According to an April 2023, article on Audubon.org, bird behavioral patterns are changing. Fluctuating temperatures are affecting the foods they eat, the timing of migration and egg laying and their body shapes are changing. Climate change is the driving factor. According to a research study, there is a wider distribution of hatch dates for birds in the study, and a lower biomass for the studied birds and insects. The nutritional value of the insects and the timing of access to those insects are also critically important to the birds that feed on them.
I recorded a video of birds in the back yard hopping around in the saplings. They are here because there are insects still flying and crawling around. Although scientists are reporting a threatened insect population, what I have observed in my backyard and garden, is a larger population and a wider variety of pests that are threatening my organic plants. I am choking on the diatomaceous earth, salt and cayenne pepper trying to protect those plants. In California, the walnut, peach and other trees are threatened by surging insect populations.
For the birds, and for us too
The birds and insects are not alone. If each of us is paying attention, the changes in climate are also affecting us in many ways. For example, I have observed more friends and family members complaining about lower sleep quality and quantity over the past few years and my own sleep has been affected. It is not our imagination.
According to weather.com,: we are indeed sleeping less. Add to that the levels of anxiety and concern about higher costs of food and consumer goods, and what we have is yet another effect of climate change on the human population. The general thought is that we, like the birds and insects, will find a way to adapt. I guess we'll see what happens.
(image below by Shipley, et.al., 2022)
