In Silence of the Songbirds, biologist Bridget Stutchbury argues that songbirds are disappearing from our skies -- an environmental ‘danger’ sign equivalent to canaries in a coal mine.

“We’ve lost nearly half the birds that filled our skies just 40 years ago,” Stutchbury says. “This is not just an endangered species problem. What we’re facing is a severe loss of ecosystem that comes with removing millions of birds from our forests each year.”

Stutchbury has devoted decades to the study of migratory songbirds and how their habitats are linked with our ecological well-being.

“Without birds to disperse fruit many native shrubs and trees cannot move their seeds and without birds to eat bugs our forests face infestation. Without healthy forests, we lose a vital tool in the fight against global warming,” Stutchbury says. Songbirds also help in natural control of agricultural insect pests, which eat up to 20% of our crops before and after harvest.

What’s killing the birds? The prime offenders, says Stutchbury, are pesticides and destruction of tropical habitat.

“The switch to sun-grown coffee has pushed birds out of their forest refuges in traditional shade coffee farms so we can get a cheap morning fix,” she says. “So, even something as simple as your morning coffee has critical impact."

The destruction of vital habitat extends right from Canada’s shrinking boreal forests to the tropical jungles of Brazil and to the grasslands of Argentina.

Even the bright lights and structures of our cities prove to be a minefield for migrating birds. “One single building in Chicago used to cause 1,500 migratory bird deaths each year until they turned their lights out,” she notes.

Bridget Stutchbury is York’s Canada Research Chair in Ecology and Conservation.

 
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Media contact:

Melissa Hughes, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22097 / mehughes@yorku.ca