The species, considered by some bird experts to be the flagship species of New England bird conservation, is estimated to have a worldwide population of up to 126,000, but specialists say habitat loss and other environmental threats are causing a decline in the population through much of its range.
The conservation plan for the Bicknell’s thrush, due to be formally released this week, calls for working with timber companies and others in North America to protect high-altitude breeding habitat and finding ways to protect its winter habitat, most notably on the island of Hispaniola.
“These are shared species,’’ said Ian Davidson, executive director of the nonprofit group Nature Canada, based in Ottawa, which recently joined the Bicknell’s thrush conservation effort.
“We have a joint responsibility for their conservation,’’ he said. “If there’s something negative happening to Bicknell’s thrush in Vermont or anywhere along its migratory route, we owe it to the conservation of this species to understand the issue and find effective solutions.’’
The Bicknell’s thrush, or Catharus bicknelli, is about the size of the common white-throated sparrow.
The International Bicknell’s Thrush Conservation Group describes it as “enigmatic,’’ with a swirling song and speckled breast.
Until 1995, the Bicknell’s thrush was considered to be a subspecies of the more common gray-cheeked thrush.
The Bicknell’s thrush spends the summers and breeds at high elevations in New York’s Adirondacks, across northern New England, and in the Canadian provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
The Canadian government lists the Bicknell’s thrush as threatened, although it is not on the endangered or threatened species lists in the United States.
The Vermont Center for Ecostudies, based in Hartford, is a three-year-old nonprofit group with seven full-time employees formed by a number of scientists who focus their efforts on a number of bird species, but the Bicknell’s thrush has become its signature bird, said director Chris Rimmer.
In North America, the groups are working to protect the high-altitude habitat where the Bicknell’s thrush breeds.
