Victoria's Secret makes commitment to Boreal bird conservation.

It seems more like the answer to a game in which the question would be, "name two phrases that would never be found in the same sentence."

Yet, it's not. It's real.

In this topsy-turvy world we live in, the number of catalogs mailed in 2-3 days exceeds the total number of Rusty Blackbirds in existence. More catalogs are mailed in one day then the total world population of American Black Ducks, Surf Scoters, or Great Gray Owls. There is not a single bird species in North America whose estimated total population is greater than the number of catalogs mailed in one year within the U.S. That includes species like American Robin, Mourning Dove, and Yellow-rumped Warbler!

There was one species whose numbers did exceed our nation's current yearly catalog tally—the Passenger Pigeon. It was extinct by 1914.

Mailing all those catalogs uses lots of paper, lots of trees, lots of Boreal bird habitat

And because of that, one company, a single company that mails a million catalogs a day, may be able to have more impact on bird conservation than any of us binocular-toting birders could have ever imagined. Victoria's Secret parent company, the Ohio-based The Limited, announced last week a radical change its paper buying practices. A change that will not only decrease the amount of virgin Boreal forest bird habitat that will be converted into Victoria's Secret catalogs, but also will increase supply and decrease costs of more bird-friendly papers. That's good for lots of birds.

On behalf of the world's Rusty Blackbirds, Surf Scoters, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Hermit Thrushes, Evening Grosbeaks, and 320 other Boreal bird species, let me say to Victoria's Secret and The Limited, "Thank You."

If you want to say "thanks" to Victoria's Secret parent company yourself, click here.