Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we'll soon be in trouble.

Birding, after all, is just a game. Going beyond that is what is important.

Birds ... are sensitive indicators of the environment, a sort of "ecological litmus paper," ... The observation and recording of bird populations over time lead inevitably to environmental awareness and can signal impending changes.

Butterflies may be better indicators of the health of our environment than birds.

Conservation is not just an ideal that we read about; it works.

Birds, it must be admitted, are the most exciting and most deserving of the vertebrates; they are perhaps the best entre into the study of natural history, and a very good wedge into conservation awareness.

Butterflies are very interesting. Here these things are little grubs for a while. And then they go into a little coffin. There they are in a sarcophagus, and then they come out and dance with the angels.