Lesson 1 – Why Birds Belong on the Farm: Biodiversity, Pest Control & A Thriving Landscape

Presenters: Sara Kross, University of Canterbury in New Zealand, Jo Ann Baumgartner, Wild Farm Alliance

Start Time is 2:00 PM Central Time

Once you RSVP, a Zoom link will arrive in the confirmation email.

Continued Education Credits: We expect to offer 1 CCA credit from American Society of Agronomy, pending approval.

Upon successfully completing this lesson, participants will be able to:

• Describe several avian pest control studies in the US and around the world.
• Share how avian pest control has helped to reverse the decline of birds.
• Describe the tradition of “economic ornithology”, why it lost popularity, and now has resurged.
• Share what birds need to thrive on a farm.

Speaker Bios:

Sara Kross' research focuses on better understanding the interactions between wildlife and people, especially in human-dominated systems like farms and cities, which she sees as critical frontiers in wildlife conservation. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in Terrestrial Ecology at University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

Jo Ann Baumgartner, Executive Director of Wild Farm Alliance, is the author of many farm publications on birds, biodiversity, food safety and organic agriculture. Before joining WFA in 2001, she received her Master’s researching birds eating codling moths in apple orchards, worked for other sustainable agricultural nonprofits and was an organic farmer for over a decade.

Header photo: Eastern Bluebird by Richard George