Studying birds at great depth , without harming them… This is what researchers in Canada are trying to do. At the University of Saskatchewan, which is one of two facilities of its kind in Canada, and the only one in western Canada, the researchers found out that birds are our teachers about the environment.
How? and why?
CBC mentioned that “the new $2.1 million Facility of Applied Avian Research at the University of Saskatchewan is one of two facilities of its kind in Canada, and the only one in western Canada” conducted the research by studying the health of bird populations.
The main reason why birds are our teachers, according to the study, is that “studying the health of bird populations was a good indicator of how an environment was performing, as birds are present in all types of climates,” according to U of S wildlife ecotoxicologist, Christy Morrissey.
However, the researchers are currently studying three types of birds: the white-crowned sparrow, the European starling and a shorebird known as a sanderling.
“There is a bird that’s adapted to each of those environments and if it’s doing well it tells us something: that environment is also, you know, healthy,” said Morrissey, adding ““If they’re not doing well, we can assume that there probably is some problem there.”
Now, imagine that the birds will keep getting thinner due to pollution, and they will not be able to grow fat. We have published such articles previously in our website. So what is new about it?…
Well, since the researcher’s project was already underway when the Husky oil spill leaked more than 200,000 litres of oil into the North Saskatchewan River, they were ” studying the ability for those birds to put on fat to fuel their journey, because we believe those chemicals, the PAHs, that you find in oil that linger for a very, very long time in the environment, long after the oil or the spill or the slick is gone, can impact the bird’s ability to put on fat,” as Morrissey said.
Here’s a video about migratory birds by National Geographic:
