NA Has Lost 2.9 Billion Birds since 1970

On CBS This Morning today they ran a piece that really brings home the plight of birds in today's environment. Here's a link to the video:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-america-has-lost-nearly-3-billion-birds-since-1970-study-released-today-2019-09-19/ 

Over the last 50 years, the U.S. and Canada have slowly but surely lost 29% of its bird populations — amounting to nearly 3 billion birds. The shocking loss could be a sign of an ecological crisis, scientists said Thursday.

According to a new study published in the journal Science by top ornithologists and government agencies, even common birds such as sparrows and blackbirds have faced declines in North America since 1970.

"It's staggering," said lead author Ken Rosenberg, a conservation scientist at the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology.

A related story:

Decline of Birds

Joe

The United States Economy based on Consumerism, 70% of the economy is based on consumption, is at War with the Earth...
Americans are living separate from the Earth...Living in the Real Matrix..
If Present trends continue, There will be NO Birds in our lifetime...
No Lions, No Tigers, No Elephants, No Primates and the like..90% of the big fish are gone..
100 MP and Nothing to Photograph..

70% of America is Obese or Overweight, This Country's lifestyle Drains and Destroys the Earth.....

signgrap wrote:On CBS This Morning today they ran a piece that really brings home the plight of birds in today's environment. Here's a link to the video:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-america-has-lost-nearly-3-billion-birds-since-1970-study-released-today-2019-09-19/ 

Over the last 50 years, the U.S. and Canada have slowly but surely lost 29% of its bird populations — amounting to nearly 3 billion birds. The shocking loss could be a sign of an ecological crisis, scientists said Thursday.

According to a new study published in the journal Science by top ornithologists and government agencies, even common birds such as sparrows and blackbirds have faced declines in North America since 1970.

"It's staggering," said lead author Ken Rosenberg, a conservation scientist at the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology.

   Those interested in the actual paper published in Science with all the data:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/ ... ce.aaw1313

ricardo00 wrote:

signgrap wrote:On CBS This Morning today they ran a piece that really brings home the plight of birds in today's environment. Here's a link to the video:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-america-has-lost-nearly-3-billion-birds-since-1970-study-released-today-2019-09-19/ 

Over the last 50 years, the U.S. and Canada have slowly but surely lost 29% of its bird populations — amounting to nearly 3 billion birds. The shocking loss could be a sign of an ecological crisis, scientists said Thursday.

According to a new study published in the journal Science by top ornithologists and government agencies, even common birds such as sparrows and blackbirds have faced declines in North America since 1970.

"It's staggering," said lead author Ken Rosenberg, a conservation scientist at the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology.

   Those interested in the actual paper published in Science with all the data:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/ ... ce.aaw1313

They forgot to mention all of the birds that are being killed by the ever increasing number of wind turbines. Maybe they didn't forget, just preferred to leave that out.

Robert Sabin wrote:The United States Economy based on Consumerism, 70% of the economy is based on consumption, is at War with the Earth...
Americans are living separate from the Earth...Living in the Real Matrix..
If Present trends continue, There will be NO Birds in our lifetime...
No Lions, No Tigers, No Elephants, No Primates and the like..90% of the big fish are gone..
100 MP and Nothing to Photograph..

70% of America is Obese or Overweight, This Country's lifestyle Drains and Destroys the Earth.....

Yes, it is outrageous - and extremely sad. Not just the birds, not just Americans. This is a worldwide phenomenon that most people do not see as a problem. Disregard for wildlife and wild habitats has roots in many human behaviors including religious beliefs, capitalism, greed, ignorance, apathy, selfishness, the list goes on. 

To solve this crisis, the human race would have to come together in a unified effort to save and protect what we have left. This is no easy task considering all of the special interests and different cultures that are impacting the natural world. It's almost like we need a global body (like CITES) to oversee human behaviors as those behaviors effect the natural world. I have seen some reports calling for large land set-asides for nature - bigger than anything out there now. Great!! How would that work? What habitats would be protected? Who would decide?
Do we need a Crimes Against Nature law entity? I think the time has come for that on an international scale. INTERPOL???

Not to be pessimistic but I don't see that happening in today's anti-globalist political world. 
What is needed is for conservation to be risen to a level that has the highest importance - for the benefit of all.
Political evolution needs to move in the exact opposite direction that most nations seem to be going in. 

Paul

After numerous complaints about the total inappropriateness of a post in this thread, I have hidden that post and the direct responses to it.

In order to use this forum, everyone agrees to a standard of civility and keeping excessive and targeted political views out of the conversation.  The loss of birds at the rate that we are seeing is not politics and as such we should try to stick with the science and not veer off into politics writ large.

Above all we must maintain civility and respectfulness.

I read several reports about loss of insect populations on the planet. Puerto Rico has lost  a huge percentage of its insects, attributed to climate change. Here is a summary.

https://phys.org/news/2018-10-degrees-d ... nsect.html

Quite possible that the decline in birds is a direct consequence although other factors obviously are also at play. Overall the planet's health is not good and we humans have quite a bit of blame to take for it. I am as guilty as anyone else, sadly.

Pradeep

One big issue that has seems to be getting worse for birds is the widespread use of pesticides. Not only affecting the health of the birds themselves but also reducing their food source. We've all heard about habitat loss, feral cats, and collisions with towers and windows being major problems for birds. When all is added up, its easy to see why bird populations have been declining for many, many years.

Paul