U.S. bird species dying out amid development : report

[Buster's Uncle]

U.S. bird species dying out amid development : report
Reuters
By Barbara Goldberg  1 hour ago



Birds sit in the hoof prints of horses during morning workouts at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York May 30, 2014. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton



(Reuters) - Bird populations across the United States are shrinking largely due to development, with the steepest declines in Western states, according to a scientific report released on Tuesday.

Described as the most comprehensive review ever of long-term trend data, "The State of the Birds 2014" sounds a dire warning about extinction if the United States doesn't change its course, but also praises conservation as a solution that works.

"Today, we have the science, technology and knowledge to prevent extinctions. Conservation works," said the report, authored by the U.S. Committee of the North American

Bird Conservation Initiative — a 23-member partnership of government agencies and organizations dedicated to advancing bird conservation.

Destruction of arid lands largely due to development has resulted in a 46 percent decline in the bird population since 1968 in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and other Western states, the report said.

Its release marks the 100th anniversary of the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon, once the most abundant bird in the United States whose mass migration of 1 billion birds in 1860 was said to measure 300 miles (480 km) long, darkening overhead skies and taking 14 hours to pass.

Within decades, hunting and forest clearing wiped out the population, and the very last Passenger Pigeon - a bird named Martha caged at the Cincinnati Zoo - died on Sept. 1, 1914.

Noting the pigeon's fate, the report named 33 U.S. common bird species in steep decline, including the Snowy Owl.

It also included a 2014 Watch List of the 233 U.S. bird species most in danger of extinction and in need of immediate conservation help, including the White-rumped Swiftlet, California Gnatcatcher, Bristle-thighed Curlew and Sooty Grouse.

Hawaii, which has 33 species on the list, was deemed the "bird extinction capital of the world" by the authors, who said no place has had more extinctions since human settlement.

But all is not lost as long as steps are taken to protect wetlands, forests, coasts and other crucial bird habitats or to modify human practices, such as long-line fishing, which in the past resulted in the accidental catch of endangered Short-tailed Albatrosses.

Such conservation moves have saved the Albatrosses, Bald Eagles, Brown Pelicans, Peregrine Falcons and even the California Condor, whose population has grown to more than 200 today from just 22 birds in the 1980s, the report said.

(Editing by Sandra Maler)


http://news.yahoo.com/u-bird-species-dying-amid-development-report-182551765.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Half of N. American Birds in peril from climate change
AFP
By Kerry Sheridan  1 hour ago



A Bald Eagle perches in a tree on October 8, 2012 in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming (AFP Photo/Karen Bleier)



Washington (AFP) - Iconic North American birds like the Bald Eagle and Brown Pelican are among hundreds of mankind's feathered friends facing threats to their survival due to climate change, researchers said Tuesday.

More than half of birds in the United States and Canada -- a total of 314 species -- are losing critical habitat and food sources as the planet warms, said a report by the National Audubon Society.

Meanwhile, another annual report called the "State of the Birds 2014, USA," issued by the 23-member US Committee of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, described losses of as much as 46 percent of birds in deserts and drylands such as Utah, Arizona and New Mexico since the 1960s.

Common backyard birds are becoming less common, and those who breed and eat in the coastal wetlands are also struggling.

Birds like the eastern meadowlark and the bobolink have declined by some 40 percent since 1968, but losses have leveled off since 1990 with the help of "significant investments in grassland bird conservation," said the State of the Birds report.

"Science and conservation, when applied appropriately, can reverse the threats that some species face today, and I think that is an important message," said Smithsonian secretary Wayne Clough at an event in the US capital to discuss the findings.



A brown pelican lands on Mullet Island near Calipatria, California on July 3, 2011 (AFP Photo/David Mcnew)


"However, much work lies before us."

The Audubon report found that the Bald Eagle's summer range could shrink by nearly 75 percent in the next 65 years, while warming temperatures might make nesting and breeding difficult for birds like the Common Loon and the Baltimore Oriole.

"Other state birds at risk include Brown Pelican (Louisiana), California Gull (Utah), Hermit Thrush (Vermont), Mountain Bluebird (Idaho and Nevada), Ruffed Grouse (Pennsylvania), Purple Finch (New Hampshire) and Wood Thrush (Washington, DC)," said the findings.

"We all will see the effects of changing climate in our own backyards. We just cannot ignore such a sobering wake-up call," said Terry Root, a Nobel Prize-winning Stanford University professor and Audubon board member.

The reports' release coincided with the 100th anniversary of the disappearance of the passenger pigeons, which were once among the most abundant creatures on Earth.

The last known passenger pigeon, Martha, died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.

"We can never forget that we can see something go away forever," said Pete Marra, head of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, recalling other species that have disappeared since, including the Carolina Parakeet, the Eskimo Curlew, Bachman's Warbler and the Po'ouli of Hawaii -- home to one-third of all US federally endangered birds.

Marra said the biggest causes of bird declines include habitat loss, urban sprawl, lack of food sources and pollution.

Dangers to birds will only increase as the global population swells from its current seven billion in the coming decades, said US Fish and Wildlife director Dan Ashe.

"When we think about Martha and what happened to her kind in the span of about five decades, think about what will happen in the three or four decades between now and the middle of the century as we add another two-plus billion people to the planet," Ashe said.

"It means that there will be less space for the rest of what we call biological diversity."

He called for people to recommit themselves to conservation and environmental awareness in order to prevent further extinctions.


http://news.yahoo.com/half-n-american-birds-peril-climate-change-212555573.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Climate Change Could Imperil Half of North America’s Species by the End of the Century
Takepart.com
By Kristina Bravo | 1 hour ago



Bye-Bye birdies?

The once-endangered bald eagle staged a huge comeback after the United States banned the pesticide DDT in the 1970s. By 2007, the species had recovered and was removed from the Endangered Species List. But now another menace is threatening the national symbol: climate change.

Higher temperatures will jeopardize nearly half of North America’s birds in the near future, according to a report released on Tuesday by the National Audubon Society.

“We set out to understand how birds might be affected by the climate change we knew was coming,” said Gary Langham, Audubon’s chief scientist and leader of the study.

Audubon’s scientists have been studying the effects of climate change on birds for the past seven years, relying on three decades of collected bird data and recent climate change studies. The new report maps how bird habitats would shift decades from now due to climate change.

“They tell us which birds are most likely to be impacted and where they’re going to try to move,” said Langham. “Then we can try to protect the places they’ll depend on and restore the habitats to pave the way for their arrival.”

Out of the 588 species the researchers examined, 314 will be affected by a warming world. For instance, only 26 percent of the bald eagle’s current breeding range will remain by 2080. Ten state birds—including Maryland’s Baltimore oriole and Louisiana’s brow pelican—will be driven elsewhere to breed and forage.

Some species—including the mourning dove—will adapt and thrive in warmer climate. But ultimately, there would be more losers than winners, according to Langham.

“In any great disturbance of nature, there’s always going to be some species that will be able to capitalize and do better,” he said. “The challenge though is even the so-called stable birds might be disrupted by all the new birds moving in, which may eat them or compete with them for food or nesting space.”

Langham thinks that conservationists shouldn’t just focus on birds that are currently imperiled, but also on those who are slowly being forced of their homes—like the bald eagle.

“We may not have any breeding bald eagles in the U.S. anymore by the end of the century,” he said.


http://news.yahoo.com/climate-change-could-imperil-half-north-america-species-235555949.html