Don’t shoot the messenger!

Abstract

Every year brings with it a host of issues and developments that impinge directly or indirectly on the conservation of birds from local to global scales and 2015 was no exception. Most readers will be familiar with the usual list of concerns that collectively describe the threats to birds and other wildlife caused by the emergence of the Anthropocene, or the era that now typifies the impact of humans on all aspects of life on earth. Within this milieu, we find ourselves challenged to conserve the world’s avifauna with an urgency that is unprecedented. In Canada our challenges are compounded, in part, by a perception among many that most factors affecting populations of birds must be happening elsewhere and that we still occupy a land of endless wilderness punctuated by a relatively small human population. The facts of course speak otherwise. At Avian Conservation and Ecology, we see our role primarily as one of providing the best scientifically defensible evidence possible that bears on the conservation of birds in Canada and throughout the world by publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed scientific papers. However, we also try to promote an open dialogue among our readers on current issues and concerns and part of this will be through the publication of guest editorials. The first of these was by Dr. Linda Wires who bravely challenged the practice of massive population reduction practices directed at Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) underway in the United States (Wires 2015). We plan to continue this tradition and readers are encouraged to contact the editors with suggestions. Within the realm of avian conservation, two events in 2015 will also be of interest to our readers. The first was the release of a film that featured a number of studies underway largely in Canada and the USA that pertain directly to the conservation of songbirds, and the other was a paper reminding us of the generally inadequate protection of most of the world’s migratory birds. Together, these very different developments serve to underline a new urgency in avian conservation in general, and the need for a paradigm shift in the way we deal with landbird conservation in the Americas in particular.