Lingering Effects, Texas Drought Disrupts Bird Migrations
by James Gerkin
Strange things are aloft in the bird world.
Endangered whooping cranes flew 2,500 miles (4,023 kilometers) from Canada to Texas, where they usually spend the whole winter. Instead, they pecked around for a short time and flew back. Some ducks just kept flying south — all the way to Belize in Central America.
Throughout the winter, scientists have noticed bizarre bird migrations — a result, they believe, of flocks becoming desperate for food and habitat becoming scarce because of the worst one-year dry spell in Texas history. The unusually mild winter in the Northeast and Midwest has even persuaded some birds they could stay put, fly shorter distances or turn back north earlier than normal.
“We have birds scattered all over the place looking for habitat right now,” said Richard Kostecke, a bird expert and associate director of conservation, research and planning at the Nature Conservancy in Texas…
(read more: HuffPostGreen) (image: AP)