Planting trees in DC to help save Caribbean songbirds

[Judi Lynn]

PRI's The World
May 16, 2017 · 5:15 PM EDT
By Nancy Eve Cohen




A wood thrush, photographed in Crystal Lake, Illinois.
Credit: CheepShot/Wikimedia Commons


This time of year, billions of neotropical migratory songbirds fly from Latin America and the Caribbean to the US and Canada. They come north to eat and nest, but forest habitat at both ends of their trek is shrinking, along with bird populations.

In Washington, DC, there’s an effort to help. Steve Dryden’s Rock Creek Songbirds project has planted nearly 500 trees. It helps preserve scarce habitat for the birds, and it helps city kids understand that this park near their neighborhood is a place where the animals eat and breed.

“They migrate because in winter they don’t like it (here),” says a student named Karina. “And they go to Central America where it’s warm. Then they come back here in summer, so they don’t die.”

Karina has the right idea. Springtime means more insects — food for the birds and their young. And they go back south to chase the food supply.

More:
https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-05-16/planting-trees-dc-helping-save-migrating-songbirds

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. We love the Wood Thrush (bird in the pic) - haunting song is thrilling to hear

We often hear the wood thrush singing in spring and summer in the evening.