<
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/06/a-shocking-number-of-birds-are-in-trouble/>
"Just about anywhere you look, there are birds. Penguins live in Antarctica,
ptarmigan in the Arctic Circle. Rüppell’s vultures soar higher than Mt.
Everest. Emperor penguins dive deeper than 1,800 feet. There are birds on
mountains, birds in cities, birds in deserts, birds in oceans, birds on farm
fields, and birds in parking lots.
Given their ubiquity—and the enjoyment many people get from seeing and
cataloging them—birds offer something that sets them apart from other
creatures: an abundance of data. Birds are active year-round, they come in many
shapes and colors, and they are relatively simple to identify and appealing to
observe. Every year around the world, amateur birdwatchers record millions of
sightings in databases that are available for analysis.
All that monitoring has revealed some sobering trends. Over the last 50 years,
North America has lost a third of its birds, studies suggest, and most bird
species are in decline. Because birds are indicators of environmental integrity
and of how other, less scrutinized species are doing, data like these should be
a call to action, says Peter Marra, a conservation biologist and dean of
Georgetown University’s Earth Commons Institute. “If our birds are
disappearing, then we’re cutting the legs off beneath us,” he says. “We’re
destroying the environment that we depend on.”
It’s not all bad news for birds: Some species are increasing in number, data
show, and dozens have been saved from extinction. Understanding both the steep
declines and the success stories, experts say, could help to inform efforts to
protect birds as well as other species."
Via Joyce Donahue and Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
