The Montana Bird Advocacy (MBA) was established in 2017 in Missoula, Montana, and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our mission is to increase knowledge of the distribution, status, and biology of Montana’s native birds and to promote conservation of birds and their habitats throughout the world. Although the MBA itself is new, our staff and board have a long history of interest in the state’s birds. Founders Jeff Marks and Paul Hendricks have studied birds in Montana for more than 30 years, and with board member Dan Casey, they published Birds of Montana in 2016. We are conservationists, ornithologists, and avid birdwatchers, and we are very excited about serving these constituencies through our organization.

Our mission and interests overlap broadly with those of several other NGOs and agencies who are dedicated to bird conservation in Montana. We strive to provide new information on the status and biology of many of the poorly known bird species in the state, to focus attention on critical habitats whose suitability for native birds is under constant threat, and to serve as a clearing house for the latest information on the state’s birds.

As part of our service to the birding community, we host the Web pages for the Montana Bird Records Committee. Thus, you can look to our site for the official list of Montana’s birds, which will always be up-to-date and in correct taxonomic order! Under the heading of Killdeer’s Keep, we feature a series of essays on individual species that are in peril. Many of them, like the Killdeer, have a widespread distribution and are fairly abundant, yet their numbers continue to decline for a variety of reasons, and they often do not receive the conservation attention they deserve.

Please visit our site often to view our dynamic content, contact us with questions and suggestions, and consider supporting our important work with a tax-deductible donation.