CYBER WAG eats Tweedy

Another well funded study using computer projections to determine the outcome of something which was predicted by another computer projection which was well funded due to global warming. The ever growing CYBER WAG generation of science marches on and now they have come for Tweedy!

from Reuters (of course)

Birds face longer migrations due to climate change

OSLO, April 15 (Reuters) - Some European birds will have to fly further as global warming shifts their breeding grounds northwards in the biggest challenge to the tiny migrants since the Ice Age, scientists said on Wednesday.

(I thought the warming was going to be more pronounced in northern latitudes, are these birds flying into a potential disaster here)

Some types of warbler would have to add 400 kms (250 miles) to twice-yearly trips up to 6,000 kms to and from Africa, according to the report which said it was the first to examine the potential impact of climate change on avian migration.

(OH, OH potential impact being examined here, this is serious)

"For some birds the extra distance might make the difference between being able to make it or not," Stephen Willis of Durham University told Reuters of the study he led with a team of British-based scientists.

(Now not only is that a scientific observation, it is just so profound)

The report, adding to projected threats to animals and plants from global warming, said an estimated 500 million birds migrate from Africa to Europe and Asia every year. Some weigh just 9 grams (0.3 ounces).

(God I hate those projected threats, they're worse than potential impacts and the are everywhere, I thought I saw a putty Cat!)

Nine of 17 warbler species studied would have to fly further under projected warming by 2071-2100, especially the whitethroat, the barred warbler or the Orphean warbler that cross the Sahara Desert, according to the study in the Journal of Biogeography.

(Wow that soon boy we better hurry up and tear down the industrial revolution, before we invent something that might do away with fossil fuel use through innovation and market economies. Oh I forgot we got wind.)

"Some species may be able to adapt and change, for example by adopting shorter migration routes, if they can find enough food at the right time," Willis said in a statement. Some blackcap warblers in Germany had dropped winter flights south.

(That might have just been a cut back because of high energy prices and recent economic downturn, Lufthansa is expected to take up the slack)

"As temperatures rise and habitats change, birds will face their biggest challenge since the Pleistocene era," he said.

The end of the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago marked the end of the Pleistocene.

(These guys really know their science)

The study said breeding grounds were moving northwards because of climate change, while wintering regions nearer the equator were less affected. The Arctic region is warming almost twice as fast as the rest of the globe.

(Well maybe the warblers will make a good replacement for seals on the Polar Bears diet)

STOPOVERS

The report, which also involved experts from Cambridge University and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said the European Union should review protected areas for migrant species that need stopovers on their marathon flights.

(Cool bird rest areas, I wonder if they will have vending machines and overnight security ?)

Still, Willis said migratory birds had proved adaptable before -- surviving Ice Ages and the drying out of the once greener Sahara region about 6,000 years ago.

(Wow but your Lexus Hybrid can't save them, amazing)

Willis said the scientists picked warblers because of their widely differing strategies.

Cyprus warblers, for instance, stay on the Mediterranean island year round and would be among those unaffected.

(Oh Thank God I was really worried about the Cyprus warblers great,great, great, great, great grandchildren that may be too many greats, I am not sure of the life expectancy of Cyprus Warblers but you are welcome to look it up.)