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The colder weather leads me to less twitching and
more philosophy. In that vein of thought by the fireside, I
noticed an article in last Saturday's Canberra Times (page B3)
lamenting the decline in migratory birds in Europe. This follows Prof
Richard Kingsford's recent similar lament over rapidly declining numbers in
Australia. The CT article postulated that this was leading towards
extinctions (and so we should all feel terribly guilty and will sorely miss our
Latham's Snipe).
The decline in migratory bird numbers of course is
due to a convergence of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, the Taliban
resurgence and a rock star for an Environment Minister as we all know - and
possibly climate change as well.
What I tripped over though was the statement that
".. after millions of years as one of the most spectacular shows in the natural
world, the Afro-European bird migration system is going fundamentally
wrong".
"Millions of years" ??? The last ice
age ended just 8000 to 10 000 years ago. Northern America and Europe were
covered a mile deep in ice and the rest of the UK was a barren wasteland devoid
of all fauna and flora according to a web article. All life forms in the
UK arrived in extremely recent times geologically speaking.
There was no bird migration to northern summers
then. With all life confined closer to the equator, there would have been
little seasonal effects. So what happened? Why are all long-distance
migratory birds not extinct already?
Did the birds put their migratory desires on ice
for a few thousand years? - I think not. Did the migratory habits evolve
since the ice age? - I think not as the time is far too short in evolutionary
terms. Did they just adapt and if so why cant they do it again
but for different reasons?
Is there another explanation?
Lindsay Nothrop
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