Posted on 08/03/2010 10:54:54 AM PDT by GSWarrior
Songbirds in the US are getting smaller, and climate change is suspected as the cause.
A study of almost half a million birds, belonging to over 100 species, shows that many are gradually becoming lighter and growing shorter wings. This shrinkage has occurred within just half a century in response to warmer temperatures, and at this rate, many may disappear by 2035.
In biology, there is a general rule of thumb that animals tend to become smaller in warmer climates: an idea known as Bergman’s Rule. Usually this trend can be seen among animal species that live over a range of latitude or altitude, with individuals living at more northern latitudes or higher up cooler mountains being slightly larger than those below. But global warming has thrown this process into overdrive, and many of the birds in North America will soon become so small, they will literally wink out of existence.
A black-capped chickadee is half as large as it cousins of thirty years ago The WWF funded study examined the weight and size of 48 individual birds that had been caught and measured at the ringing station from 1961 to 2007. What the scientists found was striking. The birds in North America are getting small. Lead Ornithologist Steve Martin was laughed at when he first proposed his thesis, but his critics are laughing no more.
The differences in size are stunning.
“On average, the decline in mass of spring migrants over the 46 year study was 50%. That’s shocking as a young boy changing shoe sizes in reverse” says Doc Martin. The rose-breasted grosbeak has declined in mass by about 40%, while the Kentucky warbler has dropped 30.3% in weight and the scarlet tanager 20.3%.
The trend is particularly noticeable among those birds that have bright colors.
“In one obvious sense, the consequences are positive,” says Dr Rajendra Pachauri, head of the IPCC. “Now people will have to take global warming and the IPCC more serious, or else we will lose the ability to buy downy blankets or goose feather pillows”.
“Luckily, India has few birds, and this problem is not seen in the bird populations in my country, so we in India will not have to cut our greenhouse gas emissions” he added.
Dr. Martin laments “When we take pictures, we ask you to ‘watch the birdie’. Future generations will have no idea what that means and will think you’re cuckcoo. It’s really tragic”.
Will man, down in the Amazon, shrink into nothing, while his counterpart man, up at the North Pole, will grow the size of the Jolly Green Giant?
Jeeze these people who come up with these theories do not think past their short noses.
It's your own damn fault for washing your car. Birds never poop on a dirty car.
““Right, which is why most of the worlds largest land based animals all live in.....sub Sahara Africa.”
Yes, but the elephants that live in Canada are larger than those that live in sub Sahara Africa..”
I was going to make the same point- polar bears in Africa tend to be smaller.
Yeah, that explains the elephants in Africa, and the emu in Australia.
Ever notice how, after getting out of a cold pool, you can't find...it?
Wasn’t there a web site somewhere that attempted to archive all the things purported to be caused by GW?
; ]
Is that Rodan?
The pool water was warm I tell you...warm!!!...hot even!!!
Bergmann’s rule is an ecogeographic rule that correlates latitude with body mass in animals. Bergmann’s rule is controversial amongst researchers and its validity has been called into question and there is division amongst scientists about whether the rule should be interpreted to be within species variation or among species variation.
You know that this came from a satire website?
“Songbirds in the US are getting smaller”
When the buzzard gets to the size of a hummingbird, let me know, until then I don’t give a damn!
".....And Leon's getting laaaaarger."
Just a little joke. :’)
Why, the crested-okeydoke pelosi of California only has a brain the size of a rotten peanut.
You can blame all of this on the fact that people insist on going to there jobs, staying warm in the winter (selfishly not freezing to death or getting sick with NO concern for the planet or the elites who need heat more than the peons do) and cool in the summer.
Bad Air-conditioning!
So, stop driving your cars and going to work or you'll ruin the planet, bankrupt the carbon credit scammers, and take power from your overlords that they so richly deserve!
Remember, obey your Supreme Leaders. According to Sean Penn, no matter what they do to you, or what their behavior, they are NOT dictators because they were elected just like Stalin, PolPot, Hitler and Ceausescu.
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