This week we learned about the impact of climate change and we went to Tracy Aviary to see what birds are the most affected by climate change. This was hard to do since none of the workers knew any of their birds who were specifically affected by climate change so not that I'm home I have only found data on the North American birds and I only have a picture of one of them so... I will just be gathering my images from photo sharing sites online. Below I will talk about three birds I found who are impacted, this will include their name and how they're impacted. Then the two standard reflection questions about my Instagram post and what I liked most about the week. 1. Baltimore Oriole They live in the Eastern/ Middle of North America, bird, as well as most animals, rely on their instincts, of the things that helps trigger what they're supposed to do are the seasons and by relation the temperature of the world around them. Warmer temperatures have lead birds to mate earlier in spring but as temperatures, warm caterpillars are hatching earlier than most egg clutches are laid and this causes birds to miss out of the peak prey season. As far as I can tell this hasn't taken a huge hit on the wild population but it is important to remember that what we do affects animals in our backyards as well as animals at the North Pole. Source: https://www.environmentalscience.org/birds-changing-climate#_ENREF_2 2. Dickcissels This bird where it is native to Northern America, they have become an invasive species in areas like North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Extreme weather caused by climate change could have pushed them to find a new home. Because climate change changes can cause intense weather such as hurricanes, floods or heat waves. This causes birds to want to move and find a friendlier place to live and then they become an invasive species. One way scientists are gathering data on this occurrence is by using different types of satellites, one of them takes a picture of the ground and they pair that with the data from weather satellites. Then if they see a bird species not where they should be they can look at its natural habitat and see if there was an occurrence that might have pushed them out. Source: climatekids.nasa.gov/extreme-weather-birds/ 3. Black-throated Blue Warbler This species is very dependent on insects as they might up their entire diet in the summer seasons. They there breeding grounds and hunting grounds are primarily in maple, beech or birch trees are losing their trees due to temperature changes chasing them away. Trees like oak and hickory and other southern (Florida, Mississippi area) growing trees that like the warm weather are spreading their seeds farther and are having a better chance at taking root due to their favorable temperatures. In contrast maple, beech and birch trees thrive better in cooler temperatures and so as the southern seeds invade and thrive these cool-climate trees don't have anywhere to go and so they are being pushed out. This then causes the birds to go further north to find the trees they need and so as they move to Canada they become an invasive species. Sources: www.massaudubon.org/our-conservation-work/climate-change/effects-of-climate-change/on-birds www.massaudubon.org/our-conservation-work/climate-change/effects-of-climate-change/on-natural-habitats/forests 4) Describe your Instagram photo and why you chose to take and post that particular photo and what is its connection to the topic of the week. This week's post showed off the only bird at the aviary that I could relate climate change to, a lot of the others are because of habitat loss or illegal pet trade. And it is, of course, the Baltimore Oriole, I included the picture of its sign so others would know about its migration pattern, this high lights what I was saying about how their migration is affected by temperature change. This is also why I added the sign that brings awareness to the effects of light pollution on bird migration. The sign also has some great ideas to implement what kinds of bulbs have the least effect on them. 5) What was one thing that you found particularly interesting this week?
This week's topic was exciting for me because climate change is my jam, it is the one thing that I know all kinds of things about so a lot of what was discussed in our readings wasn't new to me. But I do still think it's interesting how many birds are affected by what people do, both through how we are changing the climate but also how something as small as what kind of light bulb we leave shining has a significant impact on them and their migration. My favorite thing Jessica said in class today was that climate deniers don't think that scientists have factored the natural change of Earth into their climate calculations, but in reality, they know that the Earth goes through fluctuations and that the orbit of Earth and it's tilt and its rotation change. And yet with all the natural change we still see big shifts in our climate which means it's not something that is meant to happen and we didn't do it and can't stop it. It means we do have an impact on it and in order to correct it, we need to do something different.
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