Update: July 18, 2007

WHERE HAVE ALL THE BIRDIES GONE?

By Pam Eastlick for THE DEEP on line

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

One of the things that strikes many natives of Guam when they travel to the mainland US (or virtually anywhere else in the world) is the abundance of birds.  Birds are something you don’t miss if you haven’t grown up with them, and sadly, the children of Guam think that sparrows, pigeons and chickens are the only kinds of birds there are.  Guam lost almost all its wild bird population in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s to the brown tree snake in an ecological disaster that was widely reported at the time.  We still occasionally see sea birds and the kakkak (bittern) is fairly common, but Guam’s jungles are silent.  All the songbirds (and several of them were found only on Guam) became snake snacks.

Unfortunately, it now appears that Guam may not be alone.  Birdsongs that filled the childhoods of countless baby-boomers in the mainland US are rarely heard wafting on today’s spring breezes.  A new analysis by the National Audubon Society reveals that the populations of some of North America’s most familiar and beloved birds have taken a nosedive over the past forty years, with some down as much as 80 percent.  The dramatic declines are attributed to habitat loss from multiple environmental threats such as sprawl, energy development, and the spread of industrialized agriculture.

The study also notes that these threats are now compounded by new and broader problems including the escalating effects of global warming.  Together, they paint a chilling picture for the future of many common species and send a serious warning about our increasing toll on local habitats and the environment itself.

 

And we’re not talking rare and exotic birds here.  Northern Bobwhite populations are down 82 percent and these fondly remembered birds from my youth have largely vanished from northern parts of their range in Wisconsin, Michigan, New York and New England mainly due to loss of suitable habitat to housing developments and the expansion of big farms. A beautiful bird, the Evening Grosbeak had a large range from the Rocky Mountains to the east coast.  Their numbers have declined nearly 78 percent from habitat damage and loss from logging, mining, drilling and development. Eastern Meadowlarks, another of my favorite birds of childhood are down 71 percent because their grasslands are being eaten up by the huge mechanized farms that are replacing the family farms of my youth.

Evening Grosbeak. (Credit: Dave Menke / FWS)

And whippoorwills, with their haunting evening calls have been reduced to half of their former populations because we’re losing forestland all over the county.  Ducks, terns and herons are being decimated by wetland development and even the Rufous Hummingbird, that favorite of backyard bird watchers everywhere has declined 58 percent as a result of forest habitat loss in their breeding sites in North America and their wintering sites in Mexico.

Global warming is damaging some key habitats and speeding the spread of invasive species that spur further declines.  Mounting demand for corn-based fuels is expected to result in increased use of marginal farmland that currently serves as important habitat.  

Of course, there is a possibility that these birds may not be in as steep a decline as is feared.  They may just be moving on up to the north side.  A study in the Journal Conservation Biology analyzed the breeding ranges of North American birds over a 26-year period.  The results show that the ranges have shifted northward; coinciding with a period of increasing global temperatures.  These results were similar to those found in studies conducted in Great Britain, showing the worldwide extent of these distributional changes.

What will happen when these birds move north?  Will they encounter new and different predators?  Will they completely abandon their more southerly ranges?  Alan Hitch, the author of the study says, “It is difficult to predict when or if the forces behind the distributional shifts of birds we report here may lead to extinctions of local populations.  Birds are extremely mobile which allows them to move in response to climate change; however, prey that birds rely on for survival may not be able to adapt so easily."
So you move north and the local Bird McDonalds doesn’t feature your preferred brand of worms.  What’s a birdie to do?  Who knows, but humans continue to affect our planet in profound and far reaching ways.  Here’s hoping the forests, prairies and suburbs of North America don’t become as silent as the jungles of Guam!

A SAD FAREWELL
Many of you were loyal listeners to the radio show The Deep and probably remember that we interviewed Christine Boskoff several times.  She was a premier mountain climber and always had wonderful and exciting things to say.  Our last interview with her took place as she prepared to climb Mt. Everest, the Earth’s tallest mountain.

Christine Boskoff was the world’s leading female mountain climber.  She was born in Wisconsin in 1967 and in 1993 she took a two-day climbing course.  Her first mountain was in the Bolivian Andes and she also climbed peaks in Africa, Mexico, Europe and North America.  She made her first trip to Asia in 1994.  In four years, she became the first woman from North America to reach the summit of Lhotse, Earth’s fourth highest mountain.  In 2000, she reached the peak of Mt. Everest.

Christine was the only living woman who had climbed six of the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter summits (mountains higher than 26,000 feet or 5 miles).  She had also climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mt. Blanc and the Matterhorn in Europe and all of North America’s tallest mountains.  Earth’s hundred tallest mountains are all in the Himalayas, and Christine had an extensive record of first accents, particularly in Tibet.

Christine and her climbing partner Charlie Fowler had been climbing those unnamed peaks in the Himalayan Mountains of western China for most of the summer last year.  In November, the two traveled to Genyen, in China's Western Sichuan Province, to do a 2-day hike to an unnamed 6000-meter peak in Dechin.  After the climb, they expected to return November 25 and catch a December 4 flight home.  When the two failed to show up, a search party was sent to Litang to search for the missing climbers. 
On 27 December, the team discovered a body buried in the snow at roughly 17,000 feet.  The next day the body was confirmed to be that of Charlie Fowler buried in the snow from an avalanche.  There was no sign of Christine.

After making several attempts since May, searchers discovered Christine’s body on 3 July at the 17,000-foot level, along with her camera and passport.  Both climbers are believed to have died in an avalanche sometime in November.  Christine’s body will remain on the mountain for another month, giving a crew of 15 time to ascend to the site and bring it down.

Unlike many of us, who will unfortunately die painful and pointless deaths, Christine Boskoff died pursuing something she loved.  She constantly strove for the next challenge, the next summit, and her personal best.  Sleep well Christine, I salute you!

CHRISTINE BOSKOFF  1967-2006