Hummingbirds Are Disappearing World Wide
Look out your window. Do you see any hummingbirds? Chances are you don't. Chances are you haven't seen one in quite awhile. A recent study and population census, led by Ornithologist Dr. Leonard Trayner and other researchers from Scranton University found the population numbers for all North and South American species of hummingbirds have reached critical levels. In some areas the birds have disappeared completely. In others, populations have been reduced by as much as 90%.
The researchers have found no explanation thus far and due to the lack of specimens found in some areas testing was incomplete. "How can you do a census when you can't find any birds to count?" remarked Dr.Trayner "in five of the areas where the census was conducted no birds were found at all. These were areas that had up until two years ago very healthy populations of hummingbirds. At this rate hummingbirds will be extinct within 3 years," he said.
Hummingbirds range in the Americas from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, There are also a few different species in the Caribbean. The majority of species occur in tropical and subtropical Central and South America. The greatest diversity of hummingbirds is in the humid tropical and subtropical forests of the northern Andes and adjacent foothills, but the number of species found in the Atlantic Forest, Central America or southern Mexico far exceeds the number found in southern South America, the Caribbean islands, the United States and Canada. While less than 25 different species of hummingbirds have been recorded from the United States and less than 10 from Canada and Chile each,Colombia alone has more than 160 and Ecuador has about 130 species.
In Canada and the United States, people have been reporting the decline of the hummingbird more and more over the last five years. Backyard sugar feeders in most parts of North America are being either ignored by the birds or there just aren't any birds in the area to feed on nectar. The sudden disappearence adds hummingbirds to the list of quickly vanishing anamals that includes bats,marsupials,frogs, salamanders and last but not least the bees.What is happening? So far nobody, not even the scientists and biologists have a theory to explain these apparent mass extinction events that seem to be increasing.
The researchers have found no explanation thus far and due to the lack of specimens found in some areas testing was incomplete. "How can you do a census when you can't find any birds to count?" remarked Dr.Trayner "in five of the areas where the census was conducted no birds were found at all. These were areas that had up until two years ago very healthy populations of hummingbirds. At this rate hummingbirds will be extinct within 3 years," he said.
Hummingbirds range in the Americas from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, There are also a few different species in the Caribbean. The majority of species occur in tropical and subtropical Central and South America. The greatest diversity of hummingbirds is in the humid tropical and subtropical forests of the northern Andes and adjacent foothills, but the number of species found in the Atlantic Forest, Central America or southern Mexico far exceeds the number found in southern South America, the Caribbean islands, the United States and Canada. While less than 25 different species of hummingbirds have been recorded from the United States and less than 10 from Canada and Chile each,Colombia alone has more than 160 and Ecuador has about 130 species.
In Canada and the United States, people have been reporting the decline of the hummingbird more and more over the last five years. Backyard sugar feeders in most parts of North America are being either ignored by the birds or there just aren't any birds in the area to feed on nectar. The sudden disappearence adds hummingbirds to the list of quickly vanishing anamals that includes bats,marsupials,frogs, salamanders and last but not least the bees.What is happening? So far nobody, not even the scientists and biologists have a theory to explain these apparent mass extinction events that seem to be increasing.
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