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Study: North American bird population has declined by 2.9 billion since 1970

By Daniel Uria
Birds fly on and off of a lamp post on 5th Avenue in New York City on November 30, 2018. A study released Thursday found that the bird population in North America has declined by 29 percent since 1970. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Birds fly on and off of a lamp post on 5th Avenue in New York City on November 30, 2018. A study released Thursday found that the bird population in North America has declined by 29 percent since 1970. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 19 (UPI) -- North America's bird population has declined by nearly 3 billion in the last five decades, according to a study published Thursday.

The study, published in the journal Science showed a loss of 2.9 billion birds in the United States and Canada since 1970 a total decline of about 29 percent in the population over that time.

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"Species extinctions have defined the global biodiversity crisis, but extinction begins with loss in abundance of individuals that can result in compositional and functional changes of ecosystems," the study states.

Researchers analyzed range-wide population estimates of 529 species of birds and included biomass estimates from weather radar to track birds during their biannual migrations in order to calculate how populations have changed.

The decline was most severe in birds found in grasslands such as sparrows, warblers, blackbirds and finches as their populations fell 53 percent in the past half-century.

Nearly three-quarters of all grassland species are experiencing a decline in population as these areas are prone to habitat loss and exposure to toxic pesticides in part due to the presence of farmlands.

"You only need to fly across the country to see that we've drastically changed the face of the earth," said Peter Marra, senior other of the study and director of the Georgetown Environment Initiative at Georgetown University.

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Use of pesticides has harmed birds by contaminating the seeds they eat, which causes them to lose weight and makes it more difficult to migrate. It has also led to a decline in the insect population, removing birds' primary source of prey.

Window collisions also result in about 600 million bird deaths each year, while cats hunt down as many as 4 billion birds annually.

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