
Our Mission Statement
- Unique in its exclusive focus on migratory birds and its combination
of research, education and training, and policy work, the Smithsonian Migratory
Bird Center is dedicated to fostering greater understanding, appreciation,
and protection of the grand phenomenon of bird migration.
- Our work is proactive. Trying to save species that have been
pushed to the brink of extinction is always difficult--and often futile.
The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center focuses on clarifying the causes
for declines in migratory bird populations before the situation becomes
desperate. By acting now to protect the habitats on which these birds depend,
we can avoid the need for expensive last-ditch rescue attempts in the future.
- Our approach is interactive and interdisciplinary. The Smithsonian
Migratory Bird Center bridges the academic, policy-making, and public worlds
to coordinate efforts to protect migratory birds and their habitats. We
bring public and policy issues to bear on our research--looking both at
the way human-made changes affect bird populations and the way bird habitat
preservation will affect human populations--and we translate our research
findings into recommendations for public and policy action.
- Our reach is international. Migratory birds do not recognize
political, cultural or economic boundaries. Collectively, they use habitats
that span the globe--so efforts to protect them must be international in
scope. The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center's research, education, and
policy efforts extend throughout the Americas, to protect all the habitats
that are crucial to the annual pilgrimage of migratory birds in the Western
Hemisphere.
Submit Sightings of Nearctic Migratory Landbirds in S. A.