H.J. Ruiz – Avian101

We are going through a considerably high temperatures heat wave all across the Country. It’s not a small thing, it really poses great danger in many ways:

We have had very extensive forest fires going across several States. Devastation of green areas, forests,private property, road and countless loss of wild life. Among them large quantities of birds and their habitats.

In 2010 Tom Albright presented studies and analysis that pertains to heat wave effects and climate related changes:

“We are living in a changing world, and so does wildlife. Current climate change not only increases mean temperatures, but also affects the global and continental distribution of extreme weather events, says Tom Albright, a postdoctoral researcher at the SILVIS ( Spatial Analysis for Conservation and Sustainability) lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Change in weather patterns can expose areas to increases in extreme events such as heatwaves and droughts, which in turn may affect wildlife such as birds. Having a background in physical geography as well as ecology, and strong skills in remote sensing, Tom Albright thought that was an exciting and important issue to address. Combining records from the North American Breeding Bird Survey with precipitation records and temperature data from NASA satellites, Albright analyzed changes in avian abundance and community diversity in relation to the occurrence of heatwaves and droughts in the conterminous United States. “The North American Breeding Bird Survey data set is amazing”, tells Albright ,”bird watchers, as citizen-scientists, make a big effort and check bird presence by visiting the same road-side transects at the same time of the year, year after year – and the data go back as far 1960s”.

Birds refreshing themselves

As you can read above, all of us contribute to important studies by simply recording data of our observations and keeping our interest alive. This is why is also equally important that you write your comments and create a dialog which believe it or not, people learn from that too, also encourage others to participate.

All photographs are © H.J. Ruiz -”My Backyard Visitors”

Exerpts quotes © SILVIS