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{"source_url": "https://www.doverpost.com", "url": "https://www.doverpost.com/news/20200101/birds-in-crisis-in-every-state?rssfeed=true", "title": "Birds in crisis in every state", "top_image": "https://www.doverpost.com/storyimage/DE/20200101/NEWS/301019998/AR/0/AR-301019998.jpg", "meta_img": "https://www.doverpost.com/storyimage/DE/20200101/NEWS/301019998/AR/0/AR-301019998.jpg", "images": ["https://www.doverpost.com/storyimage/DE/20200101/NEWS/301019998/AR/0/AR-301019998.jpg&MaxH=200&MaxW=200", "https://www.doverpost.com/Global/images/head/nameplate/de-dover_logo.png", "http://b.scorecardresearch.com/p?c1=2&c2=9289482&cv=2.0&cj=1", "https://www.doverpost.com/storyimage/DE/20200101/NEWS/301019998/AR/0/AR-301019998.jpg", "https://api.pymx5.com/v1/sites/track?event_type=PAGE_VIEW&noscript=1"], "movies": [], "text": "Not yet dire, but frightening to birders and researchers alike.\n\nAs Wes Biggs tells it, a Baltimore oriole flew onto his family\u2019s front porch and landed on his bassinet when he was only 6 months old. Captivated, he became a lifelong birdwatcher.\n\nOver the 71 years since then, like thousands of other longtime birders across the continent, Biggs has seen and helped document dramatic change.\n\nBald eagles surged back from the brink of extinction. Many duck species rebounded. But a host of other species \u2014 including sparrows, meadowlark and quail \u2014 declined at an alarming rate.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re just not seeing thousands and thousands of birds anymore, and certainly not as often as you used to,\u201d said Biggs of Sebring, Florida, owner of Florida Nature Tours.\n\nTwo major research projects released this fall brought into perspective what individual birdwatchers like Biggs have noticed, while raising concerns about the future and the need for additional conservation measures. A USA TODAY Network analysis of the studies and their data showed the loss of birds touches every U.S. state in North America.\n\nThe first of the studies, dubbed the \u201cBillion Birds\u201d report [at https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/bring-birds-back] and published in the journal \u201cScience\u201d in September, concluded 2.9 billion birds have vanished across North America since 1970, a decline of roughly 30%. It added to a growing body of work over the past couple of years documenting those losses.\n\nThe results surprised even the study\u2019s lead author, Ken Rosenberg, a Cornell University scientist who also holds a position with the American Bird Conservancy.\n\nRosenberg used to tell birdwatchers the birds they were no longer seeing had probably moved on \u201csomewhere else.\u201d But the study proved otherwise, he said, showing in many cases bird populations had just plummeted.\n\nWhile that doesn\u2019t mean a bird \u201capocalypse\u201d is underway, if conservation measures aren\u2019t taken, Rosenberg said, the situation could \u201cslide toward a bigger crisis, toward ecological unraveling of ecosystems.\u201d\n\nAnother major report weeks later delivered a second punch. Using models and much of the same data, the report by the National Audubon Society [at https://www.audubon.org/climate/survivalbydegrees] provided a grim forecast of the potential impacts of warming temperatures on 600 bird species in North America.\n\n\u201cIf we don\u2019t take action, nearly two-thirds of North America\u2019s birds face extinction as a result of climate change,\u201d said Julie Wraithmell, president of Audubon Florida. If action is taken, she added, \u201cwe can change the fate of three-quarters of those birds.\u201d\n\nCasting blame\n\nThe widespread losses in bird populations could have far-reaching implications for ecosystems and economies, said Marianne Korosy, Audubon Florida\u2019s director of bird conservation.\n\nBirds are both prey and predator, serve as nature\u2019s pest control, share roles with bees in plant pollination and help to maintain genetic diversity by spreading seeds around, Korosy said. Also, the federal government estimates birdwatchers contribute $41 billion a year to the nation\u2019s economy.\n\nThe study by Rosenberg and his co-authors at wildlife agencies and research centers in the U.S. and Canada didn\u2019t specifically analyze the causes behind the declining bird populations. He said that can be hard to pin down given the array of threats birds face and the vast distances they travel during migration. But previous studies indicate habitat loss is the primary threat.\n\nAs a group, grassland birds such as meadowlarks and quail suffered the biggest overall declines, the Billion Birds report showed.\n\nIn the Midwest, the single biggest factor is habitat loss, said Neal Niemuth, an integrated conservation scientist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bismarck, North Dakota. He points, for example, to the conversion of cattle grazing lands, which protect the birds\u2019 natural habitat, to much more intensively farmed corn fields.\n\nOther factors include feral cats, climate change and pesticides that kill insects birds need to live and raise their young.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t just pin it on one thing,\u201d said Biggs, but human population growth has its own impacts. While bird populations have dwindled, the nation\u2019s population has doubled over Biggs\u2019 lifetime and Florida\u2019s population is seven times greater.\n\n\u201cI hate having a doomsday attitude,\u201d said Biggs. \u201cBut looking at the whole situation, it\u2019s pretty horrific.\u201d\n\nBird populations have fallen in each of the 49 U.S. states in North America, according to the USA TODAY Network analysis of state data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey [at https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs].\n\nA joint project with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Canadian Wildlife Service, the Breeding Bird Survey dates to the 1960s and was the primary source of data for the Billion Birds report. Geological Survey scientists consider the long-term data available in the survey scientifically credible for 334 species, around a third of all the species with documented sightings in the U.S. and Canada.\n\nIn 39 states, more than half those species have shown declines.\n\nAudubon examined how birds would fare under three climate change scenarios: one in which temperatures warmed by slightly less than 3 degrees Fahrenheit; another in which they warmed by nearly 4 degrees; and a third where they rose by more than 5 degrees in the coming decades.\n\nUsing climate modeling, Audubon studied how the risks birds face \u2014 including habitat conversion, extreme weather and sea level rise \u2014 could change and how that would affect birds in each state. Under the higher, unmitigated increase in warming over the next 65 years, the study concluded 97% of species could be affected by two or more climate-related threats.\n\nUnder the scenario of slightly less than 3 degrees warming within the next 35 years, at least 51 of the 600 species Audubon examined faced a high risk of either being wiped out or seeing a worsening trend.\n\nIn Delaware, an average temperature increase of 2.7 degrees by 2055 could wipe out or cause a worsening trend in two bird species in part or all of their range. The list includes the Henslow's sparrow and least tern.\n\nThe studies shocked Father Tom Pincelli, a Catholic priest in Brownsville, Texas, and a birdwatcher for 47 years. The Billion Birds report \u201ckind of took my breath away,\u201d Pincelli said. \u201cThe number was larger than I thought.\u201d\n\n\u2018Eyes of the world\u2019\n\nBirdwatchers can be a quirky bunch, toting high-end binoculars and telescopes and randomly dropping conversations when distracted by a bird. But the compulsive listing of birds they see has helped amass mountains of data scientists now use to document changing bird populations.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really amazing we have such a wealth of data,\u201d said Brooke Bateman, an Audubon senior scientist and lead author of the climate report.\n\nMuch of the information used in both studies came from data collected by birdwatchers, including the Breeding Bird Survey and Audubon\u2019s Christmas Bird Count [at https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count].\n\nThe 120th Christmas count began Dec. 14 and runs through Jan. 5. Nearly 80,000 people participated in last year\u2019s count.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s this incredible collaboration between the scientists and the birdwatchers, and it really doesn\u2019t exist with other animals and other sciences,\u201d Rosenberg said. \u201cBirders are the eyes of the world.\u201d\n\nBill Volkert, a naturalist and wildlife educator, has birded the same areas around Horicon Marsh in eastern Wisconsin for more than 35 years. He sees wild turkeys and Canada geese more often than he used to, but the song of the whip-poor-will \u201cis gone.\u201d\n\n\u201cA lot of times, we just look at birds in our backyards and as long as birds are showing up, it\u2019s really hard to extrapolate what\u2019s happening to the [overall] population,\u201d he said.\n\nIn North America and elsewhere, climate change will be a \u201cthreat multiplier,\u201d said Audubon\u2019s Bateman. Some birds already have shifted their ranges northward, she said, while warmer temperatures are forecast to trigger other impacts such as longer droughts and more intense hurricanes.\n\nBirders have documented many changes after the string of hurricane landfalls in recent years. In Ormond Beach, Florida, for example, Meret Wilson, who operates a bird-banding project, said things still haven\u2019t returned to what they were before two major hurricanes \u2014 Matthew in 2016 and Irma in 2017 \u2014 heavily damaged trees in the region.\n\n\u2018Before it\u2019s too late\u2019\n\nGoing forward, both bird studies underscore the need to help birds be more resilient, said Nick Wiley, chief operations officer for Ducks Unlimited and former executive director of Florida\u2019s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He said he was excited about the emphasis the Billion Birds report put on conservation needs and successes.\n\nConservation measures do work, said Rosenberg. For example, raptors such as bald eagles benefited from the 1972 ban on the use of the insecticide DDT in the U.S. And, he said, a more than 50% increase in the population of 41 species of waterfowl was a result of \u201ca conscientious effort to save habitat.\u201d\n\nDucks Unlimited grew out of hunters\u2019 recognition of low population levels of waterfowl in the early part of the 20th century, Rosenberg said. To protect those birds, nonprofits and state and federal governments worked to acquire and protect wetland habitats. A federal duck stamp purchased by duck hunters has helped funnel millions into wetland preservation.\n\nSimilar efforts are needed to continue protecting ducks and to preserve grassland birds, said Wiley. But, he added, it\u2019s expensive and takes groups working together.\n\nFederal government programs to help landowners keep their land in grass or return it to grass have been \u201ca huge, huge boon to grassland birds,\u201d Niemuth said. But the available money isn\u2019t enough to match landowner interest.\n\nVolkert, the retired wildlife educator, sees the need for conservation as a bipartisan issue.\n\n\u201cFor millions of people who love birds and love nature, it\u2019s time for our group to raise our voices for birds,\u201d he said. \u201cThe alarm we want to sound is for people to pay attention to the loss of these common birds now before it\u2019s too late, while we can do something.\u201d\n\nSee also: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/09/19/3-billion-fewer-birds-north-america-now-than-1970/2365747001/\n\n\n\n", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": [""], "tags": [], "authors": ["Dinah Voyles Pulverusa Today Network"], "publish_date": "Wed Jan 1 00:00:00 2020", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "Not yet dire, but frightening to birders and researchers alike.", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "", "meta_data": {"viewport": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0", "og": {"site_name": "Dover Post", "title": "Birds in crisis in every state", "description": "Not yet dire, but frightening to birders and researchers alike.", "image": {"identifier": "https://www.doverpost.com/storyimage/DE/20200101/NEWS/301019998/AR/0/AR-301019998.jpg", "width": 900, "height": 600}, "type": "article"}, "msvalidate.01": "7E15F9269E2CE66F2A488ABB04B5015E", "description": "Not yet dire, but frightening to birders and researchers alike.", "bt": {"pubDate": "20200101T04:00:00Z", "modDate": "20191230T13:22:00Z", "keywords": "dopo,template", "author": "Dinah Voyles PulverUSA TODAY NETWORK"}, "twitter": {"title": "Birds in crisis in every state", "description": "Not yet dire, but frightening to birders and researchers alike.", "card": "summary_large_image", "image": "https://www.doverpost.com/storyimage/DE/20200101/NEWS/301019998/AR/0/AR-301019998.jpg&MaxW=1200&MaxH=630", "site": "@Doverpost"}, "author": "Dinah Voyles PulverUSA TODAY NETWORK", "vf": {"unique_id": "siteDE-pub253-402DDDE5-550A-440A-BF25-6A85B0D909CA"}, "fb": {"app_id": 193310410726688}, "article": {"opinion": "false"}}, "canonical_link": "https://www.doverpost.com/news/20200101/birds-in-crisis-in-every-state"} |