Birdlife International released a report, The State of the World's Birds. Their report indicates that in North America over the last 40 years, there has been a decline of more than 50 percent in populations of 20 of the most common birds.

Deterioration of bird populations is accelerating - one in eight of 9,856 living bird species are thought to be in trouble. Of these, 190 face imminent risk of extinction. The exact cause of bird declines is unknown but environmental degradation, land-use changes, monoculture plantations, fishing, and logging are all serious threats.

Conservationists have identified about 10,000 places in the world that provide critical habitats for birds, of these 600 are in Canada. This Canadian inventory is far from complete but most are located in southern regions of Canada and impacted by human development.