Minnesota’s Audubon at Home program promotes individual bird conservation efforts on private lands such as residences, schools, businesses, and nature areas in Minnesota. It focuses on taking individual conservation action to improve the environmental health and habitat quality of our properties and our neighborhoods. Whether it is habitat restoration or providing nesting opportunities we can all do something to aid in bird conservation efforts.
Purple martins living east of the Rockies have made a shift in their nesting requirements. Woodpecker holes in trees were once the chosen nest sites of martins; now reproduction in the eastern half of North America, martins are entirely dependent upon human-supplied nesting cavities. Some populations are undergoing a long-term decline. Although not yet listed as threatened or endangered, these birds have shown a population decline of 78% over the last 40 years in Minnesota.
The First Annual Audubon Minnesota Chimney Swift Sit was a great success with participants checking on chimneys from Grand Marais to Winona to Hutchinson and throughout the Twin Cities area. Various structures provided swift roosting sites -- see the Sit Summary.
WATCH a KARE-11 segment on Chimney Swifts.
READ a Star-Tribune article on the swift count.
