Is Austin a Bird City? What the designation means for Texas cities

What is a Bird City? In 2019, Texas Audubon and Texas Parks and Wildlife started a new "community-focused certification program" to help protect birds across the state. Cities that meet certain criteria, can be labeled a Bird City and will be recognized for their achievements. Austin is not yet a Bird City, but it has applied for the certification.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — What is a Bird City? In 2019, Texas Audubon and Texas Parks and Wildlife started a new "community-focused certification program" to help protect birds across the state. Cities that meet certain criteria, can be labeled a Bird City and will be recognized for their achievements. Austin is not yet a Bird City, but it has applied for the certification.

Meteorologist Nick Bannin spoke with Texas Audubon to learn more about the certification and why it is important to help birds. You can watch that full interview above.

One thing you need to know about Bird Cities:

YVETTE STEWART: As Texas continues to grow, we anticipate a lot more people moving to Texas. When we do that we're going to lose a lot of spaces for wildlife, in particular, birds. Birds make a great species of focus because they're everywhere and they're everywhere humans want to be.

Learn more about Austin and the environment:

A great way to help birds is to plant trees, but many of Austin's poorest neighborhoods don't have enough trees. Here's how Austin is trying to plant more. Also, veterinarians are seeing more sick pets, but not because of the heat. Plus, Sean Kelly showed us how a local lake is keeping healthy using splashing kids.