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| Articles and News Columbus Audubon Supports Cerulean Warbler Listing The Cerulean Warbler is a fairly common but hard to see summer denizen of treetops in the forests of southeastern Ohio. Since the mid-1990s, its numbers have declined by an estimated four percent annually, and several organizations (Audubon included) have petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the warbler as threatened. Columbus Audubon's statement to Fish and Wildlife is as follows: "Columbus Audubon supports listing the Cerulean Warbler as a federally threatened species. We are located just northwest of the core of the warbler's Appalachian breeding distribution where it is still common in areas of unbroken forest. Populations seem to be stable in places like the Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest and portions of the Wayne National Forest, but the warbler seems to be in decline elsewhere where habitat modifications have resulted in increased fragmentation, cowbird parasitism and other threats. Declines in Ohio have mirrored the widespread downward trends found by roadside Breeding Bird Surveys. Perusal of available Internet data corroborates the impression that the cerulean warbler needs protection, and we enthusiastically endorse its listing as a threatened species." More about the Cerulean Warbler is included in a creature feature in the May Song Sparrow . Page updated 6/10/03 © Columbus Audubon 2003
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