As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Friday 29 March 2019

Climate change is hurting migrating waterbirds across the West. It could get worse


MARCH 18, 2019 10:54 AM,
UPDATED MARCH 18, 2019 03:19 PM
A rainbow greets geese on the Pacific Flyway in the Sacramento Valley
A beautiful morning in a Sacramento rice field is complete with a rainbow and an active grind of geese. The big Pacific Flyway migration is underway in the Sacramento Valley, with millions of birds expected in the coming months. 
By Jim Morris
A beautiful morning in a Sacramento rice field is complete with a rainbow and an active grind of geese. The big Pacific Flyway migration is underway in the Sacramento Valley, with millions of birds expected in the coming months. 
By Jim Morris
Every year, millions of waterbirds migrating from Alaska to Patagonia take a break from that epic journey to rest, eat and breed in a stretch of wetlands spanning six Western states called the Great Basin.
A warming climate has made that migration more challenging by altering how mountain snowmelt flows into the network of lakes and rivers stretching from the Sierra Nevada to the Rockies, according to a new study based on 25 years of climate, weather and avian population data.
Researchers found that “climate warming has significantly reduced the amount and shifted seasonality of water flowing into wetlands” throughout the region, altering habitat for migratory birds, according to the study in Scientific Reports.
It suggests the trend will continue with warming weather causing snow to melt earlier and shifting peak flows. That could benefit some birds, but threaten others.



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