Global warming affecting migratory birds, says Indian ornithologist

Pune, Dec 31 : Indian ornithologist has said that global warming and the rising temperatures have brought about an imbalance in the timing of the winter arrival of migratory birds and the food stock available to them.

World over experts have been saying that rising temperatures could wipe out more than half of the earth's species in the next few centuries, linking climate change to past mass extinctions.

Unchecked climate change could force up to 72 per cent of bird species in some areas into extinction, but the world still has a chance to limit the losses, conservation group WWF said in a report.

From migratory insect-eaters to tropical honeycreepers and cold-water penguins, birds are highly sensitive to changing weather conditions and many are already being adversely affected by global warming, the new study said.

Many migratory birds are now missing out on vital foods as trees are bearing fruit earlier than the scheduled time due to global warming widely blamed by scientists on emissions from burning fossil fuels.

Echoing a fear over the diminishing numbers of birds due to this imbalance, Indian ornithologist Satish Pandey said, an imbalance was creeping in the cycle of arrival of migratory birds and availability of food to them.

"Due to global warming, when the birds arrive, the trees have already borne fruit and there is a shortage of food for the birds then. As result of lack of food, the birds become undernourished which in turn affect their reproductive ability. It has been noted that the birds which were earlier laying three to four eggs were now laying only one to two eggs, as result of which their population is declining," said Pandey.

These fears have been confirmed by the WWF report, which said the birds now indicated that global warming had set in motion a powerful chain of effects in ecosystems worldwide and added "Robust evidence demonstrates that climate change is affecting birds' behaviour -- with some migratory birds even failing to migrate at all."

Rising temperatures were also seen having disastrous impacts on non-migratory species, as their habitat ranges shifted.