Birds are an especially important component of the local ecosystem for historical reasons. Bicknell's thrush was first observed on the summit of Slide in 1881; today, after recently being declared a separate species from the gray-cheeked thrush, it is considered a threatened species and its summer breeding areas in the boreal forests important enough that in 1999, New York governor George Pataki augmented the wilderness status of the area with Bird Conservation Area status that applied to almost all the Catskill High Peaks. This protects not only the Bicknell's but other species such as the black-and-white warbler, black-throated blue warbler, Canada warbler, red-eyed vireo, Louisiana waterthrush, scarlet tanager and rose-breasted grosbeak, some of which require large unbroken forests to nest.