Because I spend most of my time on land management, I wanted to learn more about perceived bird declines. With many of you showing interest and concern about missing birds, I was driven to a deeper dive and heres
what I found, info Im sure many are aware of:
1.
See attached papers there have been serious bird population declines:
2019 Science paper: net loss approaching 3 billion birds, or 29% of 1970 abundance
2021 research indicates insect and associated insectivorous bird declines
2.
Some bird populations are doing great of course, but serious declines in many others as some of you all have observed. Since several of you mentioned absence of or fewer orioles, I hit the eBird trend analysis page again:
Bullocks Oriole
-30% throughout much of SoCal (2007-2021)
https://science.ebird.org/en/status-and-trends/species/bulori/trends-map
But Hooded Oriole populations show an increasing trend 2007-2021
https://science.ebird.org/en/status-and-trends/species/hooori/trends-map
Sandy DeSimone, Ph.D.
Director - Research, Education and Land Management
949.858.0309
Audubon California Starr Ranch Sanctuary
100 Bell Canyon Rd
Trabuco Canyon, CA 92679
www.starr-ranch.org |