Where have all the birdies gone?

North America has lost 3 billion birds 
since 1970
Biggest losses were among common species such as sparrows, warblers, starlings
A new study has found that there are 2.9 billion fewer birds in Canada and the U.S. than there were in 1970. That includes the loss of two out of every five baltimore orioles. (Gary Mueller/Macaulay Library/Cornell Lab of Ornithology) cbc.ca

photo cbc

There are 3 billion fewer birds in North America 
than there were in 1970
Bird populations in the United States and Canada have declined by 29% in the past 50 years.
Of the nearly 3 billion birds lost, many were sparrows, warblers, finches and swallows.
"Can you imagine a world without birdsong?"

They'd been on our planet for millions of years, but 2018 was the year several species officially vanished forever.

Three bird species went extinct last year, scientists said, two of which are songbirds from northeastern Brazil: The Cryptic Treehunter (Cichlocolaptes mazarbarnetti) and Alagoas Foliage-gleaner (Philydor novaesi), according to a report from the conservation group BirdLife International.

photo usa

According to BirdLife, the other extinct bird is Hawaii's Po'ouli (Melamprosops phaeosoma), which has not been seen in the wild since 2004 (the same year the last captive bird died). A disturbing trend is that mainland species are starting to go extinct, rather than island species: “Ninety percent of bird extinctions in recent centuries have been of species on islands,” said Stuart Butchart, BirdLife’s chief scientist and lead author on the paper.

(Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

Critics fear animal extinction: Trump overhauls Endangered Species Act

“However, our results confirm that there is a growing wave of extinctions sweeping across the continents, driven mainly by habitat loss and degradation from unsustainable agriculture and logging," he said.  An additional species of bird – the Spix’s macaw, which was made famous in the 2011 animated movie "Rio" – was declared extinct in the wild. Only a few dozen captive Spix's macaws are alive. That species was wiped out in the wild because of deforestation and other factors such as the creation of a dam and trapping for wild trade.


Site of Super Bowl LII is a death trap for birds
usatoday:  The problem: the stadium sits within a migratory bird pathway, and reflective glass that gives the stadium a spectacular look also leads to fatal collisions for birds that mistake glass for sky.
The state-of-the-art stadium, deemed worthy to host Super Bowl LII, should leave Minnesota feeling proud — except for the dead white-throated sparrows, the dead ruby-throated hummingbirds and 20 other species of birds that have been found dead upon impact with the 200,000-square feet of exterior glass that creates a mirror-like facade.

“Birds are dying there and they will continue to die until something is done,’’ 

150K penguins dead as colossal iceberg 
dooms rest of colony
usatoday:  An Antarctic iceberg the size of a major city that's blocked access to the sea since 2010 for thousands of Adelie penguins threatens to completely wipe out the colony.

Once 160,000 strong, the flightless birds now number only 10,000 after being forced to waddle some 40 miles in search of food, according to new research from the Climate Change Research Center at Australia’s University of New South Wales. Scientists predict the colony will vanish in 20 years unless the ice breaks up or the giant iceberg, which measures 1,000 square miles, is somehow dislodged.