Members of Towamencin’s board of supervisors and Bird Town committee pose with signs indicating the town’s recently awarded status as a Bird Town. From left to right are Heidi Shiver, President of Bird Town Pennsylvania; supervisors Joyce Snyder, Kofi Osei and Kristin Warner; township bird town committee members Vanessa Gaynor, Donna Hegge, and Andrew Dolan; supervisors Chairman Chuck Wilson and bird town committee member Bruce Bailey. Photo by Dan Sokil | The Reporter.
Township to promote environmental education and appreciation of birds
A new designation is now in place, one that Towamencin hopes will spur residents to take an extra look upward.
“Congratulations, Towamencin, for being number 77 — so happy for you to be joining our program,” said Heidi Shiver, president of Bird Town Pennsylvania.
Bird Town Pennsylvania is an organization that works with communities and organizations across the commonwealth that aim to create a healthier, more sustainable environment for birds, wildlife, and residents, Shiver told the township supervisors on April 23. Several Towamencin residents formed a volunteer committee that presented in February on the designation, and their application was approved in March; that group has already been in touch with the statewide organization about what happens net.
“They have lots of great ideas, and I’m super excited about the work they’re doing,” Striver said.
Partner organizations include the Pennsylvania Audubon Council, WeConservePA, and the Bird City network, all of which aim to protect the air and those who soar within it.
“There’s Bird Towns, and Bird Cities, sprinkled all over the United States. I’m happy to say we’re the second-largest program in the country,” said Striver.
Nearby Bird Town municipalities include Abington, Cheltenham, Hatfield, Horsham, Lower Gwynedd, Perkiomen, Upper Salford, Upper Dublin, Upper Moreland, and West Norriton townships, with the list growing ever longer and now totaling roughly 80 in 15 Pennsylvania counties, Striver told the board. They’re coordinated by the Pennsylvania Audubon Council, which aims to advocate for the conservation and preservation of birds, other wildlife, and their environment.
Their tasks include sharing stats: birds eat 400 million to 500 million tons of insects each year, some consume carcasses which can reduce disease and help spread pollination, while others can serve as early warnings to toxins or pollutants. Nationwide over 96 million birdwatchers are active, some birds travel tens of thousands of miles as they migrate, and recent surveys have shown bird populations have declined from 30 to 77 percent since 1970, stats the group aims to reverse.
“Why do we focus on birds? There’s lots of reasons, and these are a number of them,” Striver said. “We had close to 800,000 birds that migrated over Bucks County a couple of nights ago, can you imagine? So keep those lights off if you can, just so it’s not distracting for them.”
Nationwide, an estimated 2.9 billion birds have been lost since 1970, with an estimated loss of 40 million acres of lawns in the country, and tow million in Pennsylvania: “Lawns provide no services for birds: there’s no food, there’s no shelter, there’s no water, so they’re really not helpful at all for bird populations, or any wildlife for that matter,” An estimated 2.4 billion birds are killed by cats each year, another one billion killed by windows, and roughly a billion pounds of pesticides are applied nationwide each year that can harm food sources for those birds, as can climate change or plastics in the environment, Striver told the supervisors.
Native plants can help those birds, by attracting insects that birds feed on: 96 percent of North America’s bird species feed on caterpillars, and it can take as many as 9,000 caterpillars to feed a family of baby birds, according to the expert. Bird Towns help address those issues by engaging and educating the public, encouraging activities, and promoting awareness of projects those towns can do, like pop-up or demonstration gardens, proclamations or ordinances that address pollutants, citizen counts and classes, and educational efforts with schools, town staff and more.
“Once you become a Bird Town, you have more access to this kind of information — and you are now a Bird Town, so you probably got that email,” Striver said.
The statewide program can also connect local townships with others pursing similar projects and programs, can provide training and workshops for local birdwatchers, and can help the towns partner together for grants and other funding opportunities.
“I just applied for a $70,000 grant through DCNR, so fingers crossed we’ll get it this year. This will be offering 30, $1,000 mini-grants for Bird Towns,” Striver said, pending funding from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The state group’s website birdtownpa.org lists similar towns, workshops and meeting recordings, sample proclamations and resolutions towns could consider, and other resources for birders. The group also runs virtual workshops, a bi-monthly newsletter — look for Towamencin in the May edition — a private Facebook group, and habitat recognition programs that can highlight those who already support birds, and advocate for others to do more.
“All new Bird Towns start at the green level, and then you have a whole year to move up to the different levels of bronze, silver or gold,” with points earned by completing strategies and programs spelled out by the state organization, Striver said.
Township Bird Town committee members Bruce Bailey, Andrew Dolan, Vanessa Gaynor, and Donna Hegge posed for photos with the supervisors, and two new “Bird Town PA” signs they said they’ll work with township staff to place in the near future. The Bird Town basics are on the township’s website, and upcoming events and activities planned by the group include an appearance at the township’s Towamencin Day gathering from noon to 4 p.m. on May 10, a monthly meeting at 7 p.m. on June 12, and a public bird watch gathering at 7:30 a.m. on June 14 in conjunction with the Valley Forge Audubon Society; all will be publicized through the township’s social media channels.
Two other local towns may hop on the Bird Town bandwagon soon: North Wales held brief talks on that borough joining in late April, and said they would continue talks in upcoming meetings, while committee members said they’d heard similar discussions from residents in Lansdale Borough.
