Observations Of Nature Through The Seasons.

[knocker]

Mr Tubby

[knocker]

Climate Change Will Disrupt Half of North America’s Bird Species, Study Says

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The Baltimore oriole will probably no longer live in Maryland, the common loon might leave Minnesota, and the trumpeter swan could be entirely gone.

Those are some of the grim prospects outlined in a report released on Monday by the National Audubon Society, which found that climate change is likely to so alter the bird population of North America that about half of the approximately 650 species will be driven to smaller spaces or forced to find new places to live, feed and breed over the next 65 years. If they do not — and for several dozen it will be very difficult — they could become extinct.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/09/us/climate-change-will-disrupt-half-of-north-americas-bird-species-study-says.html?smid=pl-share

[4wd]

Another one for your multiple climate doom threads.

[ciel]

1 hour ago, 4wd said:

Another one for your multiple climate doom threads.

 There does seem to be accruing evidence regarding  the impact of climate change on bird populations and distribution.

https://www.bto.org/science/climate-change

[knocker]

We’ve driven seabirds to cliff-edge of extinction

Ben Macintyre

Every climate change denier should visit St Kilda to see how warming oceans are wreaking havoc on kittiwakes

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Today another seabird in St Kilda is on the brink of extinction: manmade, avoidable and again propelled by ignorance. The annual report from the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) this week reported a sharp decline in St Kilda’s seabird populations, most notably the kittiwake, a noisy, yellow-beaked gull with black wingtips that once thrived in vast colonies on the island’s cliffs.

Across seven monitoring sites, ornithologists found only one kittiwake nest this year, in which a single chick hatched, which later died. Thirty years ago, there were 8,000 kittiwakes on St Kilda.

Global warming has shifted plankton communities further north in that time, undermining a vital element in the marine ecosystem and drastically reducing vital sustenance for seabirds.

Man is killing the kittiwake just as effectively as by hitting it with a large stick.

David Attenborough has described the bird cliffs of the Hebrides as being “as impressive as any wildlife spectacle in the world”. After travelling to St Kilda a decade ago and, like every visitor, gazing over the cliff edge in dizzy awe at the wheeling, whirling birdlife below, I would find it hard to disagree. More than 600,000 nesting birds of 17 species make the St Kilda archipelago a seabird sanctuary without parallel in the northeast Atlantic, and one of only a handful of places awarded dual Unesco world heritage status for natural as well as cultural significance.

But now, after a century of increase, many of the seabird populations are dwindling rapidly. In addition to the vanishing kittiwake, St Kilda’s fulmars, guillemots, razorbills and puffins are all in steep decline.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/weve-driven-seabird-to-cliff-edge-of-extinction-bkqx96gdw

[4wd]

Rubbish, another thread for climate activist propaganda playground then.

[knocker]

59 minutes ago, 4wd said:

Rubbish, another thread for climate activist propaganda playground then.

[4wd]

2 hours ago, knocker said:

http://www.nts.org.uk/Seabirds/Property/St-kilda-world-heritage-site/Population-trends/

Not exactly convincing is it.
Times article is behind paywall anyway but no doubt it's a typical warming biassed piece with agenda so strong that no other possibilities for ONE SPECIES declining since 1969 can be considered.

[ciel]

1 hour ago, 4wd said:

http://www.nts.org.uk/Seabirds/Property/St-kilda-world-heritage-site/Population-trends/

Not exactly convincing is it.
Times article is behind paywall anyway but no doubt it's a typical warming biassed piece with agenda so strong that no other possibilities for ONE SPECIES declining since 1969 can be considered.

Your link appears to be somewhat out of date - at least pre 2014.

St Kilda's seabirds in decline

Seabird    Decline 1999-2015
kittiwakes    89%
razorbills    68%
fulmars    56%
guillemots    53%
source: National Trust for Scotland
Latest counts in the last few months on one of the St Kilda islands, Boreray, and two adjoining sea stacs, have confirmed the dramatic downward trends. Populations of kittiwakes, fulmars, razorbills and guillemots have all plummeted by 60 per cent or more since 2000.

https://theferret.scot/st-kilda-seabird-populations-crashing-climate-pollution/

 

 

[4wd]

This doesn't show anything alarming either and is from last year.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nts.org.uk%2FDownloads%2Fseabirds%2Fproperty%2FSeabird_Reports%2FSMR-AnnualReport-2015FINAL.pdf

Some species increased presumably making it harder for others to catch fish or find nest sites.
Kittiwakes which the activists are suddenly obsessed with increased until about 1969.

Theres some evidence that recent sudden drop is related to one storm event during breeding season which destroyed many nests,

[knocker]

Arh..................I see what you mean

[knocker]

A window on a winter morning

[knocker]

Like my new hair do?

 

[Snipper]

On 10/12/2016 at 12:19, knocker said:

We’ve driven seabirds to cliff-edge of extinction

Ben Macintyre

Every climate change denier should visit St Kilda to see how warming oceans are wreaking havoc on kittiwakes

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/weve-driven-seabird-to-cliff-edge-of-extinction-bkqx96gdw

Any time we get rid of herring gulls the sooner the better. Nest everywhere and crap on anything. Can you eradicate these thieving so and so's? No. 

Edited December 16, 2016 by Snipper

[ciel]

Watched mist forming on late afternoon, winter walk with dog.

[knocker]

Meditating

[knocker]

Who goes there?

[knocker]

I find there is nothing more annoying than getting a photo slightly out of focus. It happened to me yesterday (not for the first time I hasten to add). The Kingfisher was briefly around again and I just had time to take a couple of quick snaps...........well you know the rest

[ciel]

5 hours ago, knocker said:

Who goes there?

knocker, nice photo of a winter thrush.

[knocker]

5 minutes ago, ciel said:

knocker, nice photo of a winter thrush.

Ah thanks for that ciel as I was getting to asking for an opinion on that, I had got as far as a Thrush.

[knocker]

 

[Methuselah]

Just been watching this year's RI Christmas Lectures...Oh dear - teaching the next generation about ENERGY CONSERVATION? What on Earth will the post-truthers think about that!

[ciel]

Just an interesting article on how climate change may effect bird migration Some species may be capable of adaptation, and migrate earlier while other long distant migrants may be disadvantaged. All down to the available food supply in the breeding territory.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/28/climate-change-driving-birds-migrate-early-research-reveals-edinburgh-global-warming

[ciel]

A nice first foot this morning.  Probably one from a winter roost a couple of miles from home.  I counted 13 birds at the roost earlier in December. Most of these individuals are the result of the successful Aberdeenshire Red Kite re-introduction project.

 

[knocker]

Ill winds blow exotic birds to Britain

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Freak weather is blowing exotic birds off course from as far afield as Siberia and the Caribbean and diverting them in recorded numbers to British shores.

According to Birdguides, a website that monitors rare birds, tropical hurricanes may have carried a red-footed booby, a type of gannet, from the Caribbean to the beach where it was found exhausted in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex in September. He was named Norman and last month British Airways flew him to the Cayman islands.

A dalmatian pelican and a bearded vulture arrived on southeasterly winds in May. The pelican, a species normally found in the eastern Mediterranean, was spotted near Land’s End.

The vulture, which lives and breeds on crags in high mountains in southern Europe, was spotted circling over the Severn estuary and Devon moors.

Grahame Madge, a Met Office spokesman and birdwatcher, said: “Both of these birds are reluctant long-distance fliers, so a tail wind could easily have aided their journey to the UK.”

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ill-winds-blow-exotic-birds-to-britain-2thrfd89q

It's been a surprisingly busy week, with the volume of news at a very healthy level for mid-December. For example, a total in excess of 320 reports on Monday was particularly impressive for a weekday at this time of year. This has certainly been helped by the large numbers of Waxwings that continue to frequent much of Scotland and northern parts of England — over 250 reports of the species this week suggested either a pulse of movement or renewed interest in the species among birders as things quietened off elsewhere.

Rare birds continue to be found, the arguable highlight being a Blyth's Pipit at Blagdon Lake, Somerset. First reported on Monday, it had been present since the previous Wednesday though remained unidentified for six days. This is, unsurprisingly, a first for Somerset and will no doubt be popular over Christmas, should it decide to stay.

http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=6099