Birds of a Feather…Disappear Together

Pop quiz: Can you name your state flower? State tree? How about your state bird? If you’re like me, you may have gotten one of the three. But fear not—you may never need to identify your representative flora and fauna—because according to scientists from the American Bird Conservancy, New Hampshire’s purple finch, Massachusetts’ black capped chickadee, and many other states’ official and “unofficial” birds may not be able to adapt to the changes that global warming will bring to their region. Their populations will either have to shift to regions more hospitable, or, if unable to make the transition rapidly enough, go extinct. Feel better? Me neither…

The delightful black-capped chickadee, Massachusetts’ state bird, will find more climate friendly regions to dwell as temperatures rise in New England.

Scientists and biologists are insistent on the seemingly endless ways in which global warming threatens many bird species, just as they are unequivocal about the ecological dangers caused by the loss of even one bird species. According to the International Panel on Climate Change, global warming means altered precipitation patterns and temperatures, which in turn leads to a shift in seasons, growing patterns, and breeding timetables. Insects, flowers and berries make up the bulk of most birds’ diets; yet altered seasons and reproductive cycles may lead to a scenario where migration patterns and the availability of these food supplies have fallen out of sync. For instance, the birds migrate too early, to find that their northern destinations are still relatively barren; or, they migrate at the usual time but find that climate-induced changes in insect reproduction mean they’ve missed out on peak food supplies, necessary to raise their young. Even for non-migratory species, the radical shifts in regional flora that are likely to result from climate change threaten the reliability of food sources.

Plentiful and healthy arboreal habitat is critical for bird survival. Maples, birches, beeches, and others are very vulnerable to changes in precipitation, temperature, and other climate variables.

Maple trees and other arboreal species offer refuge, food, and reproductive sites for many of New England’s birds.

And for migratory birds, wetlands are their resting stops, but these breeding and habitat areas are similarly threatened by the floods or droughts brought on by altered precipitation trends.

In coastal regions like the Northeast, sea level rise continues to menace wetland areas.

Finally, there is the “big picture” to consider—think back to the illustrations from your high school biology textbook of a food web, or an ecosystem. A region with dwindling or changing bird populations is a region out of balance: pest insects are less likely to be controlled, flowers less likely to be pollinated, and seeds less likely to be dispersed. The result of that equation—more bugs and less (or debilitated) plant life—is the sum of ecological disaster.

As autumn progresses, you may notice the annual southern migration of many of the Northeast’s bird species—not just in the dark patterns of outspread wings against crisp blue sky, but in a muting of the summer’s serenade, a bleeding of the richly feathered woodland hues, and a surfeit of the darting food-driven forays which add so much life to the Northeastern landscape.

The brilliantly-colored scarlet tanager is a neo-tropical migratory species that relies on the Northeast’s unique ecosystems for spring and summer habitat.

Even if you don’t absorb these changes consciously, the rhythms and textures of the outdoors will shift in a way that, for New Englanders, instinctively signals the change of seasons.

Now, for a moment, imagine that you don’t get the compensatory pleasure of the gradual springtime return. What would you be losing should these birds—state symbols and otherwise—“shift” their habitat, or worse, go extinct under the pressures of global warming? You might just be losing a big chunk of the landscape you—and I—call home.

To learn more about global warming and birds, see the National Wildlife Federation’s report, “Global Warming and Birds” at http://www.nwf.org/climate/pdfs/globalwarmingandbirds.pdf. To learn more about how you can protect your region’s birds and stop climate change, visit our website at www.cleanair-coolplanet.org.

--Jennifer Andrews