The Biden administration is moving to restore protections for migratory birds that were loosened under former President Donald Trump — a back-and-forth centering on the question of when it's illegal to kill them. The Interior Department rescinded a controversial Trump-era legal opinion Monday that limited the scope of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It also said it will soon propose a rule to replace one enacted at the end of the Trump administration that did the same. In tandem, the moves will seek to undo changes that "overturned decades of bipartisanship and international consensus and allowed industry to kill birds with impunity," said Interior spokesman Tyler Cherry in a statement. Still, wildlife advocates warn that formalizing the changes will take time, leaving a gap in federal protections for more than a thousand species when bird populations are already in troubling decline. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act dates back more than a century, making it one of the country's oldest
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