It’s true! This declaration is part of an exciting year-long celebration that brings together National Geographic, BirdLife International, National Audubon Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and more than 70 other organizations around the globe.
Together, we’re joining forces to heighten public awareness of the wonder and beauty of birds, and the importance of protecting them from the threats they face, through twelve months of storytelling and scientific research. This is a reminder that there is still time for your organization to get involved, too.
Why now?
The Year of the Bird initiative has been timed to celebrate the centennial of the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act – the most powerful and important bird-protection law ever passed. To honour this milestone, we’re inspiring nature lovers around the world to take steps to build a better world for birds.
Every month, the Year of the Bird website – found at www.birdyourworld.org – will invite visitors to take a pledge. From hanging a bird feeder to cutting the use of plastic, these are small but meaningful steps everyone can take to make the environment better for birds.
CORE MESSAGING
Birds inspire us with their beauty, their grace, their tenacity. They are the most extraordinary
and accessible avatars of the natural world, pausing in our backyards and at our bird feeders along
their incredible migrations, singing in the dawn and reminding us of the interconnected web we live
in from pole to pole. They serve as sentinels for the ecosystem; by monitoring their movements we
can detect threats to habitats and ecosystems earlier than we would otherwise, and in addressing
those threats we see that what’s good for the birds is inevitably good for us as well.
Yet more than 200 of the world’s bird species are at high risk of imminent extinction and many
more face critical threats. By taking small steps—simple monthly actions for conservation, habitat
preservation, and citizen science—we can cumulatively make a large difference.
How can my organization get involved?
We invite you to create your own content around the pledge calendar and join in on social media using the hashtags #BirdYourWorld and #YearOfTheBird.
