nature

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The Thinning Sky: The Accelerating Silence of The North American Canopy

From Voices of the Wild Earth:

We are not just witnessing a fluctuation; we are witnessing a vanishing act where one in four birds has disappeared in a single human generation.

As the sun rises on March 2nd, the first “Vanguard” migrants—cranes, blackbirds, and meadowlarks—are making landfall in the United States. But the headlines from the Washington Post confirm a data-driven tragedy: North America’s birds are dying off at an ever-faster rate. The iridescent blue of the Indigo Bunting, currently preparing for its flight from the Caribbean, is becoming a rarer sight in our summer brushlands.

1️⃣ THE MYTH: “POPULATIONS NATURALLY FLUCTUATE”

There is a persistent cultural misconception that bird declines are merely part of a “natural cycle” of boom and bust. We assume that because we still see birds at our feeders, the ecosystem is intact.

The scientific reality is a net loss of 2.9 billion birds since 1970. This isn’t just a loss of rare species; it is the “thinning” of the common—the sparrows, the warblers, and the buntings that form the backbone of our biodiversity.

2️⃣ THE SCIENTIFIC REALITY: THE ACCELERATING DECLINE

The latest decades of observations from across the continent reveal a disturbing trend:

Grassland Collapse: Meadowlarks and other grassland specialists have seen a 53% population decline, the steepest of any avian guild.

Neotropical Hazards: Migrants like the Indigo Bunting face a “double jeopardy”. They face habitat loss in the tropical forests where they spend the winter, and pesticide-heavy agricultural “deserts” in the North where they attempt to breed.

Trophic Mismatch: Rising temperatures are causing insects to hatch earlier, often before the long-distance migrants arrive, leaving parents unable to find the caterpillars needed to feed their young.

3️⃣ WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW (MARCH 2)

In the forests of Central America and the Caribbean, millions of songbirds are currently in the “Hyperphagia” stage.

The Weight Race: An Indigo Bunting is currently gorging on seeds and early fruit to deposit fat in its “furcular pit” (the hollow above the wishbone).

The Continental Dispersal: While the Buntings wait, the Eastern Meadowlark is already on its breeding grounds in the Southern US, establishing territories this very morning. Every fence post claimed today by a Meadowlark is a victory for a guild that is struggling to hold its ground.

4️⃣ WHY IT IS ECOLOGICALLY CATASTROPHIC

Birds are the “mobile links” of our ecosystems.

Pest Regulation: A single warbler or bunting consumes thousands of insects a month. Their decline leads to increased agricultural pests and the overuse of chemical pesticides.

Seed Dispersal: They are the primary architects of our forests, moving seeds and cross-pollinating plants over thousands of miles.

Sentinel Health: Their accelerating decline is an early-warning signal for a landscape that is losing its resilience.

5️⃣ GESTURES FOR TODAY: HEALING THE FLYWAY

We can mitigate the decline by changing the management of our “personal landscapes”:

Convert Your Lawn: This week, plan to replace a portion of your lawn with native grasses and meadow flowers. Meadowlarks and Buntings need “messy” edges, not sterile turf.

The Window Strike Sweep: As migration begins, more birds will hit windows. Install bird-safe decals or screens on your high-risk windows today.

Ditch the Pesticides: Every insect killed by a pesticide is a calorie stolen from a migrating bird. Let the birds be your pesticide.

6️⃣ CONCLUSION

The decline of North American birds is a silent emergency that demands an audible response. When we lose the Indigo Bunting or the Meadowlark, we don’t just lose a song; we lose a functional piece of the machinery that keeps our continent alive. This March, as the waves of migrants begin to surge, let’s ensure they find a landscape that is ready to welcome them back.

📚 SCIENTIFIC REFERENCES & DATA

Population Decline: The 3 Billion Birds study (Rosenberg et al., 2019) published in Science documents the loss of 29% of the North American avian population since 1970.

Grassland Metrics: Data from the USGS Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) confirms that grassland birds are the most threatened guild in North America.

Migration Timing: The Cornell Lab of Ornithology (BirdCast) radar data tracks the specific entry points of early-season migrants across the lower 48 states during early March.

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Spotlight On Basswood (Tilia americana)

Posted by Mike Adamovic on the Native Plants of the Northeast’s Facebook page:

Basswood is one of the finest canopy trees to be found in our forests. Every aspect of this species is commonly understood to be attractive—its large heart-shaped leaves, finely furrowed bark, pendulous branches that cast a deep shade, and, for a couple of weeks in early summer, its cream-colored flowers, which exude a scent as strong as perfume and often give away the tree’s presence before one lays eyes on it. These attributes have led many parks and large estates to plant this most regal of trees.

Basswood thrives in rich, mesic soils. It performs best in full sun to light shade. It has an extensive range—from Maine to the eastern edge of North Dakota, south to Arkansas, and east to North Carolina. It generally isn’t the most common of trees in many parts of the Northeast, but it can be locally abundant in the western fringes of our region.

The name basswood comes from the word “bast”—tough fibers in the bark useful for making a variety of items. Basswood has some of the longest and strongest fibers of any of our native trees. Native Americans collected the bark in the spring and used it to create flexible handles, or with further processing, cordage. Another commonly used name for this species is American linden.

Trees usually range in height from 50-100’, though on rare occasions they can reach up to 120.’ In open areas, mature trees have a bell-shaped form. It is one of the best trees to plant if you require a shade tree. This is due to basswood’s narrow form, as well as the arrangement of branches and its broad leaves the size of human hands, which effectively capture more light than the sinuous leaves of oaks.

Individual flowers around a half inch in diameter are borne on drooping cymes 1-3” across. Each inflorescence typically contains around ten flowers, though it can contain as few as five to as many as twenty. As mentioned earlier, the flowers are incredibly potent, having a scent somewhat between a sweet floral perfume and strong household cleaners. It can be overpowering if you’re near a tree or the wind happens to catch and drive the fragrance in your direction.

Honeybees visiting basswood flowers produce a paler honey with a lighter flavor that’s highly prized. In terms of our native insects, when this tree is in flower, pollinators will be redirected, forsaking other plants for the sumptuous blooms of basswood that are rich in nectar. Bumblebees, halictid bees, flies, moths, and other insects feverishly swarm the trees.

There have been over 150 species of Lepidoptera recorded using basswood as a larval host plant. A few which use it primarily or solely as a host plant include the basswood leafroller (Pantographa limata), linden prominent (Ellida caniplaga), double-lined prominent (Lochmaeus bilineata), linden looper (Erannis tiliaria), and four-horned sphinx (Ceratomia amyntor).

Other insects that can be found feasting on various parts of the tree are the basswood leafminer (Baliosus nervosus), basswood lace bug (Corythuca pallida), and linden twig gall gnat (Cecidomyia citrina).

Basswood nutlets are consumed by large game birds, as well as squirrels, chipmunks, and other small mammals. (These nutlets have a low viability, <70%, making it one of the most difficult North American trees to propagate.) Larger trees sometimes develop cavities which prove useful as nesting sites for birds and dens for squirrels and raccoons.

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Visit To Meadowlily Nature Preserve – September 28, 2013

Come walk with us – on a guided tour of Meadowlily Nature Preserve on the morning of Saturday, September 28th.  Located within the City of London, on the south side of the Thames River between Highbury and Meadowlily Road, this 14.5 acre site is comprised of floodplain, open meadow and upland forest. It is an Environmentally Significant Area (ESA) and is stewarded by the Thames Talbot Land Trust.  Local Ingersoll members will carpool at 9:15 from the Municipal Parking Lot behind the arena.  Tour time is 10:00 a.m.  For more information, call Wayne or Meg at 519-485-4220.

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Why ‘Adopt-A-Wild Bird’?

People love feeding birds; everyday many fill their bird feeders in their back yards so they can watch from afar.

We wanted to provide that same service for the wild birds that frequent the Lawson Nature Reserve, giving visitors an opportunity to ‘Adopt-A-Wild Bird’. This is a simple concept, which goes to help a great numbre of birds who are seeking a snack. Sound like something you would be interested in? Allow us to continue…

All you need to do is forward a cheque addressed to:

Ingersoll District Nature Club

c/o Lana Graham, Club Treasurer

255 Mutual Street, Ingersoll, ON  N5C 2A9

You can spend $15 dollars (for a specific bird), or you can spend $100 and feed the entire flock of wild birds. You can choose which kind of birds you wish to feed –  are you partial to blue jays? mourning doves? chickadees? Well they’re all options, and you can make sure that they spend the day on a full stomach!

Not only does adopting wild birds bring with it a whole host of new friends, it also helps support our mission of keeping the Reserve as beautiful and entertaining as it can be. That way, our birds continue to fly, eat, and rest safely within our woodlands.