As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Saturday 27 September 2014

Migratory shorebirds could face extinction within a decade

Migrating shorebirds that travel to Australia from Siberia are under serious threat from development, which is destroying the vital feeding grounds they rely on during the epic journey.

Director of Deakin University’s Centre for Integrative Ecology Professor Marcel Klaassen, along with other researchers, is examining the migratory behaviour of shorebirds to see how they cope with changes in their environments. Their findings to date have been concerning, and reveal that there has been a dramatic drop in the number of migratory shorebirds arriving in Australia.

Alarmed by the statistics, Klaassen states, “The rate of decline among some of these bird species is such a dramatic drop in numbers as to be truly depressing. For instance, the rate of decline in numbers of one of these, the Curlew sandpiper, is a staggering 10 per cent per year which means they face extinction within a decade.’’

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