A recent increase in winter mortality in Atlantic puffins could be due to worsening conditions within the North Sea, according to new findings published in the scientific journal Marine Biology. The study used geo-location technology to track puffins from the Isle of May National Nature Reserve, home to the largest colony of puffins in the North Sea. The puffin population on the Isle of May has declined by 30% in recent years.

The research team included scientists from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the British Antarctic Survey and was led by Professor Mike Harris, Emeritus Research Fellow at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, who has studied puffins for 37 years.

20-03-2009

A new report based on 40 years of data analysed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, state government wildlife agencies, and non-governmental organizations including Audubon (BirdLife in the USA), shows that birds are sending an important and troubling message about the state of the environment. The report also shows that investment in conservation works, exemplified by the remarkable recoveries of waterfowl after more than 30 million acres of wetlands were restored and managed.

Tiny songbirds such as martins and thrushes migrate as much as 311 miles a day according to the first study by biologists tracking such birds in their annual winter migration and back. One industrious martin flew 4,660!!!!!!!!!! miles from the Amazon basin to Pennsylvania.

Bridget Stutchbury York University Toronto Journal of Science Report