Changing climate brings uncertainty for songbirds in our region - WCAX

Changing climate brings uncertainty for songbirds in our region

HUNTINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Vermont has over 180 different breeding birds in the state, but a changing climate in the region is putting some of those species at risk, including the songbirds that ring in spring with their sweet melodies.

Jacob Crawford loves birds, and in the last five years, has taken birding more seriously, ”Every single day, taking it all in, learning a lot along the way,” Crawford said.

While the Green Mountain Audubon Center staffer can fake a threat to bring a pair of juncos out, The AmeriCorps member is concerned over real threats to Vermont’s song-bird populations. “Climate -- it has an impact on these very specific habitats,” he said.

From rare species like Bicknell’s thrush, which need the high mountain tops, to golden-winged warblers that love the Champlain Valley shrubland. Both ecosystems, Crawford says, could change in a warmer, wetter climate. “Eventually, we are kind of expecting to see some declines,” he said.

But on top of the direct impacts that climate change is posing, there are also indirect impacts that Vermonters may not be aware of. “With climate change, it’s not like we can point to any one thing and say, ‘Yup, this is directly from climate change,’ because climate hits on so many aspects of what’s going on out there,” said the Audubon center’s Steve Hagenbuch. He says songbird populations can feel climate change from loss of nesting habitat to added predators to new competition from other species. “We find that with a changing climate, we have greater incidents of invasive non-native insects, pests, and plants that come into the habitat.”

But for a bird enthusiast like Crawford, Vermont has also gained species. Warmer temperatures bring increasing numbers of species like the nothern cardinal or tufted titmouse. He says he has also noticed some songbirds toughing the warmer winters out, too, instead of flying south to avoid the cold.

“It’s daunting, but I definitely feel driven to try to make change,” Crawford said.

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