BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 19, 2024
May marked the 12th consecutive month of record-breaking temperatures globally. June will be the 13th. July is on pace to smash that record again. Readers are asking if hot weather kills nestlings. It does. In fact, it’s an epidemic. It’s been abnormally hot in Maine, and the rest of the country has been even hotter. Three billion birds have disappeared from the planet since 1970. The biggest factors contributing to the decline have been habitat loss, outdoor cats and collisions with man-made structures. At least the birds die one at a time and avoid a mass loss. Excessive heat can kill off an entire brood at once. Losses mount exponentially. As heat bakes the Pine Tree State, mountain birds can move upslope. Eventually, they run out of mountain. As sea level rises, Maine’s salt marshes flood more often, jeopardizing birds that nest there. Soon, they run out of marsh. When their habitat changes too quickly, few animals can adapt fast enough. ~ Bob Duchesne