Last month, I discussed the ELCA’s Social Statement, "Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice," which lists principles of solidarity, sufficiency and sustainability in very general terms. Recent information on the severe decline in the bird population of North America would suggest we are not doing a very good job in caring for the avian portion of creation. The Bible tells us that God notes the death of a single sparrow, and yet there are nearly three billion fewer birds now in North America than there were in 1970.
The tendency has been for us to look at the decline or recovery of individual species rather than the overall picture. As ecologist Hillary Young of the University of California, Santa Barbara was quoted in Science News, “Individual birds play an important role in ecosystems, including pollinating plants, dispersing seeds and controlling pests. Often it’s the common, abundant birds that keep these ecosystems ticking.”
Three major sources of this decline are generally blamed for the die off, all of which we as individuals can make a significant contribution to reducing. There are differences of opinion on the order of these three, so this list is not intended to say which is worse.
Predation by cats is certainly one of the top three — and possibly the top — that we can influence. Our pet cats do not have to be put out every night to “do their thing”; cats will quite easily adapt to a litter box. If every cat owner would make sure their cats are never outside unsupervised, we could greatly reduce this predation.
Another one of the top three is collision with windows. We used to have a few such incidences at our house every year until I put some of those self sticking decals on the windows near the bird feeders. Bird fatalities due to their seeing their reflection or a possible route to the other side dropped to zero. I am sure that most of these fatalities involve high rise buildings and migrating birds, but our experience would say that single family homes, by their sheer number, also contribute.
The third top cause is loss of habitat. We can blame farmers for planting right up to the edge of the field rather than leaving wild strips and trees along those edges, but our yards can be designed for birds or not. The robin is one of the few birds that really appreciate the large expanse of lawns, especially if we don’t kill off the worms with excessive chemicals and pesticides. Plants with seeds and fruits that the birds like, trees and shrubs for protection and nesting can improve their habitat as well as ours.
An interesting study recently showed that small, non-lethal doses of an insecticide used on seeds and nursery plants (a neonicotinoid) caused weight loss and delayed the migration of these birds by several days, enough to put them at a disadvantage in breeding and possibly out of sync with their food supply. The most given to each bird was only one tenth of that used to coat an individual corn seed.
The effect of climate change on bird populations is still to be determined. The Audubon Society has reported that 389 North American bird species are vulnerable to extinction from climate change. So all our efforts to reduce green house gas emissions are helpful to the birds.
A speaker I heard the other night on wind power admitted that birds and bats are susceptible to collisions with rotating turbine blades. (The tips can be going over 150 miles per hour.) But his company can install a device to temporarily stop the turbines when migrating birds are detected approaching by radar. Good stewardship from an industrial giant.
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