Long-Distance Migratory Birds Can't Keep Pace With Speed Of NE Climate Shift - ENS

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BOSTON, Massachusetts, June 23, 2008 (ENS) - Many bird species migrating to Massachusetts from points south are arriving earlier each spring as temperatures warm along the east coast of the United States. Some of those species migrate thousands of miles from South America, but a new study shows that the farther the birds travel, the less likely they are to keep pace with the rapidly changing climate.

Massachusetts scientists have learned that being slow to change in response to warming temperatures could have serious repercussions for long-distance migrant birds.

Researchers at Boston University and the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences analyzed changes in the timing of spring migrations of 32 species of birds along the coast of eastern Massachusetts since 1970. They gathered this data by capturing birds in mist nets, attaching bands to their legs, and then releasing them. Manomet center has been banding birds since 1966 and is considered one of North America's oldest and most extensive landbird banding programs.

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Because temperatures are linked along much of the East Coast of the United States - an early spring in North Carolina is generally an early spring in Massachusetts - the short-distance migrants can gain insight into when it will be warm further north. They can follow the flush of leaves and insects all the way to their breeding grounds each year. Long-distance migrants do not have any good cue for whether it will be an early or late spring on the northern stretches of their migrations. Weather in South America has little to do with weather in New England. It appears that the short-distance migrants are keeping pace with this changing environment. However, long-distance migrants are being left behind; as temperatures continue to warm, they will probably experience environments increasingly different from the ones for which they are adapted, the scientists predict.

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http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2008/2008-06-23-02.asp