Common Birds Disappearing At Alarming Rates

Across the globe so called “common birds” are suffering such a catastrophic decline in numbers that many of them can no longer be considered common.

Many of them are becoming rare and some may even soon become extinct.

This is very much a global event and many newspapers recently reported the massive decline in UK species found in every garden, such as sparrows and blackbirds.

These birds are suffering serious decline because off pesticides and loss of habitat.

Now it has come to light that this is not just a UK or European problem, but a global phenomenon that threatens “common” bird species from Africa’s eagles to doves in Europe, to South America’s yellow cardinals.

BirdLife International has conducted a comprehensive worldwide study of common birds and the results reveal some startling results.

Down in Australia and New Zealand wading bird numbers have dropped by a stunning 80%, in mainland Europe some 45% of all common birds have seen considerable losses.

This is the first survey for four years and the results have prompted calls for the world’s governments to live up to previous promises and urgently assist in curbing this loss of biodiversity that may have far reaching consequences.

On the African continent birds of prey are the worst affected.

Asian water birds have suffered a decline of 62% in numbers and many are already extinct, with others suffering possibly irreversible decline.

Europe is doing no better; across 20 EU countries over the last quarter century over 50 species have suffered very seriously declining numbers.

The turtle dove is one of the worst affected birds, with numbers of this once common bird dropping nearly 80%.

According to BirdLife these dropping bird numbers, although alarming in themselves, are only the tip of what may be a huge iceberg.

They believe that it is just the outward sign of a much more worrying situation.

They say that the countryside is under serious threat and that birds are just an indicator of that threat.

Intensive farming, pesticides and human expansion are a serious problem for birds around the world.

The survey revealed that 20% of world bird species, over 1200 varieties, are under threat and nearly 200 species are in imminent danger.

One of the more startling declines has been seen in India, where the ugly but everyday sight of the white-rumped vulture has become a childhood memory for Indians as numbers have plummeted a staggering 99.9%, in just four years!

In this case, the use of an anti-inflammatory drug in India’s cattle has been blamed for the demise of the carcass eating vultures, but there are many different causes for these declines affecting huge numbers of birds across the world.