![]() The first deaths were reported on 20 August on White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. “The fact that we’re finding hundreds of these birds dying, just kind of falling out of the sky is extremely alarming … The volume of carcasses that we have found has literally given me chills.” It could be something that’s still completely unknown to us,” said Salas. Another theory is that the smoke from the wildfires may have damaged their lungs. A cold snap locally between 9 and 10 September could have also worsened conditions for the birds.Īny of these weather events may have triggered birds to start their migration early, having not built up sufficient fat reserves. ![]() The south-western states of the US have experienced extremely dry conditions – believed to be related to the climate crisis – meaning there could be fewer insects, the main food source for migrating birds. “Almost as if they have been flying until they just couldn’t fly any more.” ![]() “They’re literally just feathers and bones,” Allison Salas, a graduate student at NMSU who has been collecting carcasses, wrote in a Twitter thread about the die-off. Historic wildfires across the western states of the US could mean they had to re-route their migration away from resource-rich coastal areas and move inland over the Chihuahuan desert, where food and water are scarce, essentially meaning they starved to death. During this migration it is crucial they land every few days to refuel before continuing their journey. Long-distance migrants flying south from tundra landscapes in Alaska and Canada pass over America’s south-west to reach winter grounds in Central and South America. To see this many individuals and species dying is a national tragedy.” “To see this and to be picking up these carcasses and realising how widespread this is, is personally devastating. “I collected over a dozen in just a two-mile stretch in front of my house,” said Desmond.
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