In
1971, the National Audubon Society's ornithological field
journal, American Birds, began publishing a list, the Blue
List, to provide early warning of those North American
species undergoing population or range reductions. The Blue
List was designed to identify patterns of impending or
ongoing serious losses in regional bird populations, not to
duplicate the function of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service's Threatened and Endangered Species List. Many
species on the Blue List remain locally common, but appear
to be undergoing noncyclic declines. In contrast, by the
time a species is officially fisted as Endangered, it often
is on its last legs. Throughout the decade
following its inception, American Birds solicited reports
and recommendations from its readership to incorporate into
an annual update of the list. Regional editors forwarded
these reports and recommendations to the publication, where
nominations to and deletions from the list were compiled. In
1981, American Birds published a summarizing "decade list."
It included the 69 birds nominated for listing that year as
well as all of the species that had previously appeared on
the Blue List. Updates of the Blue List continue, and at
this writing (1987), 22 species were officially Blue-Listed
and another 52 merited "Special" or "Local" Concern. Blue
List status is noted under the "CONSERVATION" section of the
respective species treatments. The effectiveness of the
Blue List depends on the accuracy of the data supplied by
regional compilers and the responsiveness of government
agencies accountable for species conservation. Submission of
data to the editors of the Blue List is a way for field
observers to influence policies of state and federal
agencies concerned with avian research and species
protection. More information is available from the National
Audubon Society. SEE: Birds
and the Law;
Helping
to Conserve Birds -- National
Level;
Metallic
Poisons;
Wintering
and Conservation. Copyright
® 1988 by Paul R. Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin, and Darryl
Wheye.