Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Even the Birds Know the Earth's Climate is Warming

Here's something interesting, especially for people who don't believe in "Global Warming" - even the birds are migrating further north due to warmer temperatures.
8/12/08- A study by researchers at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) has documented, for the first time in the northeastern United States, that a variety of bird species are extending their breeding ranges to the north, a pattern that adds to concerns about climate change.
Focusing on 83 species of birds that have traditionally bred in New York state, the researchers compared data collected in the early 1980s with information gathered between 2000 and 2005. They discovered that many species had extended their range boundaries, some by as much as 40 miles.
"They are indeed moving northward in their range boundaries," said researcher Benjamin Zuckerberg, whose Ph.D. dissertation included the study. "But the real signal came out with some of the northerly species that are more common in Canada and the northern part of the U.S. Their southern range boundaries are actually moving northward as well, at a much faster clip."
Among the species moving north are the Nashville warbler, a little bird with a yellow belly and a loudly musical two-part song, and the pine siskin, a common finch that resembles a sparrow. Both birds have traditionally been seen in Northern New York but are showing significant retractions in their southern range boundaries, Zuckerberg said.
Birds moving north from more southern areas include the red-bellied woodpecker, considered the most common woodpecker in the Southeastern United States, and the Carolina wren, whose "teakettle, teakettle, teakettle" song is surprisingly loud for a bird that weighs less than an ounce.

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