Seven Tips for Bird Feeding on a Budget
 
It's no secret that the economy has slowed down in recently months.  Gas and grocery prices are up, and we're all looking for ways to save a buck. So what's a backyard bird watcher to do when it's time to refill the bird feeder with expensive seed? Resourceful bird lovers can continue to attract birds without breaking the bank with these tips from National Wildlife Federation's naturalist and backyard wildlife expert David Mizejewski.

Plant Natural Feeders - Birds only use feeders to supplement the natural foods they find in the landscape, so focus of your bird-feeding efforts on your plants even in good economic times. Plants feed birds with seeds, berries, nuts, sap and nectar as well as shelter and nesting places. Once planted, they'll provide free bird food for years to come. Get a list of the best plants for your state at https://secure.nwf.org/backyard/food.cfm.
 
Say No to Insecticides - Before you reach for the bug killer think about this: 96 percent of bird species in North America feed their babies insects. Most adult birds rely on insects as a source of protein too, but even those that primarily eat plant foods as adults still feed their young insects, including hummingbirds. Make sure you have plenty of insect life for the birds by going organic and eliminating insecticides. Let the birds control the insects for you.

The Fight to Save
our Native Species

Not just a crisis in Amazonian rainforests, species rarity is a worldwide and local conservation crisis.  Here in Rhode Island, there are many rare, endangered and threatened species that are vulnerable for a multitude of reasons.  (Anne - pull and put in italics, larger?)

Some species are naturally rare. The keen observer and naturalist Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species (1859) concluded, "Rarity is the attribute of a vast number of species in all classes, in all countries." And two and a half centuries later, few species tend to be overwhelmingly common. Many will never carpet the state or be seen on every foray into the field.

In nature, rarity may be a product of restricted geography or very specific habitat requirements, small population sizes or a combination of these factors.  Habitat destruction and invasive species, the top two threats to biological diversity worldwide, exacerbate the dilemma of rarity. Some species are just more vulnerable. Giant pandas with their dietary and habitat specificity will always be rare. Birds of declining coastal grasslands are likely to be rare in the Northeast.

Conservation land owned by Audubonis monitored, and managed when necessary, to ensure that the features thatfirst made the land environmentally special are perpetuated. Rather than acreagebeing preserved as museum pieces, vulnerable to "benign neglect," we recognizethat Audubon land is dynamic. New challenges arise every year such as invasivespecies -- a worldwide threat to native biological diversity. We are currentlyaddressing and restoring the land surrounding our Kingston Wildlife ResearchStation.

Ongoing Orchard and Hayfield Restoration

Goals: Onegoal of restoring approximately 6-acres of orchard and hayfield at the KingstonWildlife Research Station (KWRS) in South Kingstown, is to increase mist netcapture rates of birds migrating through Rhode Island in the fall.  Declining representation of certain birdspecies may be correlated with increasing invasive woody species (e.g.,honeysuckle, multiflora rose, autumn olive) at KWRS. An overarching goal at KWRSis to bring back a small part of what the property looked like during activemanagement.