Bird Nesting in Farmland Vulnerable to Extreme Heat, Study Reveals

As the Earth gets hotter because of climate change, the bird nesting becomes tougher and they hardly find safe places in farmlands to lay eggs and raise chicks. It leads to 46 percent fewer chances to have at least one chick when it gets really hot.  

A study by researchers looked at a big database with information about over 150,000 bird nests in the United States. They studied how very hot weather affects bird nesting and their trying to have baby birds in different places like forests, grasslands, and farms or cities. What we discovered was that in forests, hot weather actually helped birds have more baby birds. But in farms and cities, when it got very hot, birds had a hard time having baby birds that could grow up and fly away.

Katherine Lauck, a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Davis, who led the study published in the journal Science, said the results were more extreme than expected. Scientists who study birds have been worried for a while because there are fewer wild birds now compared to 1970, about 3 billion fewer!

Birds have a hard time on farms where there aren’t many trees or natural things to hide in. The chemicals used on farms can also be bad for birds. The study found that birds that need protection in the United States are even more at risk in hot weather on farms.

Hot Weather Boosts Bird Breeding Success in Forests

The study also found that birds in forests do better when it’s really hot. They have a 14 percent better chance of having baby birds. David Bird, who is a bird expert, said this study helps us understand how farming with only one type of crop is not good for birds.

The study also tells us that we should take care of our forests because they keep birds safe from the heat and also help the environment by taking in carbon.

The study suggests that farmers could help birds by leaving some natural spaces around their farms, like trees and plants that are native to the area. Birds don’t need a lot of space; they just need a little bit to make their lives better.