from Orilla Packet-Times
Local birds showing tell-tale signs of climate change
But a recent report by Audubon, the largest bird conservation organization in North America, has also documented startling changes in the winter distribution of birds. Their findings are based on an analysis of data from Christmas bird counts over the past 40 years, which provides coverage across the continent. In our area, volunteers complete these counts in areas around Orillia, Barrie, Midland, Muskoka, and Carden.
The Audubon study looked at the change in the "centre of abundance" for 305 widespread bird species. More than half of water birds moved north, especially ducks such as red-breasted mergansers, which shifted 317 miles northward, and black ducks, which moved an average of 182 miles north....
This little story from a local paper in Canada is a perfect example of the climate change hype that grips our world. First off the study is based on forty years of research, a long time in human respects, but not even a blink of an eye in the scheme of climate or even bird migration patterns.But what is really telling in both the Audubon report and the local story is how they manipulate their own reporting to advance their particular agenda, the Audubon Bird conservation, the local reporter-environmental alarmism. Note this at the end of the article.
Besides calling for decisive action to control global warming pollution, Audubon also recommends a series of immediate steps to help birds and other species weather the changes we cannot avoid. In their view, it is essential to protect and restore habitats that are critical for species survival, through programs such as the Important Bird Area designation on the Carden Plain.
They also call for expanding protected areas networks through parks and natural areas, such as those managed by the Couchiching Conservancy. At the same time, they urge reductions in other human stresses such as habitat loss and fragmentation and the introduction of invasive species.
The Audubon report is aptly titled Birds and Climate Change: Ecological Disruption in Motion,and it provides a compelling example of how our feathered friends continue to warn us of the far-reaching consequences of our misuse of our planet's energy resources
Nothing wrong with protecting birds, I contribute to the cause locally, but to use climate change to manipulate people into believing they are responsible is disingenuous. Here is a bit of the other side of the story from within their own report as shown by Master Resource
What the Audubon Society failed to mention was that contained within the data from its own report was that the numbers of bird species with increasing populations topped those with population declines by a margin of more than 2-to-1. In other words, “global warming” has been a net benefit for the Audubon’s collection of North American bird species. Which leaves you wondering, why would we want to take action that could result in a countering of that trend?....*********
...North America’s bird species are adapting their behavior to a changing climate. So what’s the problem?
Actually, Audubon was largely at a loss to find one, instead trying to convince us that evidence of climate change is reason enough to try to stop it—apparently Audubon knows what the “best” climate is for birds.
Well, perhaps they don’t.
Hidden in the recesses of their “Birds and Climate Change” report (their Appendix 1) is a table of various statistics that were calculated for each of the 305 bird species analyzed. Included in the large table among the statistics for things such as how far each species has moved northward and how far it has moved inland, was the value (and statistical significance) of the overall population trend for each species. Funny that, in a report describing how “global warming” is impacting bird species, Audubon didn’t highlight the ultimate test of bird species’ health—the overall population trends.
They reason becomes clear when you start looking over the numbers.
Of the 20 species highlighted in their figure (Figure 1 above), 9 of them showed statistically significant population increases, 9 of them had no statistically significant change in population, and only 2 of the species showed population declines.
Of the overall 305 species analyzed, 120 (39%) showed statistically significant population increases, 128 (42%) showed no change, and 57 (19%) showed statistically significant declines.
This is strong indication that, in net, North American bird species have seemed to improve their overall condition during the past 40 years—a time of winter warming.....
Also notice the last line of the story which is not a news item at all but rather an editorial comment by the writer
"a compelling example of how our feathered friends continue to warn us of the far-reaching consequences of our misuse of our planet's energy resources."
He/she may believe that but that is not a fact just an opinion. I also noticed the local weather at the time of the posting of the article was colder than the daily normal in Orlla Ontario.
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