We hosted this fascinating presentation online via Zoom, and it was well attended and enjoyed by all participants, who were able to chat with other birders and submit questions to Dr. Wells during the meeting. The connection of boreal forest and birds to the Chicago migration was especially relevant as it covered many of the birds we are currently seeing in our yards and parks.
If you weren’t able to join, or you’d like to re-watch the program, we recorded this video of the Zoom meeting, including Dr. Well’s presentation, and questions and answers.
Also note the links to relevant organizations and social media below the video.
Related Resources
Audubon Boreal Conservation Webpages
Indigenous Leadership Initiative
Facebook - Boreal Conservation
Program Overview
Chicago is the wintering grounds or migratory stopover for large numbers of birds that breed in the Boreal Forest, which is known as North America’s “Bird Nursery.” Though it is little known, across the Boreal Forest indigenous governments and communities are enacting the largest and most significant land conservation actions in modern history. Newly protected areas in the forest, which are as big as millions of acres in size, serve as the breeding grounds for the billions of birds of more than 300 species that are reliant on the Boreal Forest but that winter in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Critical to the survival of these birds and one of the largest still-intact natural landscapes on Earth, the Boreal Forest spans North America from Alaska to Newfoundland and represents one of the last great conservation opportunities of our time. Jeff will give a quick tour of some of the places, birds and other wildlife that make the Boreal special.
Presented by Dr. Jeffrey Wells, Vice President of Boreal Conservation for National Audubon and a Fellow of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Prior to coming to Audubon, Dr. Wells worked as the Science and Policy Director for the Boreal Songbird Initiative and the chief science advisor to the International Boreal Conservation Campaign. He has been at the forefront of increasing protected areas in Canada’s Boreal Forest region where over 154 million acres have been protected since 2000 and where hundreds of millions of more acres are slated for potential protection over the next 10-20 years.
Dr. Wells has written, co-written, or edited many books including Important Birds in New York State (1998); Birder’s Conservation Handbook (2007); Boreal Birds of North America (2011); Maine’s Favorite Birds (2012); and Birds of Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao (2017).