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Warren Watkins / The Daily Citizen / EPA
A dead blackbird on the ground in Beebe, Ark. Government officials estimate more than 4,000 blackbirds fell to the ground Jan. 1.
Birds are indeed in trouble. But this trouble has nothing to do with freakish events such as the thousands of blackbirds that fell from the sky in Arkansas on New Year's Eve. Rather, experts say birds are falling prey to a laundry list of long-term threats ranging from pollution and habitat loss to climate change.
The bird deaths in Arkansas, along with more deaths that have been reported in Louisiana, then Kentucky and Sweden, have been swept up into a phenomenon that's been dubbed the "aflockalypse" — but these events are actually relatively routine. They're not a sign that the end is near.
"I don't think there is a story here," Stuart Pimm, a conservation ecologist at Duke University, told me when I asked for his take on the buzz surrounding the birds. "It is probably just a bunch of independent events that have suddenly generated public notoriety and that's got everybody worried."
Birds in trouble
But that doesn't mean there's nothing to worry about. Pimm noted that one in six bird species is threatened with extinction.
"That is a story that is due to habitat loss and global climate disruption and a variety of global causes like that. That is something we were worried about last year, and we should be worried about now, and it is something that we should be worried about 10 years from now," he said. "But I don't think they have anything to do with the current events."
The current events are "the kind of thing we deal with everyday," said Krysten Schuler, a wildlife ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who helps maintain a database on wildlife die-offs. Whether or not mass die-offs are on the uptick is uncertain – the biologists only know about those that are reported. They suspect that many, perhaps most, are never brought to their attention.
What's different over the past few days is more people are noticing the die-offs and, at least for the moment, reporting them. This may be the result of technology – cell phones, the Internet, and instant global communications, Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The USGS' Schuler told me the flood of reports will likely die down in a few weeks once the current media buzz abates.
"The fact is, if they don't hear about dead birds, they might see some and not think about it or not think it is important to call somebody about it," she said. "Hopefully, by increasing public awareness, they'll be more likely to report other events in the future."
Keeping tabs on wildlife health
Learning more about mass die-offs will help scientists keep a closer eye on wildlife health, which is related to the health of humans and domestic animals, Schuler added. Many emerging infectious diseases, she noted, have their origins in wildlife populations.
"With the loss of habitat and places for the wildlife to be, you get more interaction between wildlife and humans, which crowds wildlife, and in crowded conditions you are more likely to have disease issues," she said.
While these are important issues, the experts say folks who are concerned about the current spate or bird deaths should focus instead on the bigger picture.
"I know many of your readers want Agents Scully and Mulder to go and investigate this," Pimm told me. "But no, the X-Files people have not been in touch with [me] and asked [me] to fly in a black helicopter to go and investigate them. I don' think there is anything untoward about this."
More about the real threats to birds:
- Experts say bird extinction rate is underestimated
- WWF: How climate change threatens bird species
- Oregonian: Habitat loss, invaders threaten birds
- ScienceDaily: Birds could signal mass extinction
- eHow: How pollution is affecting the birds
John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).
Leave a Comment:
Interesting sidenote: guess where Shell is digging DEEP into the earth for natural gas... SWEDEN.
Judging from the majority of posts here, I should buy shares of Reynolds Aluminum. Just think of the number of tin foil hats that are needed!
Skor154,
I know the true purpose of why I exist. I am a consumer. I am alive to buy stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. I have so much stuff, that it is difficult to maneuver around my house. I once had a bird and a squirrel in my house. There was plenty of stuff for them to use and play with. As far as how I got here…I think that I saw a movie once where some bird carried babies to parents who loved them so much. I don't think that is magic or voodoo. It just makes me happy. J
One in six bird species is headed for extinction? Where do you get your facts from.
I believe in lots of things but i was raised christian and was told that lots of things will happen during the rapture but this this could be anthing but trust your iinstincts people somethings not right here
The" experts" have spoken ! All of the causes occurred at ounce to kill thousands of birds, fish, etc. around the world and we just noticed. The "experts" already knew that, they just now mentioned it.
why do people believe the experts if i read alot does that make me a reading expert people maybbe like animals thats why we feel that ominous feeling right before bad things happen dont tell me this all of this dosent cause your connection to wildlife stirr our subconcous is telling us something
Where are toxicology test results?
How interesting! Remember what the miners take into the mines to tell that they are in trouble? Canaries! Somehow there is something going on that if we are too ignorant to take seriously, we might regret...Yes birds die in groups, but like this?
Mass animal die offs are common and there have been stranger occurrences than this in the past, like frogs falling from the sky as well as big gooey blobs of stuff falling from the sky etc. and I have to say that I don't believe that UFOs have anything to do with this. It's not that I don't believe in UFOs/Aliens but I think Global Warming is more to blame, in most of the places where the die offs occurred it has been a colder winter than usual and birds as well as fish are susceptible to even the slightest temperature changes.
My husband breeds fish and I've seen the way they act when the temperature is either too hot or too cold, they swim erratically and smash into the sides of the tank, try to jump out etc. and if the temperature doesn't regulate itself soon enough, they do die and usually it is only one species of fish, the rest are either barely effected by the change or they show no distress at all. I guess it all depends on the species and comes down to survival of the fittest.
Oh, I don't remember what state it is but every winter they have mass bird die offs due to the cold temperatures and it happens every single year in some pretty big numbers.
I believe that technology also has something to do with a lot of the speculation. Just think about it, even five years ago we didn't have access to the internet and 24 hour news like we do now. I think people just read way too much into things sometimes.
If you research mass animal die offs a lot of stuff from the past does come up but of course back then it wasn't reported like it is today. We can find out about pretty much anything just by turning on our phones or the computer and 5-10-15 years ago it just wasn't like that, so I think that all of this instant access causes a lot of paranoia. Similar things have happened before but it wasn't instant news in the palm of our hand like it is today.
And why are people in such an uproar over this, when other animals are on the verge of extinction such as Tigers, Giant Pandas, Polar Bears, Whales and Dolphins etc.? You never hear anything in the news about any of that, people just don't give a damn I guess, unless they find it bizarre.
More people should pay attention to Global Warming and the affects of it. I'm not saying to join Green Peace or anything like that but just be aware of the things you're doing to contribute to Global Warming and think of ways to lower you carbon foot print etc. Do some research on your own but I wouldn't suggest the internet, it usually gets very political on here but read books, magazines etc. and find ways that you can help.
We can help conserve North American bird populations and diversity through our coffee purchasing choices. Try purchasing and drinking shade-grown coffee from Central and South America. Many of the birds that spend the breeding season in the U.S. winter in the rain forest, which is destroyed by sun-grown coffee plantings which is the source of most of the coffee nowadays. Shade grown coffee plantations are second only to mature rain forest for conserving Neotropical migrants such as tanagers, orioles, warblers, etc. When a rain forest goes over to shade grown coffee, 97% of bird species remain, compared 3% with full sun grown coffees.
Here's a helpful link about shade grown coffee from the Smithsonian:
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/coffee/default.cfm