The monitoring programs highlighted on these pages can be used to track changes in North American bird populations. These trends give conservationists, managers, citizens, and policy makers a window into the natural world and the health of environment. The patterns of increase and decrease are quantifications that can be tested against and compared to the subjective feelings we have on the status of birds in North America. Are more species increasing than decreasing? Are Eastern Bluebirds doing well or poorly? What do we know about shorebirds? Learn about these programs, use their data, participate in the counts, and write about the changes.