Limosa lapponica and Thalasseus bergii, flying in to a high tide roost in Roebuck Bay in Western Australia, Credit: Mdk572 /Wikimedia Commons
Our love for birds may be boundless – from our association with them as noble and colorful creatures decorating our skies to their being connection between cultures, national symbols and a source of inspiration for almost every poet’s fanciful flights.
But faced with multiple forms of environmental degradation, many species of migratory may become extinct.
Marking the World Migratory Bird Day on Saturday, the United Nations warned that 40 percent of migratory birds face extinction.
Of the 11,000-bird species on the planet, one-in-five is considered migratory. Forty per cent of them are in decline, with one-in-eight under threat of global extinction.
A recent Cornell University study reveals in Ecology Letters that climate change may, in fact, be a big cause for harmful effects on migratory birds, in addition to known disruptions from changing weather patterns and rising sea levels.
A report by the globallandscapesforum.org says the climate change could even disrupt food supply for migratory birds.
Using computer models of climate change predictions in the Western Hemisphere, the study compares them to weekly population estimates for 77 species of migratory birds that fly between North America and Central and South America, a globallandscapeforum.org report explains.
“Following expectations, highly novel climates occurred on tropical non‐breeding grounds and the least novel climates occurred on temperate breeding grounds. Contrary to expectations, highly novel climates also occurred within temperate regions during the transition from breeding to autumn migration. This outcome was caused by lower inter‐annual climatic variability occurring in combination with stronger warming projections. Thus, migrants are projected to encounter novel climates across the majority of their annual cycle, with a pronounced peak occurring when juveniles are leaving the nest and preparing to embark on their first migratory journey, which may adversely affect their chances of survival,” an abstract of the study says in Ecology Letters.
And it’s not difficult to say who is to blame for these risks – the unprecedented human activity toward its own preservation, progress and short-sighted competition for a share of natural resources.
“Major threats include habitat-loss and degradation, caused by agricultural and coastal development; collision with badly placed wind turbines and powerlines; unsustainable harvesting, and illegal killing and taking,” the UN says.
Photo via WMBD Sanderlings, the small wading birds pictured here, are long-distance migrants, wintering south to South America, South Europe, Africa, and Australia.
Additionally, migratory birds are also greatly affected by poisoning, such as through ingesting lead released into the environment, through spent ammunition, or toxic weights used for fishing.
“Migratory birds are under threat from every corner: they are losing their habitats, subjected to illegal killing and suffering from the impacts of climate change,” said Erik Solheim, Executive Director of the UN Environment Program, UNEP.
His emphatic message: We all have a responsibility to save such a precious component of the natural world.
The bottom line: “By protecting them, we protect our planet.”
Scientists believe that as birds migrate globally, they help Earth maintain its essential ecological balance.
“Migratory birds connect people, ecosystems and nations. They are symbols of peace and of an interconnected planet,” says UN Secretary-General António while making a pitch for “Unifying Our Voices for Bird Conservation.”
Migratory birds fly hundreds and thousands of miles, along historic routes, to find the best habitats available for feeding, breeding and raising their young but they now face a growing number of threats.
Beginning this year, World Migratory Bird Day will be observed annually each May and October, to coincide with the cycle of migration, making it possible to organize events in countries around the world at peak migration times.
