While birds have been inexplicably falling from the sky in the United States, certain indigenous birds in central Europe have been dying in recent years at an alarming and mysterious rate. Now, we may finally know what's been leading to the avian deaths across the Atlantic: winter sports.
That's right, skiers, snowboarders, and all your brethren. According to researchers from the Swiss Ornithological Institute, certain populations of indigenous birds have been rapidly declining due to human activity caused by the rise in winter sports.
The study, which was published in the International Journal of Avian Science, focused on the excrement left behind by the wood grouse (seen above) at various distances from highly trafficked winter resorts. What they discovered was that certain stress hormone levels went way up in the bird poop found in close proximity to the resorts.
Now, the problem here is not necessarily that humans are destroying the environment the birds live in, or that they're shooting for them for sport, or something as obvious. The problem is that the Tetrao urogallus has a different diet in the wintertime that necessitates a very long digestive period, so it has to remain immobile for long periods to process food (in this case, conifer needles) into energy.
So, whenever something startling or presumably predatory happens within range of the birds -- say, a pack of loud snowboarders shredding through the fresh powder -- that process gets interrupted. The birds don't have enough to time to eat and digest, which means they don't get the energy they need to live, and, well, you get the idea.
It's hard to see what can really be done about it. The resorts are where they are, and it's near impossible to try to move indigenous birds from their native habitat. Until scientists and engineers can devise better ways to protect and insulate these endangered species from such disturbances, just know that the next time you go off trail and think there's no one around, you're never really alone.
Image: Flickr/skruk/CC
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