WILDFIRES CAUSE BIRDS TO LOSE HOMES & LIVES - 9/15/20
WILDFIRES CAUSE BIRDS TO LOSE HOMES & LIVES
BY: PEGGY WILLIAMS AKA Birdie of Mississippi
Deadly wildfires that have been burning in our western states have left at least 23 dead at the time of this writing and many families homeless. Smoke has filled the air and according to CNN has caused hazy skies all the way to Washington, D.C., upstate New York and even into Canada. The loss of homes during these pandemic months whether by hurricanes or by wildfires has to be full of anxiety and questions of where to go and what to do?
Last night as I thought about what I would write this week, it came to me that all the trees that have burned were homes and food sources for millions of birds! And these questions came to my mind for the birds – Where will they go? What will they do? If the birds were able to escape the flames, then they must leave the forests and search for a place to go for their food and shelter. Will they go into states that they have never lived or will they cluster closer together in the states where they already live?
On Monday, September 14, 2020, CNN reported that biologists at New Mexico State University have found across their state hundreds of thousands of dead birds. They said that on August 20th “a large number of dead birds were discovered at the US Army White Sands Missile Range and White Sands National Monument, according to Martha Desmond, a professor at the university’s department of fish, wildlife and conservation.” And this isn’t an isolated incident – hundreds more dead birds have been found all over the state and the number of dead birds could be in the millions. The birds that were found were “migratory birds such as warblers, bluebirds, sparrows, blackbirds, the western wood pewee and flycatchers – are also being found in Colorado, Texas and Mexico.” The University is looking in to the cause of death for the birds, but right now they don’t know for certain what might have brought about their death. Residents in these areas said that they had noticed birds acting in unusual ways such as sitting on the ground and letting people come right up to them. They acted “lethargic and unresponsive so they were getting hit by cars – in numbers larger than ever seen before.”
The biologists believe that perhaps the wildfires in California and other Western states may be a large factor in their cause of death. Due to these wildfires the birds must leave their homes even though they haven’t prepared their bodies with extra fat to migrate south. “Birds who migrated before they were ready because of the weather might have not had enough fat to survive. Some birds might have not even had the reserves to start migrating, so they died in place.” Or the birds may have “inhaled smoke and sustained lung damage.”
The knowledge of these dead birds fills my heart with sadness. More and more as we “Look at the birds of the air…” Matthew 6:26, we see that birds and humans depend on each other and our survival may hinge on their survival. Please watch the birds that fly in your yard and notice any unusual behavior on their part. Since the biologists don’t know the cause for the deaths, we should all be looking out for the health and welfare of the birds of our world. So in light of this, please add birds to your prayer list, fill your feeders and your birdbaths to help them live and not die during this 2020 migration season.
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