Aleutian Cackling Goose (Photo courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service)
Some migratory birds are heading North earlier
because of climate change. That’s causing problems for
some bird species. Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Some migratory birds are heading North earlier
because of climate change. That’s causing problems for
some bird species. Lester Graham reports:
On their way north, the migratory birds check things out at each stop along the way. If
the leaves are budding and the days are warm, they keep going north. But because of
climate change they’re getting to their breeding grounds a lot earlier.
Johannes Foufoloupolus is a researcher with the University of Michigan. He says, for
example, in the Rocky Mountain region, robins are arriving early. And when they go to
their highland breeding grounds, there’s still snow on the ground.
“A robin eats worms and it can’t really tunnel through six feet of snow to get to the
worms. So, that might be a problem.”
Other birds arrive early to find one of their main sources of food, insects, are not
emerging yet. What makes it worse, in some species the females like to hook-up with
males who get to the breeding grounds early. But with not as much food and cold
snaps, it means some baby birds are not surviving as well.
For The Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.