BirdWatch Canada Newsletter

Off we go - let me direct you to a recent Bird Studies Canada Newsletter. Ontario has just completed their second BBA (applause point here), and among the myriad of results they found notable declines among many aerial insectivores – declines mirrored in the Breeding Bird Survey data. When these two robust and carefully managed data sets resonate with the same results we really ought to pay attention.

The species of concern - as ecologically diverse as Whip-poor-will and Eastern Wood-Pewee - are linked by their food preference - insects. Teasing apart the causes of declines, and weighing the influence of the various factors that can cause this broad set of species to decline will be daunting. The report suggests that New York found similar results during the data crunching of their recently completed BBA 2, and data from the first year of the Maritimes BBA2 sound the same alarms. Hmmm.

So, what do we know about Massachusetts?

The table below is from the USGS Breeding Bird Survey results, 1966-2006, and presents statistically significant changes for the aerial insectivores in Massachusetts. These data are available at http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/

        Species                 % Annual Change 1966-2006

Chimney Swift                       -2.1%

Willow Flycatcher                   +4.4

Willow/Alder Flycatcher         +3.3

Least Flycatcher                    -4.3

Eastern Phoebe                     -1.5

Great Crested Flycatcher        -1.7

Eastern Kingbird                    -3.7

Certainly the species with BBS declines are ringing bells as we look at our first year's data. We will take a long look at the status of these species from the 2007 results of Mass BBA 2, and post those preliminary results soon.

Meanwhile, have a read of the BSC piece linked above (there are some funky letter spacing issues in the typesetting, but, a bonus of the piece is you get to brush-up on your French) and ruminate on the problem. Could the North Country really be running low on insects in the summer; or are the "bugs" and birds getting out of sync? The list of mechanisms for insect declines is a rap sheet of the ususal suspects: light and water pollution, wetland acidification, pervasive pesticide use. Along with all of that are air and water temperature fluctuations due to climate change (the 400 pound Silverback Mountain Gorilla in the room) causing phenological changes of insect hatchings .

It might be time to buy a hybrid car, turn off the lights, and let the lawn go to seed.