The Metro: Nonprofit aims to conserve bird habitats in metro Detroit
Jack Filbrandt, Tia Graham, Robyn Vincent, The Metro April 16, 2025Ava Landgraf, conservation and research coordinator for the Detroit Bird Alliance, joined the show to share more about the important role birds play in our environment.

Residents walk through a native meadow established in Detroit's Poletown East neighborhood by the Detroit Bird Alliance.
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Global warming and climate change poses a significant threat to two-thirds of North American bird species, according to the National Audubon Society.
These impacts are causing many birds to leave their homes and relocate to places more favorable for their species, including in southeast Michigan.
That’s concerning because it’s not just beauty and sweet songs that birds provide to the world, they also play a vital role in our ecosystem — keeping insect populations low, helping to pollinate plants, disperse seeds and more. Without birds, both people and the environment would experience devastating impacts.
Ava Landgraf is the conservation and research coordinator for the Detroit Bird Alliance, a nonprofit working to protect birds and their habitats in southeast Michigan. Landgraf joined The Metro to discuss local species and the important role they play in our environment.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
More stories from The Metro on Wednesday, April 16:
- Labor professor says Trump tariffs’ impact on autoworkers ‘will be very painful’ to watch
- Legendary hip-hop producer J Dilla’s music still beating in Detroit
- Former US Attorney Barb McQuade on Trump’s defiance of court orders
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Jack Filbrandt is an assistant producer on WDET's daily news, arts and culture program, The Metro. He grew up on Lake Michigan and has called Detroit home for seven years. He's also a Detroit Documenter, covering local government meetings in the city. He previously worked for Wayne State's student newspaper, The South End, and The Battering Ram.
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Tia Graham is a reporter and Weekend Edition Host for 101.9 WDET. She graduated from Michigan State University where she had the unique privilege of covering former President Barack Obama and his trip to Lansing in 2014.
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Robyn Vincent is the co-host of The Metro on WDET. She is an award-winning journalist, a lifelong listener of WDET, and a graduate of Wayne State University, where she studied journalism. Before returning home to Detroit, she was a reporter, producer, editor, and executive producer for NPR stations in the Mountain West, including her favorite Western station, KUNC. She received a national fellowship from Investigative Reporters and Editors for her investigative work that probed the unchecked power of sheriffs in Colorado. She was also the editor-in-chief of an alternative weekly newspaper in Wyoming, leading the paper to win its first national award for a series she directed tracing one reporter’s experience living and working with Syrian refugees.
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