Community Corner
Wildfires, Toxic Gases Blamed For 2020 Migratory Bird Deaths
SANTA FE, N.M. -- Migratory birds are returning to New Mexico after a 2020 migration that resulted in a mass die-off, but wildfires due ...
May 3, 2021
SANTA FE, N.M. -- Migratory birds are returning to New Mexico after a 2020 migration that resulted in a mass die-off, but wildfires due to climate change remain a serious threat to their survival.
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In August and September of last year, abnormally large numbers of birds turned up dead in people's backyards in New Mexico, Colorado and other western states. Concerned residents documented the event on a crowdsourced science platform called inaturalist.org.
Anni Yang, postdoctoral fellow in spatial ecology at Colorado State University, wanted to know if wildfires across the West had an impact.
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"The wildfire and also the toxic gas and the smoke are major factors that will influence the spatial distribution of the birds' die-off events," Yang explained.
Yang noted while birds have adapted to wildfires, climate change has caused fires to burn hotter and larger than in previous centuries, making birds' respiratory systems more vulnerable.
According to the data, more birds died in urban areas, but Yang pointed out because the pandemic forced people to stay closer to home, they might have paid more attention to dead birds than people who live in rural areas.
She added the study looked at deaths of multiple migratory species, including warblers, geese, hummingbirds, swallows, flycatchers, and sparrows.
"If we have that every year, it will significantly impact the population structure and impact the population density of those migratory birds," Yang remarked.
Yang shared researchers also studied whether early winter storms in the West in 2020 played a role in the mass die-off about the same time. They found no strong correlation compared to wildfires and the toxic gases they produced.
inaturalist.org American Geophysical Union - Unprecedented Migratory Bird Die-Off March 8, 2021 Fish and Wildlife Service - World Migratory Bird Day
This story was originally published by Public News Service. For more information, visit publicnewsservice.org.