Birds’ changing migration patterns due to global warming

By AP (Associated Press) - January 2, 2007

CLEVELAND — In the American Bird Conservancy’s report called “A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Global Warming,” the conservancy predicts doom for more than half of the migrating species in the Great Lakes region if the Earth’s warming trend continues at its current pace.

For Lake Erie birders, this prediction sounds, well, a little eerie.

John Pogacnik, a naturalist with the Lake Metroparks says the kinds and numbers of birds in the area have changed dramatically over the past decade.

During the Christmas Bird Count at Kelleys Island last year, Pogacnik counted more than 100 hermit thrush where there had never been more than a handful before.

The Ohio Division of Wildlife says birds are following the bugs, which are relocating as temperatures rise.