North America Has Lost 3 Billion Birds, Scientists Say

[Guno צְבִי]

Over the past half-century, North America has lost more than a quarter of its entire bird population, or around 3 billion birds.

That's according to a new estimate published in the journal Science by researchers who brought together a variety of information that has been collected on 529 bird species since 1970.

"We saw this tremendous net loss across the entire bird community," says Ken Rosenberg, an applied conservation scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, N.Y. "By our estimates, it's a 30% loss in the total number of breeding birds."

Rosenberg and his colleagues already knew that a number of bird populations had been decreasing.

Their results show that more than 90% of the loss can be attributed to just a dozen bird families, including sparrows, warblers, blackbirds and finches.

Common birds with decreasing populations include meadowlarks, dark-eyed juncos, horned larks and red-winged blackbirds, says Rosenberg. Grassland birds have suffered a 53% decrease in their numbers, and more than a third of the shorebird population has been lost.

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/19/762090471/north-america-has-lost-3-billion-birds-scientists-say

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

Just got done reading that on the NYT site. OMG. Our world is dying.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/science/bird-populations-america-canada.html

"The skies are emptying out.

"The number of birds in the United States and Canada has fallen by 29 percent since 1970, scientists reported on Thursday. There are 2.9 billion fewer birds taking wing now than there were 50 years ago.

"The analysis, published in the journal Science, is the most exhaustive and ambitious attempt yet to learn what is happening to avian populations. The results have shocked researchers and conservation organizations.

"In a statement on Thursday, David Yarnold, president and chief executive of the National Audubon Society, called the findings “a full-blown crisis.”

"Experts have long known that some bird species have become vulnerable to extinction. But the new study, based on a broad survey of more than 500 species, reveals steep losses even among such traditionally abundant birds as robins and sparrows."

 

[Guno צְבִי]

Just got done reading that on the NYT site. OMG. Our world is dying.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/science/bird-populations-america-canada.html

"The skies are emptying out.

"The number of birds in the United States and Canada has fallen by 29 percent since 1970, scientists reported on Thursday. There are 2.9 billion fewer birds taking wing now than there were 50 years ago.

"The analysis, published in the journal Science, is the most exhaustive and ambitious attempt yet to learn what is happening to avian populations. The results have shocked researchers and conservation organizations.

"In a statement on Thursday, David Yarnold, president and chief executive of the National Audubon Society, called the findings “a full-blown crisis.”

"Experts have long known that some bird species have become vulnerable to extinction. But the new study, based on a broad survey of more than 500 species, reveals steep losses even among such traditionally abundant birds as robins and sparrows."

scary

 

[MAGA MAN]

Damn geese are taking over my 'hood.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

scary

It's beyond scary; it is terrifying.

Looks like a vicious cycle going on.... fewer birds because of habitat loss and use of pesticides. Birds are our allies in controlling insects. Fewer birds = more pests, thus the need for increased use of pesticides, which in turn causes fewer birds.

 

[MAGA MAN]

All these malls that are dying or dead- level the buildings, plant hundreds of trees, build ponds and turn them into bird habitats.

 

[Cypress]

Worth noting >>

In my entire message board career, I literally cannot remember a single thread started by a conservative stating any genuine concern for the environment, for wildlife, for the biological integrity of our planet.

I literally can never think of a time in the last three decades that Republican presidents and legislators mounted any genuine, sustained, and purposeful effort to promote and adopt tangible policy for environmental improvement and protection. They certainly have not made it a priority in any way, shape, or form.


I am pretty sure it is going to be up to young people, millennials, and those who are going to inherit this earth from Old White Conservatives, to ensure that the planets biological integrity is preserved.

 

[PostmodernProphet]

Worth noting >>

In my entire message board career, I literally cannot remember a single thread started by a conservative stating any genuine concern for the environment, for wildlife, for the biological integrity of our planet.

I literally can never think of a time in the last three decades that Republican presidents and legislators mounted any genuine, sustained, and purposeful effort to promote and adopt tangible policy for environmental improvement and protection. They certainly have not made it a priority in any way, shape, or form.


I am pretty sure it is going to be up to young people, millennials, and those who are going to inherit this earth from Old White Conservatives, to ensure that the planets biological integrity is preserved.

do you think we should pass laws protecting the eggs of sparrows, blackbirds and robins?.......

 

[iewitness]

There shall be a new heavens and a new Earth
It is very soon and it is good. Life would suck without faith in Christ and His words. It is the everfail of antichrists to try to replace The Lord and sell the phony failed one world order of their father Lucifer.

 

[MAGA MAN]

Worth noting >>

In my entire message board career, I literally cannot remember a single thread started by a conservative stating any genuine concern for the environment, for wildlife, for the biological integrity of our planet.

I literally can never think of a time in the last three decades that Republican presidents and legislators mounted any genuine, sustained, and purposeful effort to promote and adopt tangible policy for environmental improvement and protection. They certainly have not made it a priority in any way, shape, or form.


I am pretty sure it is going to be up to young people, millennials, and those who are going to inherit this earth from Old White Conservatives, to ensure that the planets biological integrity is preserved.

I spent several years of my long career, over a decade, working as an environmental engineer. I designed and operated one of the largest recycling operations in the country. Permitting was encouraged by the Republican administration (over the objections of a minority of Democrats in the legislature) for that large urban county because it saved the taxpayers a ton of money. The plant operated for over 25 years before a Democrat administration took over the county and stopped it. You?

 

[countryboy]

It's beyond scary; it is terrifying.

Looks like a vicious cycle going on.... fewer birds because of habitat loss and use of pesticides. Birds are our allies in controlling insects. Fewer birds = more pests, thus the need for increased use of pesticides, which in turn causes fewer birds.

Are you people fucking kidding me? Are we really expected to believe that Liberals are concerned about birds, while promoting wind energy which kills birds and bats by the Millions? Seriously, get the fuck out of here.

 

[Guno צְבִי]

There shall be a new heavens and a new Earth
It is very soon and it is good. Life would suck without faith in Christ and His words. It is the everfail of antichrists to try to replace The Lord and sell the phony failed one world order of their father Lucifer.

You see, God actually wants us to use up all the resources, because when everything is gone, it will signal the return of sweet Jesus to come kill all the Muslims, Catholics, Mormons, Hindus and Tree-Hugger-know-it-alls. If we don't end the world, God will just end it Himself. We've got to do our duty to speed up the process. The Bible says that God has given the world and everything in it for man to use. God wants us to do with it whatever we please! From Genesis, Chapter 1:26 we learn that God has given us dominion over "every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth!" So much for endangered species! That's why we have an Endangered Species Dinner each year here at Landover! To celebrate God's love for wild game hunters! And show that God has given us any species or plant we want to eat, even if it happens to be the last of its kind! Amen? In Genesis Chapter 1:29, the Lord continues letting us know that he has given us "every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth." And we just learned recently that plants create the air we breathe. God is telling us then, that we can use up the air in any way we see fit! Once the air is gone, it just means that Jesus will come back, so the more pollution, the better! Glory!

 

[countryboy]

Worth noting >>

In my entire message board career, I literally cannot remember a single thread started by a conservative stating any genuine concern for the environment, for wildlife, for the biological integrity of our planet.

I literally can never think of a time in the last three decades that Republican presidents and legislators mounted any genuine, sustained, and purposeful effort to promote and adopt tangible policy for environmental improvement and protection. They certainly have not made it a priority in any way, shape, or form.


I am pretty sure it is going to be up to young people, millennials, and those who are going to inherit this earth from Old White Conservatives, to ensure that the planets biological integrity is preserved.

While libs pretend to care about the environment and wildlife, and promote wind energy which is literally decimating the avian population. Just because libs start a million threads pretending to care, doesn't make it so. You people are complete frauds.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

All these malls that are dying or dead- level the buildings, plant hundreds of trees, build ponds and turn them into bird habitats.

That is a great idea actually.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

Worth noting >>

In my entire message board career, I literally cannot remember a single thread started by a conservative stating any genuine concern for the environment, for wildlife, for the biological integrity of our planet.

I literally can never think of a time in the last three decades that Republican presidents and legislators mounted any genuine, sustained, and purposeful effort to promote and adopt tangible policy for environmental improvement and protection. They certainly have not made it a priority in any way, shape, or form.


I am pretty sure it is going to be up to young people, millennials, and those who are going to inherit this earth from Old White Conservatives, to ensure that the planets biological integrity is preserved.

In all fairness to our Reichwing friends, I *have* seen them advocate for *some* environmental issues, mostly those pertaining to deer and other wild game. That's so that they have something to shoot besides each other, school kids, and ppl at concerts and in night clubs.

I wish we could tag ppl on here because some kneejerkers need to get a knee.... in the groin.... figuratively speaking, of course.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

Are you people fucking kidding me? Are we really expected to believe that Liberals are concerned about birds, while promoting wind energy which kills birds and bats by the Millions? Seriously, get the fuck out of here.

Enjoy Post #15. That's about how I see you assholes and how much you care about this planet and our fellow passengers.

 

[Ralph]

Over the past half-century, North America has lost more than a quarter of its entire bird population, or around 3 billion birds.

That's according to a new estimate published in the journal Science by researchers who brought together a variety of information that has been collected on 529 bird species since 1970.

"We saw this tremendous net loss across the entire bird community," says Ken Rosenberg, an applied conservation scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, N.Y. "By our estimates, it's a 30% loss in the total number of breeding birds."

Rosenberg and his colleagues already knew that a number of bird populations had been decreasing.

Their results show that more than 90% of the loss can be attributed to just a dozen bird families, including sparrows, warblers, blackbirds and finches.

Common birds with decreasing populations include meadowlarks, dark-eyed juncos, horned larks and red-winged blackbirds, says Rosenberg. Grassland birds have suffered a 53% decrease in their numbers, and more than a third of the shorebird population has been lost.

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/19/762090471/north-america-has-lost-3-billion-birds-scientists-say

Yeah....its not like "extinction" has ever happened before on earth. The question is what liberal cause will now become in vouge and demand tax payer monies be thrown a problem they can do nothing about...like THE WEATHER? Perhaps the left wing wind turbines used to generate GREEN ENERGY are killing more of the little fellows than anyone realizes?

 

[Cypress]

In all fairness to our Reichwing friends, I *have* seen them advocate for *some* environmental issues, mostly those pertaining to deer and other wild game. That's so that they have something to shoot besides each other, school kids, and ppl at concerts and in night clubs.

I wish we could tag ppl on here because some kneejerkers need to get a knee.... in the groin.... figuratively speaking, of course.

Ha,nice work !

Hunting has its small role to play, but the biological integrity of the planet goes way beyond preseving habit for game animals.

There are actually very few dedicated hunters on this board and cons have never shown a genuine interest in preserving the environment or protecting wildlife if you go by the threads they start .

The way cons were leaping for joy when trump nixed Californias plan to increase fuel efficiency standards is the perfect metaphor for how cons feel about environment and conservation

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

Ha,nice work !

Hunting has its small role to play, but the biological integrity of the planet goes way beyond preseving habit for game animals.

There are actually very few dedicated hunters on this board and cons have never shown a genuine interest in preserving the environment or protecting wildlife if you go by the threads they start .

The way cons were leaping for joy when trump nixed Californias plan to increase fuel efficiency standards is the perfect metaphor for how cons feel about environment and conservation

^ Sadly true. They've been conditioned to think of environmental protection laws as infringement on citizens' property rights (which apparently include the right to dump all kinds of waste on one's property w/o regard to where it might eventually end up), stifling industry and business and is thus anti-capitalist, and some kind of loony lib idea ala the 1960s Flower Children thing. The understanding of our intimate interconnection with all of this planet's life, and its connection to us, is beyond their ken and so is thus dismissed as some kind of lefty libtard Disney nonsense.

Here's some "nonsense" for them:

“The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.” —Native American Proverb

“One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk.” —Crazy Horse

“When the earth is sick, the animals will begin to disappear. When that happens, The Warriors of the Rainbow will come to save them.” —Chief Seattle

“We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can’t speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees.” —Qwatsinas (Hereditary Chief Edward Moody), Nuxalk Nation

“I love the land of winding waters more than all the rest of the world. A man who would not love his father’s grave is worse than a wild animal.” —Chief Joseph

“I was warmed by the sun, rocked by the winds and sheltered by the trees, as other Indian babes. I can go everywhere with a good feeling.” —Geronimo

“The land is sacred. These words are at the core of your being. The land is our mother, the rivers our blood. Take our land away and we die. That is, the Indian in us dies.” —Mary Brave Bird

The Great Spirit is in all things: he is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our father, but the earth is our mother. She nourishes us; that which we put into the ground she returns to us.” —Big Thunder (Bedagi) Wabanaki Algonquin

“Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents—it was loaned to you by your children.” —Indian proverb

“Man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard.” —Luther Standing Bear

 

[Cypress]

^ Sadly true. They've been conditioned to think of environmental protection laws as infringement on citizens' property rights (which apparently include the right to dump all kinds of waste on one's property w/o regard to where it might eventually end up), stifling industry and business and is thus anti-capitalist, and some kind of loony lib idea ala the 1960s Flower Children thing. The understanding of our intimate interconnection with all of this planet's life, and its connection to us, is beyond their ken and so is thus dismissed as some kind of lefty libtard Disney nonsense.

Here's some "nonsense" for them:

“The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.” —Native American Proverb

“One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk.” —Crazy Horse

“When the earth is sick, the animals will begin to disappear. When that happens, The Warriors of the Rainbow will come to save them.” —Chief Seattle

“We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can’t speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees.” —Qwatsinas (Hereditary Chief Edward Moody), Nuxalk Nation

“I love the land of winding waters more than all the rest of the world. A man who would not love his father’s grave is worse than a wild animal.” —Chief Joseph

“I was warmed by the sun, rocked by the winds and sheltered by the trees, as other Indian babes. I can go everywhere with a good feeling.” —Geronimo

“The land is sacred. These words are at the core of your being. The land is our mother, the rivers our blood. Take our land away and we die. That is, the Indian in us dies.” —Mary Brave Bird

The Great Spirit is in all things: he is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our father, but the earth is our mother. She nourishes us; that which we put into the ground she returns to us.” —Big Thunder (Bedagi) Wabanaki Algonquin

“Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents—it was loaned to you by your children.” —Indian proverb

“Man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard.” —Luther Standing Bear

Great stuff