Important Bird Areas
IBA recognition helps protect places that are vital to the survival of birds. America’s Birds are in trouble, and this is a chance for individuals to make a difference. Through stressing action by people at the local level, the IBA program offers ordinary Americans an opportunity to protect globally-important places and help save the birds that use them from decline and extinction. Audubon seeks a grassroots approach to protecting land for birds and people. The IBA program uses local volunteers to find important bird habitat. Once identified, these sites’ continued health is assured by local land managers and landowners. Private lands can be nominated for inclusion only if the owner is in full agreement. The program imposes no regulations, restrictions, or costs. IBA designation imposes no international controls – but joins Americans with citizens worldwide who care about protecting natural resources, for the good of birds and people. With its dramatic coastlines, lush forests, blooming valleys, and vivid deserts, California’s spectacular natural landscapes host the largest, most diverse concentration of birds in the United States. Scattered across this geography are 149 Important Bird Areas that provide more than 10 million acres of essential habitat for breeding, wintering, and migrating birds. We must protect these sites to ensure the survival of our state’s rich array of birds.
Audubon California has used the best science to identify and map these Important Bird Areas. Part of an international effort, these sites were nominated by local experts and selected according to strict criteria:
- Support over 1% of the global or 10% of the state population of one or more sensitive species
- Support more than nine sensitive bird species
- 10,000 or more observable shorebirds in one day
- 5,000 or more observable waterfowl in one day