The canary in the coal mine for how climate change is affecting the treasure trove of biodiversity in the Amazon is … also a bird. Dozens of them, in fact, according to a new study that shows the changing climate is actually shrinking their bodies and elongating their wings. “Our findings show that man-made climate […]
Tag: migratory birds
POLL: Should the EU enforce the ban on the trapping of songbirds?
After two hours of scouring the mountains of Brescia, Stefania Travaglia finally finds what she is looking for. Among the remote farmhouses of an alpine hamlet, a spring-net trap is partially hidden behind a grassy embankment and a few trees. Tangled in the wire mesh, an exhausted fieldfare thrush sits silent and unmoving. Travaglia sets […]
Biologists Find Evidence of Migration Gene in Birds
Millions of migratory birds occupy seasonally favorable breeding grounds in the Arctic, but scientists know little about the formation, maintenance and future of the migration routes of Arctic birds and the genetic determinants of migratory distance. In new research, a multinational team of researchers established a continental-scale migration system that used satellite tracking to follow […]
Response to the bird flu outbreak in Senegal and Mauritania
Nearly 2,500 pelicans died in late January in two National Parks on the border of Senegal and Mauritania as a result of an outbreak of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). In late January 2021, 750 Great white pelicans were found dead in the Djoudj bird sanctuary, a remote pocket of wetlands and a UNESCO […]
More than 700 pelicans found dead in Senegal world heritage site
Seven hundred and fifty pelicans have been found dead in a Unesco world heritage site in northern Senegal that provides refuge for millions of migratory birds, the country’s parks director has said. Rangers found the pelicans on Saturday in the Djoudj bird sanctuary, a remote pocket of wetland near the border with Mauritania and a […]
Tackling illegal killing, taking and trade of birds in Sub-Saharan Africa
As part of our effort to curb the devastating damage wreaked by the bird trade, BirdLife has embarked on a study to compile all existing information about bird killing, trapping and trade in Sub-Saharan Africa. We’re inviting you to get in touch with any information that can help us fill in the gaps. A bustling […]
Mass die-off of birds in south-western US ’caused by starvation’
The mass die-off of thousands of songbirds in south-western US was caused by long-term starvation, made worse by unseasonably cold weather probably linked to the climate crisis, scientists have said. Flycatchers, swallows and warblers were among the migratory birds “falling out of the sky” in September, with carcasses found in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arizona […]
How Migrating Birds Could Warn Us of the Next Pandemic
“Fire!” A baritone retort accompanies a spray of tawny sand as a large cannon net stretches wide. Small shorebirds with white bellies and mottled orange and black feathers try to flee, but the net is faster: It settles and traps a flock of Ruddy Turnstones underneath. A ragtag crew leaps up and dashes to the indignant […]