Posted on 03/12/2010 10:55:45 AM PST by NormsRevenge
physical adaptation to one’s environment is nothing new.
I wish the wild turkeys around here were bigger but the hills are pretty lean pickings on this side of the valley.
Maybe the birds they couldn’t catch weigh more.
Downsizing.
If you really want to understand some impact of man on birds (migration and bodyclocks), go to a large grocery store parking lot sometime at midnight. With all of the light noise, you will find hundreds of birds still awake chirping away.
Has nothing to do with “rising temperatures”, has to do with easier eating. Go where it is safe enough to not freeze.
I’ve also seen some odd waterfowl walking in neighborhoods at night (2 foot tall birds).
On average, the decline in mass of spring migrants over the 46 year study was just 1.3%," says Dr Buskirk.Looks like academic standards are declining. This is well within error of measurement area. It's not only the social science faculties that are full of morons today. It is spreading. Idiocracy is approaching."For a 10g warbler that's a loss of just 130mg."
But some species are losing more weight.
For example, the rose-breasted grosbeak has declined in mass by about 4%, while the Kentucky warbler has dropped 3.3% in weight and the scarlet tanager 2.3%.
This has been a cold winter. Perhaps those hatched out this spring will grow larger and develope longer wing spans.
Or the smaller size of song birds could be caused by the condition of the world economy. Fewer people putting out wild bird food
Jail birds on the other hand seem to be getting much fatter.
My first question is who are we paying to study almost half a million birds?
Then why are people in the southern US so much fatter than people in the north?
Downsizing as the economy worsens isn’t unusual. Birds will just have to do their part!
LOL!
Oh ye of little faith, the enlightened MSM shall carry the water for our beloved Patron Saint Algore.
Based on 100 years of photographic evidence - it is very clear that (Western) humans have increased in volume. We are now enormous - up down and all around.
Humans live 70+ years. We changed in just four generations.
Birds live 2-5 years - Avian generational change has taken much longer. It may be cyclical - they get big & get smaller or cross breed or become extinct. Didn’t Darwin explain that?
ROTFL!
good one
Hmm, global warming causes bias in balances used in the field!
Or, are the birds killed, then weighed, or captured, weighed in the field, or captured, brought to a lab then weighed?
a simple shift in protocols or in the precision and accuracy of the equipment could account for a 4% delta.
Stop making any sense! Climate change is the reason we all don’t have our own unicorns and rainbows, please just go along with it and smile and nod like everyone else... lol
Ok, all sarcasism aside, how can the people who write this stuff be so blatantly stupid? Is there a course on how to be so mentally ill that you’ll state anything as fact?
Too funny. “Scientists” seeing things that they want to see.
Oh climate change, is there nothing you can’t do?
****how can the people who write this stuff be so blatantly stupid?****
Mandated for tenure;)
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