EarthChat: BIRDS! Why We Can’t Live Without Them….

This Tuesday 22nd April on EarthChat at 12noon on Seymour FM!

Have you ever been struck by the song of a bird and immediately found your curiosity and wonder has led you beyond what it is to be human to another realm? Or a sudden and elusive movement might have caught your eye, be it in your garden or out in the bush. And whilst looking up to the sky have you found yourself witnessing the miracle of birds defying gravity mid air?

Birds offer a portal to the wild world providing a sense of connection with nature which can evoke feelings of awe and wonder, promoting greater awareness and appreciation for the environment. No wonder humans have been inspired by birds on so many levels, from music, poetry and art to engineering.

Here are a few examples of their remarkable achievements: The Arctic Tern flies 90,000 km round trip every year between the north and South Pole - from Greenland in the North, to the Weddell Sea in the South. The Bar-Headed Geese can fly as high as 6,000 metres when crossing the Himalayas. Humming Birds are the weight of a sheet of paper and the size of the eye of an Ostrich, (who like the Emu and Cassowary don’t fly at all). They can too fast for the human eye to see how they got from A to B, and they can hover mid air without falling to the ground. And what’s more, they can fly backwards. Sharp-tailed Sandpipers migrate from Australia to Siberia and back again every year to breed. And the Lyrebird has inhabited Australia for over 15 million years… Superb fairy-Wren’ fathers sing to their eggs before they hatch. Extraordinary Bird facts go on and on…..

On every level of human existence we need the existence of birds. Recent research indicates that of all the natural sounds, bird songs and calls are most often cited as helping people recover from stress, improve mental wellbeing, and enhance cognitive functions like focus and attention. The absence of birdsong would create a noticeable and potentially unsettling silence in nature. 

Now for some sobering facts for us to address. We are losing birds species and bird numbers to dangerous levels for a healthy survival of the planet. Nearly three billion birds are estimated to have been lost since 1970 in North America alone, and a further 600 million have been lost in the European Union since 1980, an area five times smaller. Since European colonization 69% of Australia has lost at least one bird species with a 61% increase.

Without birds, aside from the reasons cited above, ecosystems would face significant disruption, impacting pollination, seed dispersal, insect control, potentially leading to reduced biodiversity and increased disease risk and a reduced food supply with economic consequences of reduced food production and potential health issues. By having more insects roaming the land as a result of no birds, crops will be ravaged by the amount of pests causing loss of human life, and other mammals, reptiles, amphibians and plant life.

The good news is there’s much we humans can do to change this trajectory to support the ongoing health and preservation of birdlife around the planet. Join Ruth and her guests, ecologist, Peter Mitchell, and avid birder, Val La May, to explore the wonderful world of birds and how we can support their vital existence.

Peter Mitchell

Peter has a PhD in zoology and years of experience in ecology and land management.  He has worked as a Landcare coordinator, teacher and land management officer with government departments. Since retiring, Peter is been involved in many volunteer groups working on landscape restoration and the management of many of Mitchell Shire’s Natural Treasures.  He has written many of BEAM’s submissions to government agencies including the Shire’s Structure Plans and Rural Strategy.

Val La May

Born in Rochester, New York, (USA), Val moved to Boise where she grew up in Idaho's Rocky Mountain West. Picnicking and camping ‘up in the hills’ led she and her siblings to rampage around the forest like wild things. Many years later, on returning to the Idaho woods, she became a ‘birdo’ when recognising the sound-track of her childhood with Nuthatch, Clarks Nutcracker, the haunting song of Swainson’s Thrush, and many others. In her early twenties she and her partner heard that Australia was recruiting teachers. They leapt at the chance and the first thing they did on arrival was to ‘go bush’. It was like being on a different planet. The birds, mammals, reptiles and plants were alien to them. Even the frogs didn’t sound at all like ‘proper’ frogs. Val has lived in this country for most of her life having become an Australian, both legally and emotionally. When she travels overseas, she misses the smell of Eucalypts and the sounds of the Australian bush.

Photograph by seiichiro-s: Endangered Cassowary bird is thought to have evolved about 60 million years ago. It is the largest native vertebrate in Australian rainforests with around 4,000 left in the wild. A ground bird that run up to 50 km/h on land, and they are strong swimmers. Weighing up to 80 kg it is as tall as an Emu but it’s kick is twice as hard since it is twice the Emu’s weight.

TUNE IN: SeymourFM, 12noon, Tuesday 22nd April. Click here for Seymour FM's website. 

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