Migrating birds face many perils as they travel between breeding and wintering grounds each year.
Migration is a dangerous part of a bird's life cycle, with many trade-offs; birds receive benefits from wintering and breeding in better quality habitats, at the price of higher predation risks and greater energy expenditure.
Hazards during migration include collisions with manmade objects such as glass windows and railings on buildings, power lines and communication towers, predation by pet and feral domestic cats, collisions with vehicles, and lack of stopover habitat where birds can refuel. Contrary to popular belief, collisions with wind turbines represent a relatively small proportion of bird mortality compared to other primary sources of collisions. The risk of starvation is increased when stopover sites are lost through climate change or loss of habitat to development or agriculture. Mortality on both breeding and wintering grounds may be increased for similar reasons.
Migrants tend to travel away from polar and temperate zones in the winter because of low temperatures and shortage of food in their breeding areas. [1] [2] During spring migration, birds return to their breeding sites to exploit the temporary superabundance of food, allowing them to raise more young. [3]
Many populations of migratory birds are in serious decline. Anthropogenic reasons for this include deforestation and habitat loss, hunting, pesticide uses, urbanization, and climate change. [4] Identifying and understanding the processes and perils can allow us to implement effective management and conservation strategies for these species. [5]
In-flight mortality: poor weather conditions can significantly decrease bird populations, especially during migration. Most of weather-related in-flight mortalities are due to heavy storms, mist or rain. Passerines and other small sized birds are particularly affected by adverse in-flight weather conditions, but larger birds such as eagles and swans could also be killed. [1]
Mortality on breeding grounds: small, insect eating birds contribute to the majority of post-arrival deaths, but many other birds including waders and waterfowls are also distressed by weather changes on breeding grounds. Since young birds are inexperienced, they are more vulnerable than adults to extreme weather conditions. [1]
Mortality on wintering grounds: Unreasonably cold temperatures on the wintering grounds kills thousands of birds, resulting in 30-90% population declines of migratory birds. For example, between 27000 and 62000 ducks, mostly tufted duck and common pochard, starved to death during a very cold winter in March 1986. [1]
The passing of Migratory Bird Treaty (US, 1916) and Migratory Birds Convention Act (Canada, 1917) made it illegal to kill or capture migratory birds. Even though migratory bird acts were passed in the early 20th century, many countries still have no laws or programs to protect migratory birds. International bird trade is a multibillion-dollar industry and hundreds of exotic birds are captured and then sold all over the world.
Malta, an archipelago of small islands along the Mediterranean, is a very important migration flyway for birds. [6] Throughout the years, hunters killed hundreds of millions of birds each year as they migrate over the island of Malta. To protect resident and migratory birds, BirdLife international had been organizing special raptors camps since the late 1990s. Even though hunting is a part of Maltese people's culture, the interference from birdwatchers all over the world has led to decreased killings of birds. [6]
While hunting kills millions of terrestrial birds, the bycatch from commercial fisheries is responsible for the majority of human caused mortality of migratory birds. Scientists have estimated that between 2679 and 45586 birds are killed each year as fisheries by-catch. Dredging, gillnetting bottom otter trawling and longline's are some of the main methods fisheries use to catch fish. Gillnets are responsible for the majority of seabird bycatch, followed by longline and bottom trawling. To catch tuna and other fish, long-line fishing boats drag many kilometers of hooked lines behind them. Seabirds try to catch the fish and accidentally get trapped in hooks. [7]
Major foraging areas for vulnerable seabirds (albatrosses and shearwaters) tend to overlap with world's richest fishing grounds, thus increasing the proportions of accidental bycatch of birds. Fisheries could also indirectly affect the trophic structure and foraging methods of seabirds. Since most sea birds are long-lived and have low reproduction rates, even a small increase in bird mortality could cause significant population declines. [7]
Birds use stopover sites to feed, rest and refuel during their migration period. [8] Many of the stopover sites may be already compromised or are threatened owing to increased urbanization, agriculture, oil gas or mineral exploitation, fisheries, tourism and many other anthropogenic activities. [8] In one study the researchers found that birds with high phenotypic plasticity can adapt their behavior and skip low-quality stopover sites. Migratory birds such as swans, geese and waders show high site fidelity (they are loyal to their stopover and cannot change them), while long distance passerines have much lower site fidelity. Passerines have low site fidelity because they can be flexible in their habitat selection. Since they do not migrate in flocks, migratory passerines do not have a fixed migration route or stop-over site sequence and they can change their stopover sites based on wind selectivity or habitat quality. Even though many birds can change their stopover sites, birds such as swans and waders depend on wetland stopover sites to 'refuel' on migration. The destruction of these sites could therefore be detrimental to bird populations. [8]
Increased predation at stopover sites could lead to drastic declines in migratory bird populations. [9] The study done by Lank and Ydenberg (2003) examined the effects of predators on migratory birds at stopover sites. The researchers found that predation risk is higher for heavier birds (due to decreased take-off ability) and leaner birds (increased exposure due to higher feeding needs). Many birds also developed anti-predator behaviors to lower the probability of mortality. Since anti-predator behaviors are energetically costly, the migrants with lower energy reserves allocated less time to anti-predator behaviors. [9]
A considerable threat to migratory birds is the threat of collision posed by man-made structures along migration routes. Such structures may include buildings, oil platforms, and wind turbines.
Over 40 million seabirds are negatively affected by oil platforms. [10] Seabirds tend to aggregate around oil rigs, attracted by artificial lighting, flares, food and other visual cues. Seabirds often collide directly with oil platforms or circle around oil rigs and flares for days, eventually dying of starvation. Birds such as storm petrels, dovekies and shearwaters migrate across the Grand Banks and hydrocarbon development near the oil platforms significantly decreases the populations of these birds. [10]
Artificial light sources can attract millions of birds to lighthouses, broadcast towers and other buildings, resulting in direct mortality of birds at night. [11] There are less artificial lights during the day, but millions of birds still die due to direct collisions with various human made structures. [12] Birds often fatally strike the glass because they cannot differentiate between real sky and reflection of a sky in a window. Any object that increases bird density near windows can potentially lead to higher death rates. Reflective windows are particularly dangerous as birds are often attracted to them. Placing bird attractants such as bird houses, water and nutritious vegetation near windows also increases the number of birds killed. [12] Birds may also be impacted by bright lights at nights as they have extra-retinal photoreceptors that are disoriented by the reflection of light from these buildings. [13] Mitigating the amount of light emitted from glass surfaces at night, such as windows, can reduce the amount of fatal bird collisions with buildings and structures. [14] To decrease the impact of artificial lighting, many cities had implemented lights out program, in which people turn off or dim the lights in tall buildings during migration season.
Lights on tall structures can disorient migrating birds leading to fatalities. An estimated 365-988 million fatal bird collisions with buildings occur annually in North America, making human-made structures a large contributor to the decline in bird species. [15] To reduce bird strikes, it is suggested to remove all bird attractants near the windows or to partially cover the windows. [12] For new buildings, scientists have recommended installing windows in a way that panes reflect the ground instead of the sky. [12]
Wind turbines kill thousands of birds through collisions, disruption of migratory routes and destruction of habitat. Birds such as raptors (eagles, vultures), waterbirds and passerines are particularly affected. The reasons these birds are affected is because many of them have blind spots and they often cannot see objects (wind farms) directly in front of them. In Altamont Pass Wind Farm, 4000 wind turbines kill 75 golden eagles and over 1,200 other predatory birds each year. These predatory birds are rare and long lived; they also have low reproductive rates and if their populations decline substantially, they may never recover. However, if wind turbines are constructed in regions that do not overlap with migratory pathways of birds, the bird casualties could be significantly reduced. [16] Wind farm development may also take advantage of movement corridors frequented by soaring birds. This disruption can prompt birds to completely shift their flight routes, resulting in behavioral changes and habitat loss as they abandon previously useable airspace in an effort to avoid wind turbines. [17]
Bird strikes pose a threat to both human and avian life. [18] Reported bird strikes have essentially doubled within the past couple of decades worldwide, going from an annual average of 6,702 strikes during the period 2001-2007 to an annual average of approximately 12,219 during the period 2008-2015. [19] In addition to the risk posed by direct collisions, general airport operations and their employed wildlife hazard management techniques can result in habitat fragmentation, population decline of local bird species, and, in some cases, species extinction. [19]
Bird-aircraft collisions are almost always fatal for the bird. Depending on the size of the bird and severity of the impact, they can also often incur a cost in equipment damages and/or threaten human life as a result. Military aviation practices pose the largest threat to bird life because of the high speeds and low altitudes at which they operate, though commercial flights are vulnerable to bird strikes as well. Commercial aircraft strikes occur primarily during take-off and landing practices as commercial cruising altitudes are often too high for the aircraft to be susceptible to bird strike risk. Seasonal bird migration leaves birds especially vulnerable to collisions, as airports lack reliable and informed technology to predict and detect these large-scale movements. [20]
An analysis of bird strike data from three airports local to New York City and New Jersey from 2013 to 2018 indicates that 90% of reported bird strikes involved a migratory species, and 50% of strikes occurred during peak annual migration months in the spring and fall. [20] Data indicates that large-bodied species, such as Canada geese, are more likely to be involved in damaging aircraft collisions, but that does not negate the potential for smaller birds, such as passerines, to be affected as well. Strikes involving smaller birds are often easier to overlook, cause less damage, and are therefore less likely to be reported resulting in a potential under-representation in bird strike data. [20]
Since there are very little regulations regarding pesticide use in the tropics, the farmers in South America use high quantities of highly toxic pesticides to protect their crops. [21] For example, DDT is banned in North America because it killed millions of birds in the 1960s, but it is still heavily used in the tropics. [22] Pesticides can kill birds both directly and indirectly. In the case of DDT, it can kill birds directly by poisoning their nervous system and indirectly by making the eggshells thinner and thus reducing reproductive success of birds. [22]
In their study on Dickcissels and crop damage in Venezuela, Basili and Temple (1999), found that the population of Dickcissels declined by 40% between the years of 1960 and 1980. The declines were primarily due to direct killings by humans. Dickcissels migrate to Venezuela in winter and they tend to gather in large colonies (millions of birds) to feed and sleep. Farmers in Venezuela thought that Dickcissels were pests that fed on rice and cereal crops, so they aerially sprayed the region with pesticides to kill of the birds. The dickcissels consumed only 0.37-0.745% of the grains produced. If the farmers had been better informed of how small of an impact Dickcissels had on their crops, the population declines of these birds could have been prevented. [21]
Night skies are obscured by artificial lights in many cities around the world. [11] These lights are illuminated from buildings, roads and other human structures. When flying across the city, migratory birds could become attracted to artificial lights in the sky. These birds tend to follow light beams and fly continuously in circles, dying from exhaustion or predators as the result. Increased illumination due to artificial lighting could also disrupt foraging behavior of diurnal birds, making these species forage at night, instead of the day. The negative effects from artificial lights are particularly evident in bad weather and when stars are covered by clouds, because birds that migrate at night use light beams for navigation.
Forest fragmentation is one of the greatest perils to migratory birds. [4] [23] [24] Fragmented areas tend to have more parasites, increased nest predation and lower habitat heterogeneity. Habitat loss also means that the region has lower carrying capacity which leads to increased intraspecific competition between territorial species. In 1989, John Rappole made early use of radio-tags to monitor the location of Wood Thrushes in Veracruz Mexico. Since the 1960s this region had lost over 50% of its forest cover. Rappole noticed that primary rainforests were occupied almost exclusively by older wood thrush. First year birds are smaller and inexperienced, thus they cannot compete with older birds and are forced to live along the forest edge. Younger birds often become wanderers and they are more likely to be eaten by hawks and other predators. [24] These negative conditions in wintering grounds experienced by young and late arriving birds could potentially carry over to breeding habitats, altering population dynamics and lowering the fitness levels of effected bird species. [24] [25]
Deforestation leads to fragmented forest habitats and nest predators tend to be more abundant in these fragmented landscapes. [26] If the fragmented area is long and narrow, it will have greater predation rates because it can easily be reached by nest predators from other areas. Compared to rural woodlots, nest predation rates were higher in suburban areas due higher densities of nest predators such as Blue Jay, Common Grackle, raccoons, dogs, cats and rats. Deforestation thus affects population cycles of birds by changing predator-prey relationships and making the birds more susceptible to predators. [26]
Oil developments at the tar sands is one of the main causes of deforestation in Canada. Less than 14% of Alberta's boreal forest remains intact. Loss of Canadian boreal forest is a threat to migratory birds. [23]
Migratory birds are seriously affected by climate change when they can no longer assess changes in spring weather from their wintering grounds. [27] Higher spring temperatures can lead to earlier increases in insect abundance, but many bird species are not able to advance their arrival dates. For example, pied flycatchers timed their egg hatch cycles with subsequent increases in food to raise as many young as possible. Spring migration based on day length had allowed flycatchers to arrive on time, and their egg laying times correlated with insect abundances. However, as a result of climate change, the flycatchers are now forced to lay eggs earlier, which leaves these birds not enough time to prepare their nests properly. [27] Climate change poses a serious threat to long distance migrant birds because they arrive at inappropriate time to exploit environmental opportunities, and face higher competition with resident species. [2] [27] Birds such as the pied flycatcher can start nesting earlier, but their arrival time at the breeding grounds does not change because birds cannot remotely sense temperature changes on breeding grounds from their wintering grounds. [2] [27] The birds cannot depart their wintering grounds unless they have enough energy and fat reserves to support their migration journey, and since early arriving birds usually get the best resources, most species face intense competition for early arrival and early departure. For example, in American redstart, individuals with better phenotypic qualities arrive and mate first. [1] [28]
Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and mortality.
Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae, subfamily Sterninae, that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated in eleven genera in a subgroup of the family Laridae, which also includes several genera of gulls and the skimmers (Rynchops). They are slender, lightly built birds with long, forked tails, narrow wings, long bills, and relatively short legs. Most species are pale grey above and white below with a contrasting black cap to the head, but the marsh terns, the black-bellied tern, the Inca tern, and some noddies have dark body plumage for at least part of the year. The sexes are identical in appearance, but young birds are readily distinguishable from adults. Terns have a non-breeding plumage, which usually involves a white forehead and much-reduced black cap.
The Canada goose is a large wild goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is occasionally found during migration across the Atlantic in northern Europe. It has been introduced to France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Japan, Chile, Argentina, and the Falkland Islands. Like most geese, the Canada goose is primarily herbivorous and normally migratory; often found on or close to fresh water, the Canada goose is also common in brackish marshes, estuaries, and lagoons.
The wood warbler is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe, and just into the extreme west of Asian Russia in the southern Ural Mountains.
The common tern is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. Breeding adults have light grey upperparts, white to very light grey underparts, a black cap, orange-red legs, and a narrow pointed bill. Depending on the subspecies, the bill may be mostly red with a black tip or all black. There are several similar species, including the partly sympatric Arctic tern, which can be separated on plumage details, leg and bill colour, or vocalisations.
The red knot or just knot is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the Calidris sandpipers, second only to the great knot. Six subspecies are recognised.
The surf scoter is a large sea duck native to North America. Adult males are almost entirely black with characteristic white patches on the forehead and the nape and adult females are slightly smaller and browner. Surf scoters breed in Northern Canada and Alaska and winter along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America. Those diving ducks mainly feed on benthic invertebrates, mussels representing an important part of their diet.
The greater crested tern, also called crested tern, swift tern, or great crested tern, is a tern in the family Laridae that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical Old World. Its five subspecies breed in the area from South Africa around the Indian Ocean to the central Pacific and Australia, all populations dispersing widely from the breeding range after nesting. This large tern is closely related to the royal and lesser crested terns, but can be distinguished by its size and bill colour.
The worm-eating warbler is a small New World warbler that breeds in the Eastern United States and migrates to southern Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America for the winter.
The Westland petrel(Procellaria westlandica),, also known as the Westland black petrel, is a moderately large seabird in the petrel family Procellariidae, that is endemic to New Zealand. Described by Robert Falla in 1946, it is a stocky bird weighing approximately 1,100 grams (39 oz), and is one of the largest of the burrowing petrels. It is a dark blackish-brown colour with black legs and feet. It has a pale yellow bill with a dark tip.
A flyway is a flight path used by large numbers of birds while migrating between their breeding grounds and their overwintering quarters. Flyways generally span continents and often pass over oceans. Although applying to any species of migrating bird, the concept was first conceived and applied to waterfowl and shore birds. The flyways can be thought of as wide arterial highways to which the migratory routes of different species are tributaries. An alternative definition is that a flyway is the entire range of a migratory bird, encompassing both its breeding and non-breeding grounds, and the resting and feeding locations it uses while migrating. There are four major north–south flyways in North America and six covering Eurasia, Africa, and Australasia.
The hooded grebe, is a medium-sized grebe found in the southern region of Argentina. It grows to about 32 cm (13 in) in length, and is black and white in color. It is found in isolated lakes in the most remote parts of Patagonia and spends winters along the coast of the same region. In 2012 IUCN uplisted the species from Endangered to Critically Endangered.
The fairy pitta is a small and brightly colored species of passerine bird in the family Pittidae. Its diet mainly consists of earthworms, spiders, insects, slugs, and snails. The fairy pitta breeds in East Asia and migrates south to winter in Southeast Asia. Due to various habitat and anthropogenic disruptions, such as deforestation, wildfire, hunting, trapping, and cage-bird trade, the fairy pitta is rare and the population is declining in most places. Listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II, this bird is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Bird conservation is a field in the science of conservation biology related to threatened birds. Humans have had a profound effect on many bird species. Over one hundred species have gone extinct in historical times, although the most dramatic human-caused extinctions occurred in the Pacific Ocean as humans colonised the islands of Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia, during which an estimated 750–1,800 species of birds became extinct. According to Worldwatch Institute, many bird populations are currently declining worldwide, with 1,200 species facing extinction in the next century. The biggest cited reason surrounds habitat loss. Other threats include overhunting, accidental mortality due to structural collisions, long-line fishing bycatch, pollution, competition and predation by pet cats, oil spills and pesticide use and climate change. Governments, along with numerous conservation charities, work to protect birds in various ways, including legislation, preserving and restoring bird habitat, and establishing captive populations for reintroductions.
Bird–window collisions are a problem in both low- and high-density areas worldwide. Birds strike glass because reflective or transparent glass is often invisible to them. It is estimated that between 100 million and 1 billion birds are killed by collisions in the United States annually, and an estimated 16 to 42 million birds are likewise killed each year in Canada.
Raptor conservation concerns are threats affecting the population viability of birds of prey. Because of their hunting lifestyle, raptors face distinct conservation challenges. As top predators, they are important for healthy ecosystem functioning, and by protecting them many other species are safeguarded. Their extensive habitat requirements make regional conservation strategies necessary for protecting birds of prey.
Clutch size refers to the number of eggs laid in a single brood by a nesting pair of birds. The numbers laid by a particular species in a given location are usually well defined by evolutionary trade-offs with many factors involved, including resource availability and energetic constraints. Several patterns of variation have been noted and the relationship between latitude and clutch size has been a topic of interest in avian reproduction and evolution. David Lack and R.E. Moreau were among the first to investigate the effect of latitude on the number of eggs per nest. Since Lack's first paper in the mid-1940s there has been extensive research on the pattern of increasing clutch size with increasing latitude. The proximate and ultimate causes for this pattern have been a subject of intense debate involving the development of ideas on group, individual, and gene-centric views of selection.
Swainson's hawk is a large bird species in the Accipitriformes order. This species was named after William Swainson, a British naturalist. It is colloquially known as the grasshopper hawk or locust hawk, as it is very fond of Acrididae and will voraciously eat these insects whenever they are available.
The Summerland Peninsula is located at the western end of Phillip Island in Victoria, Australia. The peninsula lies within the Gippsland Plain Bioregion and is a site of high conservation significance.
The Christie Islet Migratory Bird Sanctuary is a small migratory bird sanctuary on the south coast of British Columbia. It was established in 1962 by Environment and Climate Change Canada. Located in Howe Sound just south of Anvil Island, it is a small rocky island where seabirds nest, and Harbour seals roam the surrounding waters. To protect the birds' nesting habitat, public access to the islet is not allowed, however is it possible to observe birds by boat.