Summary: In this article, The National Audubon Society studied the affect of climate change on the species of birds in North America. They found that with the climate changing about half of the 650 species living will be forced to move to smaller spaces or die off in the next 65 years. The four scientists apart of this society have written in their report that it will be difficult for many species because birds like, "a yellow-billed magpie in California that depends on scrub-oak habitat..." (para. 6). This species will soon run out of trees as it has to fly north more often for colder weather. As the scientists said, "Trees don't fly. Birds do." The society made their own Christmas Bird count, which a ton of volunteers have been doing for decades; this also included more surveys on general breeding of species. A down side to the beginning devoid of bird species is that the insects will start overpopulate, the mosquito and spiders will be "winners" if the birds move out of that region. Many species are also moving because of the severe drought north america is in such as southern California and California raptors. Their breeding levels have hit an all time low. The species that have become acclimated to their surroundings will not most likely survive.
Reflection: After reading this article I have gained more knowledge of what we have done to our planet. We caused the climate change we are experiencing. Now that it is so bad the birds that surround us will soon be forced to leave and try to survive somewhere else. Most of the 650 species will decrease or become extinct because new habitats do not meet their needs. Certain birds can't live in the desert or the rain-forest, this is extremely overwhelming to know. In the next 65 years I will no longer see or hear species i grew up watching. Also, knowing the insect population will skyrocket is terrifying! I believe we should have started a long time ago on fixing this issue but never starting is worse. WE need to think of a better plane to decrease climate change. The bird population is important to the food web we are surrounded in. This article was very interesting to read and I'm lucky to have stumbled across it.