14 ms·
Mass die-off of birds in south-western US 'caused by starvation'
- aurizon 6y agoI wonder if it is possible to set up some sort of supplementary feeding stations. Suet or vegetable oil minced with crickets(or other mass raisable insect grubs??). They would have to be on poles to stop predators and would have to suit the birds habits, with the ability to feed hovering birds as well as perchers. It will take some research, but lines of these just off roads would provide a number of lines of feeders that could be maintained via the road, with a liftable hopper top I think many birds would adapt to this lifeline during their migration. It would involve many tons of food for the migratory season and to be established in advance.
- hirundo 6y agoI wish that were easier. I've found that the cleaning involved is burdensome. It's recommended that you take the feeder down and scrub it with bleach every few weeks to prevent the spread of parasites between the closely packed feeding birds. Worse for me is that even when I can keep the feeder away from the local rodents (a non-trivial challenge), seeds fall to the ground and it becomes a hot spot for insects and rodents. The rodents here are causing major damage to my house and vehicles. It was just higher maintenance than I expected, so I stopped. But I do like having the birds around. Maybe I can start again after retirement.
- foobarian 6y agoWhat kind of rodents do you have in your part of the world that they damage your _vehicles_??
- minitoar 6y agoNot uncommon for rodents to chew on hose or wiring.
- hnlmorg 6y agoJust last week a colleague of mine had car electric problems that turned out to be a rat chewing through cables. It's weirdly common(ish) problem.
- meekrohprocess 6y agoThey started using soy-based insulation in automotive wiring a couple decades ago. Sadly, it turns out that rodents really like to eat that kind of insulation. So if you have a car made after ~2000, you need to keep pests away from wherever you store it.
- jessaustin 6y agoThis is also a problem for e.g. excavation equipment that might sit unused for weeks at a time.
- Someone 6y agoGuessing: martens. https://www.wsj.com/articles/they-go-absolutely-insane-and-tear-everything-apart-weasels-love-german-cars-11577377251 https://www.wsj.com/articles/they-go-absolutely-insane-and-t...: “Auto makers are building defenses against stone martens, a type of weasel that invades engines and eats the wiring […] We only have data from those insurers that offer a weasel policy” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beech_marten#Car_damage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beech_marten#Car_damage: “Since the mid-1970s, the beech marten has been known to occasionally cause damage to cars. Cars attacked by martens typically have cut tubes and cables. A beech marten can slice through the cables of a starter motor with just one bite. The reason for this is not fully known, as the damaged items are not eaten. There is, however, a seasonal peak in marten attacks on cars in spring, when young martens explore their surroundings more often and have yet to learn which items in their habitat are edible or not.[29] The fishoil often contained in the cables of cars from Japan may contribute to this”
- hirundo 6y agoThe ones living in my pickup's engine compartment are kangaroo rats. The usual repellents don't seem to make much of an impression on them.
- aurizon 6y agoHirundo, I see. So perhaps a non germinating mixture would be good. I agree with the parasite problem. Perhaps 4-6 dunk tanks, so the new full top can be attached and the empty one immersed to soak in the detergent tank(no insecticide) and when you raise the next one, the soaking ones are drained and then a few rinse tanks. That way a crew could have them in the back of a pickup and do the swaps and dunk/rinse changes as they go from feeder tp feeder. This will have to be a short term production line in motion for the 4-6 weeks of the migration. Foods can change as the migratory species change over the various species migration patterns. This needs to be a major continuing state/national effort in many global areas to sustain the birds as the warming and concimmitant changes occur - or we witness the end of many species of birds.
- tzs 6y agoA coworker has an extensive setup for feeding birds, squirrels, and raccoons. He deals with rats and mice with a high powered air gun with a well calibrated scope and sufficient skill that he's able to kill them quickly with one shot. He's killed something like a hundred over the last couple of years. If you are willing to kill the rats and mice instead of just drive them away somehow, then taking up shooting as an additional hobby might be worth considering. I've ruled it out because I don't really want to kill them, and also in my feeding area there is no good spot to take a shot from where a miss would not potentially go somewhere I really do not want it to go.
- everybodyknows 6y agoThere's a natural alternative, with lower maintenance requirements: http://www.audubon.org/native-plants http://www.audubon.org/native-plants
- aurizon 6y agoA valid suggestion, but the growing dust bowl might mean that general plant growth is down, less seed and insects = starvation mode. For decades the South west has been depleting all of it's aquifers, so wells are getting deeper and with more salt and other mineral intrusions. This is all tied to the global warming. The great lakes are getting wetter, so major canal works to direct some of the great lakes excess to the southern and western water table is the solution. Now the excess water drains unused into the Atlantic ocean - flooding many US/Canada riverine communities.
- vincnetas 6y agoWhat a great oportunity for yet one more economic activity for people. Sad reality is that this economic activity would have no need if not the other econiomic actvities which have caused the problem in the first place. This starts to look like cutting down the forest and then replantig lesser version of it because it feels not so cozy on plain field...
- eggsmediumrare 6y agoNot sure why you're being downvoted. Apparently the wild bird feeding industry is worth $2 billion.
- animal_spirits 6y agoWell, we cut down the forests and built farms because we needed food to feed the growing population and economy of the young United States. Now we are seeing over time farms outside of cities being converted to suburbs with little to no habitat for birds. But hopefully over time as the suburbs mature, trees will grow taller and provide more habitat for birds.
- vincnetas 6y agoYes, but the ultimate question is how much population is enough and are we capable of self limiting. Oposed to limits imposed from outside. Because with outside limits, it might be to late to keep balance for whole ecosystem, when we hit them (limits)
- animal_spirits 6y agoAre you talking about Human population? Human population is forecasted to peak mid century and begin to decline as more women have access to education and contraception [0]. Many models are predicting this, however personally I'm not 100% sold on the models yet. I think trying to fight the population growth is just as infeasible as trying to move a mountain. I think we have better chances to fight ecological decline by educating the population on effects of overconsumption of goods, pollution, and energy use. [0] http://www.healthdata.org/news-release/lancet-world-population-likely-shrink-after-mid-century-forecasting-major-shifts-global http://www.healthdata.org/news-release/lancet-world-populati...
- Exmoor 6y agoI may have missed a link to a complete list of species tallied in this event, but the photographed birds are mostly Violet-Green Swallows. This species eats flying insects exclusively (source: Birds of the World research database) and would not be able to take advantage of feeders.
- jibcage 6y agoEven if we manage to tackle the climate crisis, I wonder how we will address the accompanying ecological collapse that seems to be rapidly accelerating.
- diveanon 6y agoWe won't. It makes me sad to think that 50-100 years from now most of the species we know and many more we don't will be extinct. The only things left alive will be what we need to survive and whatever manages to carve a niche out of the blasted landscapes we leave in our wake.
- the-dude 6y agoIsn't this a bit exaggerated?
- eggsmediumrare 6y agoBetter to act like it isn't.
- pessimizer 6y agoCare to offer your own diagnosis, or just here to frown at people?
- diveanon 6y agoI'm old, I tried over my lifetime and failed. Give it a shot if you care. Education isn't the problem, it's the will to sacrifice our comfort for a better world.
- ironmagma 6y agoIn what sense? Seems realistic to me. The past ten years alone have been terrible for extinction; we lost about 500 species. And there is a feedback loop with these sorts of things.
- underseacables 6y agoSounds like the bees...
- giardini 6y agoSuch die-offs are often a result of a "predator-prey" cycle wherein both the predator and prey populations vary inversely over the long term. It is nothing new, nor is it catastrophic unless you're part of the cycle. Perhaps in this case there were a lot of birds and not enough insects (food). So the birds die off. In a few years, with fewer birds(predators), the insects (prey) will return with a vengeance. In the midst of this new plenty, bird populations will rise dramatically, peak, and then die again. Rinse, repeat... "Predator-prey cycles": https://www.khanacademy.org/science/high-school-biology/hs-ecology/hs-ecological-relationships/v/predator-prey-cycle https://www.khanacademy.org/science/high-school-biology/hs-e... This article reminds me of the recent years' of German beekeepers writing fretful papers on excessive insect die-offs. Worrywarts have long forecast ecological disaster. But such things have been going on for eons and started long before man was present.
- walleeee 6y ago> It is nothing new, nor is it catastrophic. Predator-prey cycles are of course neither new nor catastrophic, but the planetary extinction event we're in the midst of is definitely a catastrophe. Maybe not yet to the same degree as the oxygenation of the atmosphere, but we're only just getting started.
- hh3k0 6y ago> It is nothing new, nor is it catastrophic unless you're part of the cycle. We are part of the cycle, though. Do not simply assume that our ecocide will not come back to bite us hard. Mankind already learned that lesson -- and it was a costly one: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0306422018800259 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/03064220188002...
- jeffbee 6y agoThe problem is we've driven these species to the brink, so the "natural cycle" stands an elevated probability of killing them off completely. It's like the way we started out with a million sea otters, killed all but five of them to make fancy hats, and then when a shark eats one of the last remaining females we say oh well what can we do about nature? Luckily in that particular case the species recovered somewhat, but there are lots of examples of animals that we've reduced to a handful of individuals that now face extinction due to "natural cycles".
- Exmoor 6y agoThese types of die-offs are concerning, but probably more common than you'd think. People don't generally realize what a rough life birds, especially highly migratory species, have. A pair of song-birds (passerines) will likely hatch an average of ~4 babies each year, and yet the populations are generally stable or shrinking over time. Using rough math that would indicate that 2/3 of the birds that exist at the peak breeding season will not be alive the next year. Weather-related events are pretty tough to predict and prevent. There are several things you can do that will have a direct effect on bird populations. I'm short on time, so I'll just list the two most impactful ones: 1. Keep your cat indoors. The low estimate for the number of birds killed in North America pet and feral cats is one billion birds a year. That doesn't include the many small mammal, reptile, and amphibian species which are the base of the food chain for larger species of birds. 2. Reduce your use of insecticides both directly and via store-bought foods. There's a lot of evidence that insect populations are experiencing a population collapse, likely due mostly to accumulated insecticides in the ecosystem.
- bartread 6y ago> 1. Keep your cat indoors. I don't know. I've been considering pets for several months since I'm now spending so much time at home and, as for many people looking for some at home companionship, it comes down to dog or cat. I've read a reasonable amount of material that suggests that if your cat is kept indoors it's a lot more likely to be unhappy. So if you must own a cat then keeping it indoors may not be the best strategy for the cat. On the other hand, the point about environmental impact of cats - killing of birds and other small animals - might be a really good argument against having cat full stop. If you can't keep it in a way that ensures its welfare whilst also ensuring that it doesn't cause havoc amongst the local wildlife, maybe don't get one at all.
- posguy 6y agoIf you have previously let your cat outdoors on a regular basis, it will likely be unhappy if you stop letting it go outdoors. Outdoor cats get in fights with other cats, spread disease via their waste, kill birds and wildlife. Neighbors also can mistake your cat for a feral one and call animal control or trap your cat: https://www.humanesociety.org/sites/default/files/docs/caring-community-cats-overview.pdf https://www.humanesociety.org/sites/default/files/docs/carin...
- nateberkopec 6y agoI live in New Mexico. I found 3 or 4 dead songbirds outside my house this fall. This was happening in ~October. The die-off has halted since then, I'd estimate it lasted about 3 weeks.
- dmix 6y agoOn a slightly unrelated note, Turkey has put money into feeding stray birds and pigeons and the like, while the lockdown happens (Turkey randomly became #4 per after US, india, brazil out of nowhere in starting in December, all of them have higher populations, sometimes MUCH higher [1]). https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-52199691 https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-52199691 The local gov decided to pay to keep them fed instead of having a bunch of half-dead animals walking around on the ground when they get out I guess. Or harassing homes most likely. [1] https://i.imgur.com/jpY40wm.png https://i.imgur.com/jpY40wm.png
- andai 6y ago> Biologists noticed that most carcasses collected were those of insectivores and long-distance migrants. See also: 75% decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas (2017) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15502074 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15502074 Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides (2019) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20667031 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20667031
- throwawaysea 6y agoIt’s pretty simple - we need fewer humans. We need to stop using technology (GMO crops and accompanying pesticides) to prop up an artificially large and unsustainable human population. Most humans aren’t able to contribute much economic value anyhow, which apart from causing social/political unrest, is starting to feel like we are raising humans just because, with no intent or need except to consume and perish at increasing rates.
- threwawaysoff 6y agoThen do your part and practice what you preach, reductionist, Orwellian, economic eugenicist: kill yourself.
- Brian_K_White 6y agoThe slow progression toward consensus conclusion that pets are wrong and no one should have one is depressing. I think it's wrong to even think about the fact that cats kill birds. That's between the cats and the birds, and even the fact that some humans own or feed some of those cats is irrelevant. Not only that, did everyone forget all the humans that have birdfeeders and the even more that simply litter and leave edible garbage everywhere? (or in garbage bins for that matter) Most of the problems brought up about either dogs or cats sound to me like the most sane and correct reaction which does the most good for everyone, is to simply be more tolerant of other people's pets as a fact of life, the same way we have to for their babies. It's like the annoyance of a baby crying in some place like a restaurant or a plane. I agree, that is super annoying, if you've somehow managed to live too much of your life shielded from that annoyance. But really the problem is not the baby or the fact that a parent took the baby into a public shared space, it's that you are too much of a baby to tolerate it. Intolerant selfish douchebags can sort of get away with making the argument that you don't need to go out to a restaurant with a baby, and can actually turn their intolerance into someone els's inconsideration. You could choose to stay home where I don't have to deal with your unsightly family, or just don't have any kids like I didn't, or just leave them with a babysitter etc etc. But what about a plane? If you have a kid you simply can't travel? But even the restaurant example has that same essense of unreasonable discrimination as the plane example. I say people are forgetting that life and being a human is a bit messy and inconvenient once in a while, and it's fundamentally wrong to go quite so far towards trying to erase all the mild blemishes on your perfect clean unruffled existense when that requires telling other people they can't exist eny other ways except exactly the same sterile predicatble compartmented existence you like. Not only do I say dogs and cats should be more tolerated as simply a recognized reasonable ingredient in life, and that it's not reasonable to expect to erase all trace of their messiness any more than it is to do so with human babies, I say it's also depressing that the universe of animal companions has been reduced to cats and dogs. How neat and tidy and boxed a web form with a cat or dog radio button. For all the obvious obvious arguments, it's still just fundamentally not a good progression. This all comes from someone who has neither pets nor kids. I am not arguing from the bias of having a kid or a pet myself that I want to be free to annoy everyone else with.
- cosmiccatnap 6y agoThe reason this is happening is probably partially because a good part of their food supply has been human waste from fast food restaurants and garbage cans but such a significant amount of people have been indoors for so long that easily accessable high carb foods that we usually unknowingly supply are now gone.