Bye Bye Birds
- Ed Mirsky | Hoska Drive
Once alive with song, California’s coastal hills and canyons have grown quieter. The California Gnatcatcher’s mewing song, the chatter of Cactus Wrens, and the bouncing ball song of the Wrentit are fading from places where they once filled the air. These birds haven’t simply moved away, they’re losing their Coastal Sage Scrub and Chaparral homes.
A century ago, coastal sage scrub and chaparral blanketed 9 to 13 million acres across Southern California, stretching from Ventura County to northern Baja. These vibrant shrublands, rich with sages, buckwheats, manzanitas, and wildflowers, supported an intricate web of life. Maritime chaparral, found only along the foggy coast, added even more diversity, sheltering species found nowhere else. Today, after decades of urban expansion, agriculture, and road building, only about 264,000 acres remain; roughly 35% of the original landscape.
One of the largest surviving refuges, the 92,000-acre San Dieguito River Park in San Diego County, holds nearly a third of what’s left. But even here, the threats continue. Invasive plants like black mustard and red brome create dense mats of dry fuel that burn easily, fueling hotter, more frequent fires. Each fire gives these invaders an advantage over the native shrubs that birds depend on for food, cover, and nesting. As development spreads and the climate grows hotter and drier, these pressures multiply.
The loss of native plants ripples through the ecosystem. Many birds rely on the insects that feed on coastal sage and chaparral plants, while those plants, in turn, depend on native pollinators—bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds—to reproduce. When invasive species crowd out native vegetation, pollinators vanish, insects decline, and birds soon follow. The silence we hear on once-lively hillsides is the sound of a system unraveling.
Restoring the song begins with restoring the land. Keeping invasive non-native species out, replanting native shrubs and wildflowers, and creating pollinator-friendly spaces all help rebuild the foundation that birds need to thrive. Protecting and reconnecting remaining habitats—like those in the San Dieguito River Park—is essential to keeping these species alive for future generations.
The story unfolding in Southern California reflects a nationwide crisis. The 2025 State of the Birds report shows that North America’s bird populations are still declining, continuing the loss of 3 billion birds documented since 1970. Where have all the birds gone? The answer lies in the health of the land, and the solution lies in what we do about it.