[HN Gopher] Birds are dying in the United States and no one know...
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Birds are dying in the United States and no one knows why
Author : tchalla
Score : 49 points
Date : 2021-07-08 22:13 UTC (47 minutes ago)
(HTM) web link (www.dw.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.dw.com)
| aaron695 wrote:
| There's a dead bird blog somewhere that follows the 'dead bird'
| hysteria/stories in multiple countries.
|
| Here's one from 100 years ago -
| https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/44162565 They just
| thought it was cool.
|
| Remember the 'Serial Killer Stalks N.Y. Pigeons', he was in the
| 90's then re-emerged in the 2000's. (Netflix special spoiler, he
| didn't exist)
| luxurytent wrote:
| Why do I have a sense of deja vu?
| vichu wrote:
| It hasn't been overnight that birds have been disappearing.
|
| For example, this article from the NYT dated 2 years ago:
| https://archive.ph/zfDAH
| ancientworldnow wrote:
| That's a general decline in populations. This is a new and
| very distinctive disease that has been recognized and is
| spreading rapidly in certain species.
| TheSwordsman wrote:
| We are so fucked
| boc wrote:
| Just a reminder that in the 19th Century we killed off billions
| and billions of passenger pigeons until they went completely
| extinct. They were the most abundant bird in North America and
| we literally killed them all. Humans causing massive damage to
| our environment isn't anything novel unfortunately.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon
| mikewarot wrote:
| I, for one, am glad we don't have passenger pigeons regularly
| depleting large portions of our food supply.|
|
| On the other hand, I did just go out and flip over the bird
| bath, so it won't accumulate rain any more, and spread this
| disease. (We've already removed bird feeders here in NW
| Indiana at the direction of the State)
| syops wrote:
| Sure. It's been done before by humans but now we aren't
| deliberately killing off these species. We are just existing
| and through the consequences of our behaviors we are killing
| them. We are all killing off species at a rate humans never
| before could.
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| I would expect that since the number of humans exist at
| many multiples of what they used to before. Plus
| technological advances allowing humans to exert more
| influence over the environment.
| tidydata wrote:
| > "West Nile [disease] is ruled out. . . Everything has been
| ruled out. To date, we still do not know," says Monsma, citing
| tests conducted by Wildlife's clinic director, Cheryl Chooljian.
|
| I'm no expert in this, but I'm going to guess that destroying
| their habitats may be to blame.
| oxymoran wrote:
| I mean we are but what does that have to do with swollen eyes
| and neurological impairment?
| tidydata wrote:
| It would seem quite obvious that mass destruction of habitat
| may cause neurological impairment, mass deaths, etc.
| da39a3ee wrote:
| Definitely agree that the habitat destruction we have inflicted
| upon the animals we share the planet with is sad.
|
| The article is about a specific disease though that birds in
| the eastern US have started suffering from this spring/summer.
| tidydata wrote:
| These things are not unrelated.
| dvdhnt wrote:
| It really doesn't take an expert to recognize the cause on a
| macro-level - destroying their habitats, an infinite number of
| chemicals making their way through the food chain, air
| pollution, climate change, fewer insects.
|
| If anything, this seems like a predictable outcome.
| [deleted]
| mjcohen wrote:
| Let's hope this doesn't jump to us.
| ArkanExplorer wrote:
| Could high levels of CO2 be the cause?
|
| CO2 at 800ppm has a huge impact on mouse lungs:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27721892
|
| Could lower levels (400s ppm) have an impact on other parts of
| animals?
| hoppyhoppy2 wrote:
| The article says they've been seeing this illness spread since
| April. If it was caused by rising CO2 levels I'd expect its
| appearance to be much less sudden.
| Meleagris wrote:
| There's a great documentary called "the messenger" on this topic
| of declining bird populations
|
| https://youtu.be/3xXV95gYHC8
| aazaa wrote:
| > Experts do still have their theories. And one of them links the
| disease with the arrival of Brood-X cicadas that made their
| appearance around late April to early May -- the same time people
| started to notice the dead birds.
|
| A different article makes the possible connection more clear:
|
| > Some people commenting on Facebook and elsewhere speculate that
| people are spraying chemicals to deal with the current cicada
| emergence and that may be impacting the birds. There is
| absolutely no reason to spray cicadas, as the Animal Welfare
| League of Arlington said on Twitter:
|
| https://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/news/birdwatching/terribly...
|
| The tweet says:
|
| > DON'T use insecticide on cicadas! Remember that many animals,
| including birds, bats, dogs, and cats, eat cicadas and can get
| very sick if they ingest insecticide. Help us keep local animals
| safe and well - the cicadas won't be here for that long, anyway!
|
| https://twitter.com/AWLAArlington/status/1397332919639805955
|
| Given that no pathogen has been found, this would seem to be a
| viable working hypothesis.
|
| edit:
|
| On the other hand, the birdwatchingdaily article also notes:
|
| > In the last 10 days, people in the Washington, D.C., metro area
| have been reporting increasing numbers of sick, blind, injured,
| and dead birds. For the most part, they have been juvenile Common
| Grackles, European Starlings, and Blue Jays.
|
| To be consistent with the hypothesis, these birds should be
| carnivorous.
|
| edit:
|
| > The common grackle forages on the ground, in shallow water, or
| in shrubs; it may steal food from other birds. It is omnivorous,
| eating insects, minnows, frogs, eggs, berries, seeds, grain, and
| even small birds and mice.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_grackle
|
| > The common starling is largely insectivorous and feeds on both
| pest and other arthropods.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_starling
|
| > The blue jay feeds mainly on seeds and nuts, such as acorns,
| which it may hide to eat later;[2] soft fruits; arthropods; and
| occasionally small vertebrates. It typically gleans food from
| trees, shrubs, and the ground, and sometimes hawks insects from
| the air. Blue jays can be very aggressive to other birds; they
| sometimes raid nests, and have decapitated other birds
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_jay
| Black101 wrote:
| Why do they spray for cicadas? they don't like the noise?
| ianhawes wrote:
| Aside from that the sheer number of cicadas is astonishing.
| Black101 wrote:
| I used to have a lot of them where I lived and I never
| noticed a problem... They are very loud but I would not
| kill them for it... They were mostly living in oak trees
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(page generated 2021-07-08 23:01 UTC)