The 2022 U.S. State of the Birds Report Reveals Widespread Losses of Birds in All Habitats—Except for One

The recently released State of the World’s Birds compiled by Bird Life International indicates that nearly half of all bird species are in decline, with more than one in eight facing extinction risk.

In the United States, the State of the Birds report released today reveals a tale of two trends, one hopeful, one dire. Long-term trends of waterfowl show strong increases where investments in wetland conservation have improved conditions for birds and people. But data show birds in the United States are declining overall in every other habitat—forests, grasslands, deserts, and oceans.

Published by 33 leading science and conservation organizations and agencies, the 2022 U.S. State of the Birds report is the first look at the nation’s birds since a landmark 2019 study showed the loss of 3 billion birds in the United States and Canada in 50 years.

The 2022 U.S. State of the Birds Report finds that:

• More than half of U.S. bird species are declining.
• U.S. grassland birds are among the fastest declining with a 34% loss since 1970.
• Waterbirds and ducks in the U.S. have increased by 18% and 34% respectively during the same period.
• 70 newly identified Tipping Point species (see below) have each lost 50% or more of their populations in the past 50 years, and are on a track to lose another half in the next 50 years if nothing changes.

Read the full report at StateoftheBirds.org and receive complimentary access to the most comprehensive information available about the 70 Tipping Point species by clicking the species names below.  

The Tipping Point species include: (View list in taxonomic order).

1. Allen’s Hummingbird
2. American Golden-Plover
3. Ashy Storm-Petrel*
4. Audubon’s Shearwater*
5. Bachman’s Sparrow
6. Band-rumped Storm-Petrel*
7. Bendire’s Thrasher
8. Bicknell’s Thrush*
9. Black-capped Petrel*
10. Black-chinned Sparrow
11. Black-footed Albatross*
12. Black-vented Shearwater*
13. Black Rail*
14. Black Rosy-Finch*
15. Black Scoter
16. Bobolink
17. Bristle-thighed Curlew*
18. Brown-capped Rosy-Finch*
19. Buff-breasted Sandpiper
20. Cassia Crossbill*
21. Chestnut-collared Longspur
22. Chimney Swift
23. Craveri’s Murrelet*
24. Elegant Tern*
25. Evening Grosbeak
26. Fea’s Petrel*
27. Golden-winged Warbler
28. Great Black-backed Gull
29. Greater Sage-Grouse
30. Guadalupe Murrelet*
31. Harris’s Sparrow
32. Heermann’s Gull*
33. Henslow’s Sparrow
34. Hudsonian Godwit
35. Ivory Gull*
36. King Eider
37. King Rail
38. Kittlitz’s Murrelet*
39. Laysan Albatross*
40. Least Tern
41. LeConte’s Sparrow
42. LeConte’s Thrasher
43. Lesser Prairie-Chicken*
44. Lesser Yellowlegs
45. Mottled Duck
46. Mountain Plover
47. Murphy’s Petrel*
48. Parkinson’s Petrel*
49. Pectoral Sandpiper
50. Pinyon Jay
51. Prairie Warbler
52. Red-faced Cormorant
53. Red-legged Kittiwake*
54. Ruddy Turnstone
55. Rufous Hummingbird
56. Saltmarsh Sparrow*
57. Scripps’s Murrelet*
58. Seaside Sparrow*
59. Semipalmated Sandpiper
60. Short-billed Dowitcher
61. Sprague’s Pipit
62. Stilt Sandpiper
63. Townsend’s Storm-Petrel*
64. Tricolored Blackbird*
65. Wandering Tattler
66. Whimbrel
67. Whiskered Auklet*
68. Yellow-billed Loon
69. Yellow-billed Magpie
70. Yellow Rail*