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Below is a summary of the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) program. Additional information on the IBA program in New York and across the nation, including IBA site descriptions, can be found on the National Audubon website.

The National Audubon website also has a search tool that allows you to search IBA sites based on a number of features including location, birds, habitats, Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs), and more. Click here to search IBAs.

Background and History
Habitat is the key to conservation. To thrive, all species need the right kinds of places to carry out the business of living and reproducing. Without adequate and appropriate places to nest, forage, rest during migration, and over-winter, bird populations decline. The Important Bird Areas (IBA) program is an international bird conservation initiative with simple goals: to identify the most important places for birds, and to conserve them. IBAs are identified according to standardized, scientific criteria through a collaborative effort among state, national, and international non-governmental conservation organizations (NGOs), state and federal government agencies, local conservation groups, academics, grassroots environmentalists, and birders. As a result, IBAs link global and continental bird conservation priorities to local sites that provide critical habitat for native bird populations. Currently, IBA programs exist in 130 countries around the world, including 21 countries in the Americas. In the U.S., 46 states have IBA programs.

New York's IBA Program
New York's IBA program began in 1996 with the identification of 127 IBAs. In 2002, Audubon New York embarked on a second round of IBA site identifications. The goals of the second round were to identify new sites and re-evaluate all existing IBAs to make sure that they continued to meet the IBA criteria. 136 sites have now been identified in New York.

Click here for a map of New York's IBA Sites (904 kb PDF)

The identification of IBAs at its most basic level is about determining the most important places for bird species vulnerable to habitat loss or disturbances. Examples include species that are rare or threatened, congregate in large numbers in one place at one time, or are restricted in distribution or to a particular habitat or region. A site can be recognized as an IBA if it meets at least one of the IBA criteria.

Photo: Jillian Liner, Adirondack High Peaks Area.

New York's IBA Criteria
A site must meet at least one of the following IBA criteria to be identified as an IBA.

Criterion NY-1: Sites for Species at Risk
Under this criterion, sites are identified that support a significant breeding, wintering, or migrating population of a species that is listed in New York State as endangered, threatened, or of special concern; a federally listed species; or a species on the Audubon WatchList. Site-specific thresholds have been developed for each species at risk.

Criterion NY-2: Sites for Responsibility Species Assemblages
This criterion identifies sites with the most important habitats for assemblages of bird species whose long-term conservation is the responsibility of New York State. Sites meeting this criterion usually consist of large, intact areas that support all or most of the responsibility species in any one habitat-species assemblage. However, smaller sites containing exceptional remnants of a habitat type are also considered.

Criterion NY-3: Sites for Congregations of Birds
This criterion addresses sites where birds congregate in significant numbers, such as dense populations of breeding birds (e.g., heronries), large numbers of waterfowl or shorebirds in any season, and migratory "bottlenecks" where geographical features such as ridges or shorelines concentrate large numbers of migratory birds.

Site Identification
The identification of IBAs in New York State follows the formula established by BirdLife International, the organization that leads the IBA effort globally. A technical committee evaluates nominated sites relative to the standard criteria to determine which sites merit identification as IBAs. In 2002, a 23-member IBA Technical Committee was convened to provide advice and oversee the process. The committee was composed of professional conservationists and ornithologists from state and federal agencies and non-profit conservation organizations, and regional bird experts from across New York. In addition to the committee, numerous individuals from around the state contributed to the second round by nominating new sites and providing bird data or other information on existing IBAs. A total of 172 potential IBAs were reviewed by the committee during the second round, many under multiple criteria, and, in the end, the committee approved 136 sites as IBAs.

New York's list of IBAs has published in a second edition of Important Bird Areas of New York: Habitats Worth Protecting (the first edition was compiled by Jeff Wells). The second edition includes information about bird conservation priorities at national and state levels, site descriptions describing why each site has been identified as an IBA, maps showing site locations, and recommendations for ways to get involved in bird conservation. To order a book, click here (28 kb MS Word).

Conservation of IBAs
The IBA program serves as a catalyst for achieving bird conservation. The protection and proper management of IBAs is a large, multifaceted endeavor requiring the efforts of many, from local citizens, to conservation professionals, to elected officials. The tools employed to achieve conservation of IBAs include conservation planning, science-based habitat stewardship and management, and site protection. These activities encompass a broad array of scientific, educational, and advocacy initiatives on local, state, and national levels, including open space protection, smart growth programs, habitat restoration, bird monitoring and censuses, and public and private landowner education. One strategy to protect IBAs is to see that state-owned IBAs are designated as state Bird Conservation Areas so that their importance to birds is formally recognized and state agency staff are helping to integrate bird conservation into the management of those sites.

To learn how you can get involved at an IBA, visit the Adopt an IBA page.