Bird Board
Science article on spring migration
Posted by Robin Diaz
over 7 years ago
2 Comments
Here is an article written by Ben Guarino and published in the Science section of The Washington Post on May 16. The author addresses why spring migration is becoming quieter - some birds are out of synch with their environment, due to shifting start of spring (i.e., climate change).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/05/16/experts-fear-quiet-springs-as-songbirds-cant-keep-up-with-climate-change/?utm_term=.9d95ff16495d
Comments
If you notice at the very end of the article, the authors come to a very important conclusion: that spring migration sucks!
This is a good example of a well-meant article being so poorly written that the lay audience (which is and should be the main target) probably comes away with a feeling of "who cares".
Instead of explaining that spring is up to two weeks earlier in many places, the author couches it in days. The casual reader, not well-versed in math, sees that spring is half a day early, or a day early, or whatever. So what.
He then names a bunch of birds that mean nothing to most people, and adds that, although most suffer from a too early spring, one of them is suffering because spring is later than expected in its area. Open the door for the doubters. In one paragraph he even gives the inattentive reader the impression that birds eat oak leaves. He didn't mean that, but his phrasing leaves you with that thought.
It could have been better written. Believe me, the problem is real and super important. I spent yesterday in a pristine ponderosa pine forest. It was totally silent. Not a flycatcher, not a woodpecker, not even a Steller's Jay to be heard for miles. Only a few ravens in the air...like an apocalypse.
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