Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Birds Shrinking Due To Global Warming, Will Disappear By 2035
Altered News ^ | 8/3/2010

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”.


TOPICS: Humor
KEYWORDS: satire
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-58 last
To: Taffini
So, if animals tend to be smaller in warmer climates...and man is an animal...then what?

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.

41 posted on 08/03/2010 11:50:33 AM PDT by CitizenM ("Do you miss me yet?" Yes, George, we do.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior
Just remember: they used to be as big as dinosaurs.


42 posted on 08/03/2010 11:54:35 AM PDT by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality: Marxism is Evil.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Billthedrill
That’s the sumbitch that pooped on my clean car the other day. I’m renting an antiaircraft cannon.

It's your own damn fault for washing your car. Birds never poop on a dirty car.

43 posted on 08/03/2010 11:57:21 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (For the first time in half a century, there is no former KKK member in the US Senate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior

““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.


44 posted on 08/03/2010 11:58:56 AM PDT by mgpilot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior
In biology, there is a general rule of thumb that animals tend to become smaller in warmer climates:

Yeah, that explains the elephants in Africa, and the emu in Australia.


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

45 posted on 08/03/2010 12:02:06 PM PDT by The Comedian (Evil can only succeed if good men don't point at it and laugh.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ZirconEncrustedTweezers
What? I thought COLD weather caused shrinkage.

Ever notice how, after getting out of a cold pool, you can't find...it?

46 posted on 08/03/2010 12:30:22 PM PDT by JaguarXKE
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior

Wasn’t there a web site somewhere that attempted to archive all the things purported to be caused by GW?


47 posted on 08/03/2010 12:32:58 PM PDT by JaguarXKE
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JaguarXKE
Speak for yourself.

; ]

48 posted on 08/03/2010 12:34:38 PM PDT by GSWarrior (I'm from the government and I'm here to change the climate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Tijeras_Slim

Is that Rodan?


49 posted on 08/03/2010 12:40:17 PM PDT by Seeking the truth (0cents.com - Are you sick of Obama - visit this site!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior

The pool water was warm I tell you...warm!!!...hot even!!!

50 posted on 08/03/2010 12:50:38 PM PDT by Stand Watch Listen (It's the 'Land of Opportunity'... NOT... the 'Land of Entitlements'!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Seeking the truth

The monster from a really bad B movie, “The Giant Claw”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sKGz-hQ0yg


51 posted on 08/03/2010 12:51:24 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim (Live jubtabulously!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior

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.


52 posted on 08/03/2010 7:26:44 PM PDT by pasodave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pasodave

You know that this came from a satire website?


53 posted on 08/04/2010 10:16:56 AM PDT by GSWarrior (I'm from the government and I'm here to change the climate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior

“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!


54 posted on 08/04/2010 10:25:10 AM PDT by dalereed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior
“Songbirds in the US are getting smaller”

".....And Leon's getting laaaaarger."

55 posted on 08/04/2010 10:29:30 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; Rurudyne; steelyourfaith; Tolerance Sucks Rocks; xcamel

Just a little joke. :’)


56 posted on 08/04/2010 8:18:17 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior
Soon birds will be so small that you will only be able to view them under a mircoscope!

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.

57 posted on 08/06/2010 10:42:29 AM PDT by PATRIOT1876 (Language, Borders, Culture, Full employment for those here legally)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior
Birds shrinking to the point of invisibility??!


58 posted on 08/06/2010 10:45:28 AM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-58 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson