US and Canada have lost three billion birds since 1970
The US and Canada have lost more
than one in four birds – a total of three billion – since 1970, culminating in
what scientists who published a new study are calling a “widespread ecological
crisis”. Researchers observed a
29% decline in bird populations across diverse groups and habitats – from
songbirds such as meadowlarks to long-distance migratory birds such as swallows
and backyard birds like sparrows.
“Multiple, independent
lines of evidence show a massive reduction in the abundance of birds,” said Ken
Rosenberg, the study’s lead author and a senior scientist at the Cornell Lab of
Ornithology and American Bird Conservancy. Co-author Adam Smith
from Environment and Climate Change Canada called the findings a “wake-up
call”. The population losses
are consistent with what scientists have counted among insects and amphibians.
The study, published
today in the journal Science, did not analyze the reason for the drop. But
around the world, birds are thought to be dying more and having less success
breeding largely because their habitats are being damaged and destroyed by
agriculture and urbanization....
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2019/sep/19/us-canada-bird-population-losses
