Sunday, April 6, 2008

Canaries in the Coal Mine? Songbirds in the Ecosystem.

Common Dreams writes about an artilce Published on Friday, April 4, 2008 by The Independent/UK
"American Songbirds Are Being Wiped Out by Banned Pesticides"
by Leonard Doyle
"The number of migratory songbirds returning to North America has gone into sharp decline due to the unregulated use of highly toxic pesticides and other chemicals across Latin America.

Ornithologists blame the demand for out-of-season fruit and vegetables and other crops in North America and Europe for the destruction of tens of millions of passerine birds. By some counts, half of the songbirds that warbled across America’s skies only 40 years ago have gone, wiped out by pesticides or loss of habitat."
Read more here at Common Dreams and The Independent.
Are songbirds the canaries in our ecosystem/coal mine? Sadly, if only we had common dreams . . .

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this post, and the links. The article also says that natural habitats are being ploughed under for corn to be used in production of ethanol/bio-fuel. The balance of nature is very delicate. What a mess we are making of things.