhere that I try to keep news about the project on, but have been too busy with fundraising, proposal writing, crew recruitment (wilderness trips are the source material for the project)and trying to finish some paintings so I can pay bills to keep it up to snuff. I guess I'll add a bit today as there has been news within the last week: http://paintnpaddle.blogspot.com/

I have a largely unused degree in biology and I worked in mid-town Manhattan for 16 years (as a freelance artist) so I found your short bio interesting. Look forward to reading your posts in the future. A friend of mine forwarded your site to me.

All the Best

Rob

Thank you for sharing the PDFs... My aunt works for the Forest Service in DC, and I always enjoy the literature she sends me on conservation biology.

Thanks again,

Jeremy