Development erects "No Vacancy" signs for migratory birds, forcing olive-sided flycatchers, yellow-billed cuckoos, and loggerhead shrikes to fly farther every year as they seek safe havens to rest and eat. Their familiar breeding spots are also disappearing, says Terry Rich of Partners in Flight, a group created to address declines in populations that breed in North America and winter in the tropics. Unprecedented in size and scope, the group encompasses three federal and 49 state agencies, many environmental groups and some in the forest products industry. It also shares strategies with groups in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Group priorities include monitoring birds, teaching schoolchildren and, in the West, convincing local constituencies to conserve riparian habitat. The Western Group welcomes newcomers to a meeting Aug. 26-29 in Great Falls, Mont. Contact Terry Rich at 208/373-4043 or [email protected], or visit www.pwrc.nbs.gov/pif.


* Taffeta Elliott