Hundreds of swallows, flycatchers and warblers were found dead in September in the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arizona and Nebraska. Research indicates that 80% of the thousands of songbirds that died suddenly showed typical signs of emaciation.
In September, hundreds of swallows, flycatchers and warblers were found dead in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arizona and Nebraska, in the southwestern United States. As soon as the news of the death of these migratory bird species became known, several of the ornithologists said that this environmental tragedy, as they cataloged it, was due to the climate crisis. Now, three months later, autopsies reveal that about 80% of deaths were caused by emaciation, a syndrome that causes accelerated loss of muscle mass. (Read: Massive deaths of migratory birds in the United States)
According to the National Wildlife Health Center of the USGS, in charge of performing the necropsy, the muscles that control the wings of the birds were severely shrunk, in addition, they found blood in the intestinal tract, kidney failure and loss. general body fat.
Jonathan Sleeman, director of the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, told The Guardian that “what appears to be the immediate cause of death in these birds was emaciation as a result of It is very difficult to attribute a direct causality, but given the close correlation of the weather event with the death of these birds, we believe that the weather event will force these birds to migrate before they are ready or perhaps go affect their access to food sources. during their migration “. Sleeman was in charge of performing the autopsies on 40 of the 170 migratory bird bodies he received. (You can read: Why there are mass deaths of elephants in Africa? Scientists study the causes)
For Martha Desmond, a professor in the biology department at New Mexico State University (NMSU), this case is not a short-term starvation. “They got so emaciated that they actually had to devote themselves to losing their main flight muscles. That means that’s not something that happened overnight.” Desmond, clarified that when the birds began the migration process they did it in bad conditions due to the megasequía that this presenting / displaying at that time in the southwest of the country.
“Here in New Mexico we’ve seen a very dry year and we’re forecast to have more of those dry years. And in turn, I’d say it looks like climate change is playing a role in that, and we can expect to see more of that in the future, ”Desmond added. This year the route, for the researcher, during her migratory route the birds were forced to divert their migration, away from the coastal areas rich in resources, and move over the desert of Chihuahua, where food and water is scarce.
Although neither expert attributed the death of the specimens to climatic variability, they were emphatic in explaining that it has influenced the change in plant temperature, which is reflected in the intense rains and extreme droughts.
Of the bodies collected between August and September, months in which the mass death of this species was recorded, only 80% could be analyzed, as the remaining 20% were not in sufficient condition to perform the appropriate tests. (I could read: The gray dolphin is classified as an endangered species)