Beluga whales are known as the “canaries of the sea” for their melodic song, but conservation groups fear a herd in Alaska could fall silent.

Beluga whales have lived in Cook Inlet near Anchorage for centuries, but due to deteriorating environmental conditions they are now on the federal endangered species list.

Ragen Davey, Alaska marine representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said the population of the highly sociable and vocal Cook Inlet belugas has declined at an alarming rate, by about 80 percent since the 1970s.

“They stay in the Cook Inlet year-round,” Davey explained. “Parts of it live under the ice. There are so many different threats they face. The three main ones are noise pollution, water pollution and the availability of prey.”

Davey noted that beluga whales face a number of threats that do not threaten other whale populations in Alaskan waters. She pointed out that their territory in Cook Inlet is right next to one of the most developed areas in the state.

While orcas and polar bears are the belugas’ natural predators, Davey stressed that water pollution and declining salmon populations are responsible for most of their decline. And although the law prohibits them from being hunted by humans, the influences of modern civilization are also putting pressure on their survival.

“When feeding, belugas use echolocation to find food,” Davey added. “Parts of their habitat are in many of the most developed parts of the state in Cook Inlet, so the noise from commercial ships and machinery can really impact the whales as they try to find food and communicate with each other.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Alaska Beluga Monitoring Program trains volunteer citizen observers to observe the whales at various locations along the bay and report their findings. Davey stressed that the extra eyes are needed to count them and keep an eye on the species’ evolution.

“I really encourage Alaskans to volunteer for the monitoring program,” Davey urged. “The more people understand what this population is enduring, the more people can get involved in the recovery.”

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The fall migration period of birds has begun and the nonprofit organization Defenders of Wildlife is trying to save as many birds as possible.

The Lights Out Texas! campaign calls on building owners, businesses, developers and homeowners to turn off non-essential lights at night to help keep birds oriented.

Azalia Rodriguez, the Texas representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said birds are attracted to the bright lights during nighttime flight and then collide with buildings in the early morning hours.

“Birds don’t understand the concept of glass, they don’t understand that it’s an invisible barrier,” Rodriguez said. “So when they see glass, they see a tree reflected in it and think it’s a habitat and try to fly into that habitat.”

Rodriguez said 70 percent of the collisions are fatal. It is estimated that nearly two billion birds fly through Texas from August 15 to November 30.

Several cities in the Austin area, the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, the Houston-Gulf Coast area, and El Paso in West Texas are participating in “Lights Out Texas!”

At birdcast.info you can determine the number of birds flying into a city in real time.

Rodriguez said collisions with buildings are the second leading cause of bird deaths in the United States.

“One billion birds die in the United States from collisions with buildings,” Rodriguez said. “It’s definitely a huge problem and it’s causing our population to decline. Collisions with buildings are actually the second biggest threat to birds.”

Cats are the biggest threat to birds.

The main migration dates in autumn are between September 5th and October 29th. The migration dates in spring are from March 1st to June 15th.

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A federal decision on the endangered status of grizzly bears has been delayed.

Wildlife managers in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho have asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove grizzly bears from the endangered species list in certain areas, including the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, while the states would continue to be responsible for managing the bears.

According to the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, the region’s population has met criteria for recovery for more than two decades after the species was placed under federal protection in 1975.

Andrea Zaccardi, legal director for carnivore conservation and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said population spread across isolated ecosystems could be detrimental to recovery.

“Because the Yellowstone bears are completely isolated from all other populations, they have problems with genetic diversity,” Zaccardi stressed. “The ideal would be to protect these bears until the populations are connected and there is real genetic exchange.”

A federal decision expected on July 31 has been pushed back to early 2025. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the delay was to ensure consistency in decisions across multiple petitions. Governor Mark Gordon called the missed deadline unacceptable.

The Yellowstone area spans three states, so if grizzlies were delisted at the federal level, they would be subject to multiple states’ management plans and hunting regulations.

Rick King, chief game warden and wildlife division manager for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said an agreement already exists between the three states and a conservation strategy has been developed with the National Park Service and other federal agencies.

“This represents the overarching direction and commitment that all states and these agencies will make to ensure that a healthy and robust grizzly bear population is maintained,” King asserted, “even if they are delisted from the ESA.”

In both 2007 and 2017, grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park were briefly delisted, but both decisions were overturned in court.

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A federal district judge in Missoula has ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must reconsider its listing of Montana’s Arctic grayling population under the Endangered Species Act.

The agency argued that the listing was unjustified. The court’s decision was in response to a lawsuit filed by a coalition of interest groups.

There are six species of grayling in the Northern Hemisphere, but the colorful Arctic grayling is the only species found in North America and is already extinct in Michigan.

Patrick Kelly, director of the Western Watersheds Project for Montana and Washington, which is part of the coalition suing the agency, said the grayling faces an uphill battle for environmental protection.

“The big problem with this fish, which is very dependent on cold water, is climate change, heat waves and drought and everything related to this man-made phenomenon,” Kelly explained.

The court order states that the Fish and Wildlife Service has one year to make a new decision about the Arctic grayling. The fight over the fish began in 1991, but the agency argued based on its best science that the fish should not be placed on the endangered species list.

Kelly pointed out that the grayling population continues to decline due to climate change and the degradation of their habitat. He noted that the West has experienced some of the hottest weather on record and that there have been massive river closures in key rivers where grayling live.

“They’re fighting and they’ve been fighting for a long time,” Kelly stressed. “That’s why this is such an important decision because it’s hopefully another chance for the agency to do the right thing and put this fish on the list so it can be protected and saved under the Endangered Species Act.”

Protection would require, among other things, a federal restoration plan that addresses the chronically low water levels of Montana’s iconic Big Hole River.

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