Dark-eyed Junco at Picchetti Ranch Open Space Preserve in Cupertino. Photo by Barry Langdon-Lassagne

Today the journal Science published an article about the startling decline in North American bird populations, largely as a result of human activities. The National Audubon society has declared this a “Bird Emergency” and in conjunction with several other conservation organizations has started a call to action before it’s too late to save our birds, and ourselves.

Read more in the New York Times and NPR; if you are subscribed to Science, you can read the original study.