Bird Crisis

Birds, and by extension the entire ecosystem, is in crisis.

Nearly 3 Billion Birds Gone Since 1970. That is, the population levels are down. By 25%.

Image courtesy the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

One out of every four birds. Staggering.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a list of "Seven Simple Actions to Help Birds".

Image courtesy the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Please take what steps you can. Try to do them all. We do.

🐛  🐛  🐛  🐛  🐛

Longtime readers of this blog will know of our "War on Lawn". One of the benefits, both for me and the environment, is less lawn mowing. Another is the habitat provided for what I call "yard critters". A major impetus for our move from lawn to habitat was Douglas W. Tallamy's excellent book, Bringing Nature Home.

Patty and I had the pleasure of hearing, and meeting, Dr. Tallamy at this year's Mothapalooza.

In addition to the talks, Mothapalooza features multiple mothing stations set up and staffed throughout the night. Patty and I visited one, with only the two fellows who set up the sheet as our companions. We had several interesting moths and at one point Patty remarked, "we had this one at Edie's place in the Poconos". To which one of the fellows said, "it is too bad Edie isn't here this year." So I asked, "who should we tell Edie that was disappointed?" "Doug Tallamy", he answered.

One of the points in Dr. Tallamy's very interesting and informative talk (if you have the chance to hear him speak, take it!) was that caterpillar populations are down by close to ninety percent in the period he has data for.

90%. Let that sink in.

If that doesn't set off alarm bells for you then nothing will.

Many birds eat insects. And caterpillars, the jelly donuts of the insect world, are prime food, especially for nestlings. Unlike insects with hard exoskeletons, parts which can't be digested, caterpillars are almost pure nutrition.

The equation is simple: 90% fewer caterpillars = 90% fewer birds.

And this is one of the reasons I was so happy to find some many different caterpillars in the yard this year. It means that the steps we are taking to provide habitat are working.

Dr. Tallamy suggests that cutting the amount of lawn in your yard in half will have significant benefits for you (less moving, watering, and other maintence), critters (providing food and habitat), and the environment (less mowing, more carbon stored in plants). Most of our land is wooded. But of the part that isn't we are well on our way to reaching the 50% goal and should do so next year.

🦃  🐧  🐦  🐤  🦉

Here are some links with additional information on the crisis, the research behind it, and how you can help.

Original scientific paper: 

Decline of the North American avifauna 
   Science 20 September 2019 Vol 365, Issue 6459
   Kenneth V. Rosenberg, Adriaan M. Dokter, Peter J. Blancher, John R. Sauer, Adam C. Smith, Paul A. Smith, et al. 

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2019/09/18/science.aaw1313   
$30 for full access (or membership in AAAS or a research library)

Cornell has made a PDF of the full manuscript available:
https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/DECLINE-OF-NORTH-AMERICAN-AVIFAUNA-SCIENCE-2019.pdf
 (67 pages)

Coverage:

National Audubon:    
   https://www.audubon.org/news/north-america-has-lost-more-1-4-birds-last-50-years-new-study-says
   North America Has Lost More Than 1 in 4 Birds in Last 50 Years, New Study Says. 
   by Jillian Mock

Cornell Lab: 
   https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/bring-birds-back/

American Bird Conservancy:
   https://abcbirds.org/3-billion-birds/#homepage

Science News:
   https://www.sciencenews.org/article/3-billion-birds-lost-since-1970-north-america
   We’ve lost 3 billion birds since 1970 in North America: Scientists found profound losses among both rare and common birds. by Jonathan Lambert

Scientific American:
    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/silent-skies-billions-of-north-american-birds-have-vanished/
    Silent Skies: Billions of North American Birds Have Vanished. by Jim Daley.

Washington Post:
   https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/09/19/north-america-has-lost-billion-birds-years/?wpisrc
   North America has lost 3 billion birds in 50 years. By Karin Brulliard.  

NY Times:
   https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/science/bird-populations-america-canada.html
   Birds Are Vanishing From North America: The number of birds in the United States and Canada has declined by 3 billion, or 29 percent, over the past half-century, scientists find.  by Carl Zimmer.

Analysis: 

Blog post "Dynamic Ecology" blog by Brian McGill
   https://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2019/09/20/did-north-america-really-lose-3-billion-birds-what-does-it-mean/
   Did North America really lose 3 billion birds? What does it mean?  Sept. 20, 2019.

Thanks to Laurie Larson for compiling this list and posting it to the Jersey Birds email group.