Connecticut Audubon Society hosted its first of five Young, Gifted, And Wild About Birds online presentations on Wednesday, February 3. It was originally scheduled for January 19 but was postponed.

Dr Brooke Bateman led the “Birds Are Telling Us It’s Time To Act On Climate Change” program to share the connection between birds and climate change.

According to Connecticut Audubon Society, “Dr Brooke Bateman is the lead climate scientist for the National Audubon Society. She is based in Stony Brook, N.Y., and has conducted groundbreaking research into how climate change affects birds. She has also explained how protecting birds and mitigating climate change can work hand in hand.”

Bateman started off her presentation by sharing that since 1970, nearly 3 billion birds have been wiped out.

“One in four birds are gone, disappeared, no longer flying in our airs due to changes, for the most part, that have happened because of human influences,” she said.

She highlighted that climate change is “a threat multiplier” where birds already experiencing challenging conditions are then negatively impacted more severely.

Bateman explained that since the climate crisis and biodiversity go together, policies need to tackle them at the same time.

“We can no longer think about them independently … they are intertwined, and these crises are only going to continue if we don’t act now to help cope with them,” she said.

Future Warming Scenarios

Bateman talked about future warming scenarios and how the global warming average is not on track to meet its target, which can mean irreversible damage and more loss of birds.

“That’s what we did in Survival by Degrees, our report that came out in 2019. We assessed birds in North America to see how they could potentially be affected by climate change under these climate change scenarios,” she said.

One example Bateman provided was about the Wood Thrush, which is a species that would be “highly vulnerable to climate change” and would lose a dramatic amount of its range if we do not achieve the global goal.

“Audubon’s science shows that two-thirds of North American bird species are at risk of extinction from climate change,” she indicated in her slide.

In addition to the Wood Thrush, other birds that are currently climate vulnerable and on the Partners in Flight Watch List are Baird’s Sparrow, Bobolink, Canada Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Chestnut-Colored Longspur, Florida Scrub-Jay, Golden-Winged Warbler, Greater Sage-Grouse, Marbled Godwit, Mountain Plover, Piping Plover, Saltmarsh Sparrow, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Sprague’s Pipit, and Tricolored Blackbird.

Connecticut’s Birds

Bateman emphasized that if no action is taken to stabilize climate change, bird species in Connecticut will be forever lost.

She shared, “Forest birds in general are in trouble. Forests are home to some of the most climate vulnerable groups of species.”

In total there are 225 climate vulnerable species of birds throughout the boreal, western, subtropical, and eastern forests. Since 1970, Eastern Forest birds alone have decreased by 170 million.

Meanwhile, 60% of Coastal Birds are also at risk, including one of Bateman’s favorite birds: the Piping Plover.

“I do want to highlight that it’s not just gloom and doom … there is good news,” Bateman said. “If we do take action on climate change now, then we can actually improve the chances for 76% of these species that are at risk, meaning they will be less vulnerable to climate change and experience less range loss.”

Climate Factors

Bateman noted that there are nine existential climate factors: sea level rise, spring drought, fire weather, cropland expansion, heavy rains, extreme spring heat, false springs, and urbanization.

She explained, “You might not think urbanization is related to climate change, but it is because in the future we’re anticipating higher amounts of warming in the US. There will be more people leaving rural areas, abandoning agriculture, and moving into cities. Due to that, cities will expand, and we will have more suburban sprawl.”

If nothing is done to prevent climate change, Connecticut will likely see multiples of these factors at once that will affect not only birds, wildlife, and habitats, but also people.

“Every species that we looked at – all 605 species – is going to be affected by climate change. No species is going to escape climate change. That means all the birds in your backyard and in proxy, you too,” Bateman said.

With that in mind, she recommends everyone must protect the places birds need now and, in the future (climate adaptation), as well as urge action at state and federal levels to address the root of climate change (climate mitigation).

Natural Solutions

As far as what can be done to help birds during the climate emergency the world is in right now, there are natural climate solutions. These are actions that involve protecting, managing, or restoring an area.

In Bateman’s presentation, she specifically cited the need to protect forests, wetlands, and grasslands; better manage timberlands, croplands, and grazing lands; and to restore forests and wetlands.

“Natural climate solutions can cost-effectively provide roughly a third of the climate action needed by 2030. The good thing about them is that they are available now and they’re proven. It is something that we know works, we can do now, and everyone can do,” she said.

The Audubon released its report “Natural Climate Solutions: Maintaining and Restoring Natural Habitats to Help Mitigate Climate Change,” as a path forward to understanding where support can be given to birds and climate change can be stabilized simultaneously.

When looking at Connecticut specifically, Bateman said that 85% the state has the potential to maintain or restore areas.

“There’s a lot that you can do even in your own backyard,” she said.

Concluding her presentation, Bateman put it simply: what is good for birds is also good for stabilizing climate change.

To review the two reports Bateman worked on that were mentioned in this article, visit Survival By Degrees at audubon.org/climate/survivalbydegrees and Natural Climate Solutions at audubon.org/conservation/climate/naturalsolutions.

To watch the entirety of her presentation, visit youtube.com/watch?v=KrHACHMSNbU.

Upcoming Programs

The next installment in the Young, Gifted, and Wild About Birds series will be “High Tide for Salt Marsh Birds” by Sam Apgar.

According to Connecticut Audubon Communications Director Tom Andersen, “Sam is a PhD candidate at the University of Connecticut and is working on the final stages of her dissertation. She is studying how rising sea levels are affecting Saltmarsh Sparrow, Clapper Rail, Willet, and Seaside Sparrow, all of which nest in Connecticut’s tidal marshes.”

Be sure to check out The Newtown Bee’s February 18 print edition for coverage of that presentation.

The remaining online programs are:

“How Drawing and Painting Can Help You Get In Touch With The Bird World” by Jenny Kroik on March 3 at 7 pm;

“Grassland Birds Are Thriving In The Least Likely Place” by Shannon Curley, PhD, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and Jose Ramirez-Garofalo, PhD candidate, Rutgers University, on March 24 at 7 pm; and

“Barn Swallows Under the Light” by Murry Burgess, PhD candidate, North Carolina State University, on April 21 at 7 pm.

To sign up for the upcoming presentations, visit ctaudubon.org/2022/01/young-gifted-and-wild-about-birds-2022/.

Reporter Alissa Silber can be reached at alissa@thebee.com.