BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 1, 2022
Migration is underway. Birds have started to trickle out of Maine. Over the next two weeks, the trickle will become a torrent. Where will they all go? Good question. Birds are disappearing from the planet at an alarming rate. In North America alone, nearly three billion birds have vanished in the last 50 years. Collisions with manmade structures and predation by outdoor cats account for much of the decline, but habitat loss is probably the leading cause. For migrating species, both their summer and winter habitats must be conserved, if we are to slow the trend. Emily Filiberti tracked a female American redstart whose exact winter (Jamaica) and summer (Wisconsin) territories were known — 2,000 miles apart. The odds against such a discovery are incalculable. ~ Bob Duchesne