Imagine your backyard or the park where you walk without the color and music of birds — the red and handsome flash of the cardinal, the conversational chatter of goldfinches at a feeder, the soft call of the mourning dove signaling the onset of evening.

Birds connect us more intimately and immediately to the natural world than any other wild creature, partly because they are so ever-present in our lives.

But a new report from an international birding organization indicates this tie can be precarious. The State of the World's Birds, from Birdlife International, details dramatic declines worldwide in many bird populations, including some of the most common species that grace our backyard feeders. The report cites habitat loss, pollution and climate change as culprits that have contributed to a disturbing statistic — one in eight of all bird species is threatened with global extinction.

In Wisconsin, bird experts said they were saddened but not surprised at the report and noted that a number of efforts have been undertaken in recent months to address the threats in this state where two crucial migratory routes funnel millions of birds through in spring and fall and where rare grasslands and marshes provide homes to some of the world's most threatened birds.

Among the Wisconsin initiatives:

• Participation in the Important Bird Area program. This is a global program under which important nesting and migration areas are protected. So far, 86 such areas have been established in Wisconsin. Conservation strategies for the most important areas, such as those along the Lower Wisconsin River, are now being written.

• Creation of the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative. Under this project, nearly 165 public and private partners have joined to work on bird protection programs. For example, members have identified important stopovers in Wisconsin for migrating birds and are working to protect them. "These birds, some of which weigh only a few ounces, travel thousands of miles on their migration,'' said Yoyi Steele, who helps coordinate the program for the state Department of Natural Resources. "If we want to continue to enjoy their visits, we have to protect the places where they rest and refuel.''

• Bird Protection Fund. The Natural Resources Foundation has set up a fund, which now contains about $30,000, to help pay for bird conservation work ranging from whooping crane reintroduction to efforts to help protect habitat in Central and South America where many of the birds that show up at Wisconsin feeders spend the winter.

• Great Wisconsin Birding & Nature Trail. The DNR and a number of conservation groups have set up five regional auto trails with prime birding spots. Each trail has between 60 and 80 stops and regional guidebooks complete with maps, site descriptions and travel information are available for each.

Such efforts are especially important in a state such as Wisconsin, according to Charlie Luthin, executive director of the Natural Resources Foundation.

"Our wetlands, lakes and rivers — our unique geography between the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes — make Wisconsin a globally important place for breeding, feeding and migrating birds,'' Luthin said.

Wisconsin, in other words, is a crossroads for the birds of the world.

"The fascination for me,'' said Jeffrey Potter, with the Natural Resources Foundation, "is that you can be looking at a bird outside your kitchen window and you can be reading a paper and drinking your coffee and you realize that that bird has traveled thousands of miles to get to that perch outside your window.''

Wisconsin is home to numerous bird species that are in trouble, according to Karen Etter Hale, executive secretary of the Madison Audubon Society. She said grassland birds are of special concern and pointed out that some of them, such as the greater prairie chicken, western meadowlark and Henslow's sparrow have declined by more than 90 percent in the last century, mostly due to loss of the grasslands on which they depend. Other struggling species include the red-headed woodpecker and many warbler species that depend on wintering grounds in Central and South America.

Nationwide, 200 species, or a quarter of all bird species in the United States, have declined in population since the 1970s, according to the National Audubon Society.

Mark and Sue Martin are caretakers at the Audubon Society's Goose Pond Sanctuary near Arlington, about 20 miles north of Madison, and have seen firsthand over the years the struggles of many bird species. The small pond is a perfect example of the kind of migratory stopover upon which so many birds depend during their epic spring and fall journeys across the face of the globe. As many as 400 different species of birds rely upon the pond and its uplands.

Protecting such spots takes diligence, said Mark Martin. For example, polluted runoff from a nearby canning factory 30 years ago was found to be destroying arrowhead plants, an important food source especially for waterfowl and for rare migrants such as tundra swans. That threat was addressed and resolved.

"The arrowheads were able to bounce back,'' he said. "And now the swans have really been increasing.''

Such small victories are important, Sue Martin said, because the health of the birds with which we share our days is tied directly to the health of the natural world.

"Birds are all around us,'' she said. "They're everywhere. They're always right in front of us. And when their numbers begin to fall, it shows us that something is wrong.''