The Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Sep. 14,
2016 11:51AM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, Sep. 14,
2016 9:50PM EDT
North America has more than a
billion fewer birds than it did 40 years ago, with the snowy owl and the
chimney swift just two of the better-known species in dramatic decline across
the continent, a recent survey has found.
The Partners In Flight report
concludes that urbanization, growth in agriculture and possibly even climate
change have driven the decline in North American landbird populations, a
category that excludes ducks and other waterfowl.
The total number of continental
landbirds stands at about 10 billion, down from about 11.5 billion in 1970. The
study’s authors – a range of academic, activist and government bodies in Canada
and the United States – list 86 of North America’s roughly 450 breeding species
as vulnerable, with some populations expected to be halved in a matter of
decades.
“I don’t want my grandchild to go
out in the forest and not hear the songbirds in the spring, and that seems to
be where we’re headed right now,” said Andrew Couturier, senior analyst at Bird
Studies Canada and a co-author of the report, which was released in August.
As “North America’s bird
nursery,” Canada has an added responsibility to conserve habitat, Mr. Couturier
said. A majority of the continent’s birds are hatched here, before migrating
south.
Keeping forests musical is not
the only reason healthy bird populations are important, he notes. The creatures
also provide “ecosystem services” such as pollination and insect control.
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