A picture of a migratory Cape May Warbler, taken by me at Magee Marsh, Ohio, in May 2016.
The issue I’ve decided to look into is the global decline in migratory birds. Migratory birds provide a large number of ecosystem services, such as transport of nutrients and biomass, and control of pests. These services are important to humans, in ways we see, and indirectly in ways that we probably wouldn’t notice until it was too late.
Just one example of a not-so-obvious benefit of migratory birds to humans involves the spruce budworm. Spruce budworm is a pest that can destroy vast areas of spruce when an outbreak occurs. It is also the main food source of the Cape May, Bay-breasted, and Tennessee Warblers—all Neotropical migrants that fly between North and South America. If the numbers of these three predators were to drop too low, spruce budworm outbreaks could devastate swaths of northern forest. In addition to the direct effects of this on the ecosystem, the boreal forest is also responsible for approximately 1/3 of the oxygen in our atmosphere, and is a major regulator our climate. Declines in just these three species of bird could lead to dead forests, and eventually more extreme climate change with all of its own consequences.
There are a lot of situations similar to this, especially when you consider that thousands of species of birds around the world migrate and that example involved three of them. Unfortunately, most migratory birds are in decline due to the complicated nature of protecting them across numerous international borders. A recent study found that 91% of all migratory bird species do not have adequate protections. No country is innocent, and the United States is part of the problem.
If you walk around on an early fall or spring morning on campus, you’ll notice dead birds. Walk along next to the RPAC, or near the large windows on North Campus. You’ll see American Redstarts, White-throated Sparrows, and Wilson’s Warblers motionless on the ground. A journey of 1000 miles cut short in a single moment as the bird hits the window. Somewhere between 365 million and one billion birds die in window strike collisions annually in just the United States alone. Migratory birds are a large portion of this number. But this is preventable.
Lights Out programs work in cities around the country to turn off skyscraper and large building lights in urban centers when migration is in swing to reduce bird deaths. Starting this spring semester, the OSU Ornithology Club will be partnering with Lights Out to start collecting data on bird deaths on campus, and eventually lobby the University to become more bird friendly. I’m meeting with the coordinator of it all on Monday, and am looking forward to getting to work on doing my small part to keep migratory bird populations at a sustainable level.
Sources:
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-migratory-birds-unprotected-20151203-story.html
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/350/6265/1255.full
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce_budworm
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/stop-blaming-cats-as-many-as-988-million-birds-die-annually-in-window-collisions/2014/02/03/9837fe80-8866-11e3-916e-e01534b1e132_story.html?utm_term=.e00df72e0ce9
http://www.audubon.org/conservation/project/lights-out