the rock creek conservancy is protecting bird habitats by developing mini-oases throughout the park to remove invasive species from one small area at a time. they regularly host cleanup events and train a group of volunteers known as weed warriors<\/a> to tackle these invasive species sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cour goal is to reduce invasive cover to less than 5%, to reduce the stress on the trees and to hopefully let the forest recover,\u201d said the conservancy\u2019s executive director jeanne braha. <\/p>\n\n\n\n and the national park service is doing its part to preserve songbird habitats in rock creek park by regulating human recreation and educating visitors about best practices. they even organize people to engage in community science efforts like the audubon christmas bird count<\/a>. each christmas, yeaman ventures into the park early in the morning with volunteers to count and track all the birds they see that day. the 123-year-old tradition helps conservationists and researchers understand current bird populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n according to yeaman, people can help protect songbirds from their own backyards by planting native shrubs and trees. if you\u2019ve got a windowsill, you can plant native wildflowers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cpeople can do these things on their property to help. it would improve just the general condition of the environment, including songbirds habitats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n and of course, the rock creek songbirds, rock creek conservancy, and the national park service are always in need of volunteers to help bring the music of songbirds back to the park. <\/p>\n\n\n\n as d.c. enters springtime, the songbirds will flock to rock creek park, nesting among the trees after a long journey north. they will continue to do so, year after year, as long as we make sure they have a safe place to fly home to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" every spring, fewer songbirds are returning d.c.\u2019s rock creek park. how can conservationists bring them back?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10116,"featured_media":29157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4929,4916,4935],"tags":[732,144,2944,1537,5209,772],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-29105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biodiversity","category-climate","category-conservation","tag-birds","tag-climate-change","tag-parks","tag-rock-creek","tag-songbirds","tag-washington-dc"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nbringing it home<\/h2>\n\n\n\n