Weather Whiplash: How Climate Change Killed Thousands of Migratory Birds

[UngulateNerd92]

Can we help species adapt to the evolving threat of compound climate extremes?

When dead birds fall from the sky, you know something is wrong. But finding out exactly what killed them isn’t as easy.

Scientists had plenty of theories when migratory sparrows, flycatchers, blackbirds, swallows, warblers and other birds in the southwestern United States turned up dead or dying in August and September of 2020. Some suggested it could have been smoke from wildfires. Others said it could have been a cold snap. Some experts thought it was lack of food, as evidenced by the birds’ emaciated, dehydrated bodies.

Weather Whiplash: How Climate Change Killed Thousands of Migratory Birds • The Revelator

 

[SerriGaming]

Birds falling from the sky is one of those tropes in disaster movies to point out that something is wrong. Often in those movies, there's people who ignore these early signs. In recent years we've seen so many early warning signs. Climate change is affecting literally everything around us and is causing more extreme weather events. I fear that a lot of vulnerable species will be unable to adapt and the list of human-caused extinction will unfortunately only grow. The best way to help migratory birds is to limit the effects of climate change while we still can.