News Agriculture

Birds fed a common pesticide lost weight rapidly and had migration delays

Neonicotinoid insecticides have previously been implicated in declining bee populations

white-crowned sparrow

Researchers attached trackers to white-crowned sparrows dosed with a neonicotinoid pesticide to study its effect on the birds’ migration.

M. Eng

By Maanvi Singh

- More than 2 years ago

The world’s most widely used insecticides may delay the migrations of songbirds and hurt their chances of mating. 

In the first experiment to track the effects of a neonicotinoid on birds in the wild, scientists captured 24 white-crowned sparrows as they migrated north from Mexico and the southern United States to Canada and Alaska.