Climate Change Adds to Bird Stress

The New York Times, by JOHN M. BRODER, March 12, 2010

Changes in the global climate are imposing additional stress on hundreds of species of migratory birds in the United States that are already threatened by other environmental factors, according to a new Interior Department report. The department’s annual State of the Birds report shows that nearly a third of the nation’s 800 bird species are endangered, threatened or suffering from population decline.

For the first time, the report adds climate change to other factors threatening bird populations, including destruction of habitat, hunting, pesticides, invasive species and loss of wetlands. The report said oceanic and shore birds were among the most vulnerable to climate change because of rapidly changing marine ecosystems and rising sea levels.

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Scarlet tanagers are more than 2% smaller today than in the 1960s. (BBC)