These are all sites within New York State that have been identified as Important Bird Areas (IBAs) through the National Audubon Society's Important Bird Areas program. The above sites--the Niagara River Corridor, the Northern Montezuma Wetland Complex, and Montauk Point, Long Island--are among those selected because they support an exceptional abundance and diversity of birds.

Initiated in the 1980s by Birdlife International in Europe, the IBA program uses a proactive conservation approach. It identifies sites based on objective, scientific criteria developed by bird experts. In New York these experts included representatives from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Federation of New York State Bird Clubs, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and other conservation groups.

Sites were nominated by Audubon chapters, bird clubs, land trusts, and others who provided specific supporting bird data. The IBA Technical Committee then reviewed all of the approximately 250 nominations and, in August 1997, identified approximately 130 sites that met the criteria. This summer, a new book will describe each IBA, explain why it is important for birds, and discuss each site's conservation issues.

In another historic development, the Bird Conservation Area bill--which used standards modeled after the Important Bird Areas criteria--was signed into law by New York Governor George Pataki in the fall of 1997. State-owned lands that meet the bill's criteria can be designated as Bird Conservation Areas by the commissioners of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Office of Parks and by New York's Secretary of State, based on the recommendations of a designated advisory committee with representatives from bird conservation and sportsmen's groups. The Lab of Ornithology has a seat on this vital committee.

The Important Bird Areas program is also an integral component of the Partners in Flight bird conservation planning process, in which the Lab shares a key role. Partners in Flight is a coalition of government, industry, and nongovernmental organizations committed to working together for the conservation of birds. Partners In Flight regional coordinators, such as the Lab's assistant director of conservation, Ken Rosenberg, are working hard on physiographic area bird conservation plans that will include IBAs as a central element.

A flurry of IBA-related conservation and education activities are taking place around New York State. At the Salmon Creek IBA near Ithaca, the Lab's Cerulean Warbler Atlas Project provided information that helped the Finger Lakes Land Trust begin developing a long-term protection strategy beginning with the purchase of a 16-acre portion this year. At the Niagara River, the Audubon Society, in partnership with the Canadian Nature Federation, has convened several meetings of representatives from local conservation groups and state agencies to begin putting together a bird-conservation action plan. Through the IBA program, Northern Catskills Audubon received a grant to hire researchers to survey Bicknell's Thrush populations on Hunter and Plateau mountains. At the Northern Montezuma Wetland Complex, Owasco Valley Audubon organized a fund-raising birding competition that raised more than $800 for local bird conservation efforts and focused attention on the reasons the site was identified as an Important Bird Area. Audubon activists also worked hard to secure more than $1 million in funding for land acquisition at the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge, part of the Carmens River IBA on Long Island.