Swans deliver a climate change warning

For decades, the arrival of the first V-shaped flights of Bewick's swans in Britain's wetlands after a 2,000-mile journey from Siberia heralded the arrival of winter.

This year, a dramatic decline in numbers of the distinctive yellow-billed swans skidding into their winter feeding grounds could be the harbinger of a more dramatic shift in weather patterns: global warming. Ornithologists at the main reserves that host the birds, the smallest of Britain's swans, said only a handful had appeared on lakes and water courses. Normally, there would be several hundred. Read Article

Tags: Birds, Climate Change, Global Warming

Climate change draws African birds north

Climate change is sending birds once native to Africa north, to settle in southern Spain, scientists say.
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Sooty Shearwaters may be threatened by climate change

But their remarkable feat may be coming to an end. Recent studies have shown that some sooty shearwater breeding colonies have declined by more than 40 percent, which researchers believe is a result of warming ocean temperatures. As sea temperatures rise, possibly from global warming, the mixing of colder, nutrient-rich water from the ocean depths with warmer surface water declines, limiting the growth of algae and everything that feeds upon it.--- Read More

Tags: Birds, Climate Change, Global Warming

Warm winter meant rare bird sightings

In 2005/06, Canada experienced its warmest winter since modern record-keeping began, with average temperatures 3.9 degrees Celsius above normal. And, more Ontario birdwatchers than ever before were treated to sightings of two southern specialists, the Red-bellied Woodpecker and the Northern Cardinal last winter.

Kerrie Wilcox, national coordinator of Project FeederWatch, a North American-wide survey of birds coming to backyard feeders, noted that the percentage of feeders visited by Red-bellied Woodpeckers in Ontario reached an all-time high last winter, occurring at nearly 15 per cent of feeders. The Red-bellied Woodpecker's range has been creeping northward from its core in the mid- Atlantic and southeastern states over the last decade. This species rarely visited more than five per cent of sites just five years ago.

Northern Cardinals were reported at a whopping 72% of feeders in Ontario this past winter. While many people in southern Ontario are now accustomed to seeing cardinals at their feeders, this southern species was almost unheard of in the province 100 years ago.

Range expansions in southern species such as these could be a signal that changes in climate are making northern regions more hospitable. Likewise, it would be expected that birds located at the southern edge of their range would retract with warmer climatic conditions. One feeder species that may be showing this trend is the Gray Jay.

The percentage of feeders visited by Gray Jays has decreased to 7% since a peak of 14.1% of Ontario feeders in 1999. Climate change may be altering the Gray Jay's habitat in the southern end of its range. While other birds fly south to warm places for the winter, the Gray Jay stays put, surviving on tiny bits of food it has stored in an estimated 100,000 locations, usually under scales of bark on spruce trunks and branches. ...Read More...

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Cassin's Auklet breeding failure linked to Climate Change

The 2005 breeding failure highlights how anomalies in the climate can hit the bottom of the food web and then reverberate all the way up. While the auklets showed the most dramatic and immediate effects, the scientists say the lack of krill likely impacted everything from salmon to whales.

There are fears global warming will eventually wipe out the seabird colonies.

"What we are concerned about is that events like we saw last year are going to become more frequent because of climate change," Hipfner says. "That's what we're really worried about."...Read More

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Bicknell's Thrush Threatened

Among all the potential threats to Bicknell’s habitat, global climate change is the most worrisome, Rimmer said. "If current trends continue, over the next 50 years we’re going to see a dramatic change and loss of the balsam fir forests that these birds require," he said...Read More

Tags: Birds, Climate Change, Global Warming

Changes to bird life in the U.K.

Even more profound are the changes occurring in the nation's wildlife, and in particular, birds. The redwing, a species of thrush that was once a frequent visitor from Scandinavia in winter, is disappearing from our skies. 'It used to fly to Scotland to eat our berries and avoid the freezing conditions of its Scandinavian homeland, but now winters have become so mild over there, it is staying put,' said Paul Stancliffe of the British Trust for Ornithology.

Then there is Cetti's Warbler, a small, brownish bird with a notable, loud song, and a penchant for warm weather. It first arrived in Britain in 1961 and made a home for itself in Hampshire, one of the warmest corners of the British Isles. Then global warming began to take its steamy grip of the United Kingdom. Today temperatures have soared so high across Britain that the Cetti reached the Scottish border last year and now breeds regularly as far north as Yorkshire.

Similarly, the blackcap, a distinctive grey species of warbler found in many parts of Europe, used to make a point of migrating to the Mediterranean and north Africa during winter. Now conditions have become so warm that warblers in Germany have found it just as pleasant to migrate to the UK instead, thus saving it a lengthy continental journey. For the blackcap, Britain is the new Adriatic.

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Global warming may submerge Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

For the first time, a team studied the threats of rising sea levels to the Northwestern Hawaiian Island chain. Jason Baker of the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center — part of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — led the team. Their study suggests that monk seals, sea turtles and millions of sea birds could go extinct before the end of this century due to global warming. Read More...

Tags: Birds, Climate Change, Global Warming

Russia: Siberia's Once Frozen Tundra Is Melting

The effects on wildlife are profound. Birds in the south have to find new areas to raise their young, while small mammals, such as badgers, are now being seen in parts of the north for the first time. Read More...

This only touches very briefly on the effects on birds in particular, however the effects are likely to be extensive.

Tags: Birds, Climate Change, Global Warming

More on the Barn Owl situation in the U.K.

David Ramsden, head of conservation at the Barn Owl Trust, said: “This is the worst year I have known and I have been doing this for virtually 20 years.

"The problem with global warming is we get record-breaking weather every year and any extreme weather conditions are really bad for barn owls."...read more

Tags: Birds, Climate Change, Global Warming

USA. Duck populations on Devils Lake waterfowl areas threatened by global warming

The lush lakes, ponds and wetlands that comprise the Devils Lake Wetland Management District are likely to dry up in the future, threatening duck populations, as a result of drought caused by global warming... read more

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Climate Change Gives Sex Selection a Boost

When it comes to climate change, what's love got to do with it? A lot, according to a study of shifts in bird migrations in response to global warming. Competition for females may be helping some species adapt to climate change more quickly... read article

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Once virtually extinct heron returns to breed in London

Their move north to London from nesting sites on the south coast could be a sign of climate change, experts believe...

Many people had been astonished that the bird, more commonly seen in the Mediterranean, was now breeding in this country.

Warmer winters "will certainly have benefited" its spread, he said.

Thames Water's biodiversity manager Andy Tomczynski said: "We are delighted that these rare and beautiful birds have chosen to breed in the capital and we hope they can go on and establish a permanent colony at our Walthamstow reservoirs.

"Little Egrets do not cope well with harsh winters and only started breeding in the UK a decade ago, colonising parts of the south coast. Their nesting further to the north could be another sign of climate change."

Tags: Birds, Climate Change, Global Warming