Climate change may have made the Arctic deadlier for baby shorebirds
What were once relatively safe havens for baby birds are now feasting sites for predators
BABY BEWARE Climate change may be spoiling the Arctic as a low-predator haven for ground-nesting shorebirds like these spoonbill sandpipers, named for their distinctive bills.
Climate change may be flipping good Arctic neighborhoods into killing fields for baby birds.
Every year, shorebirds migrate thousands of kilometers from their southern winter refuges to reach Arctic breeding grounds. But what was once a safer region for birds that nest on the ground now has higher risks from predators than nesting in the tropics, says Vojtěch Kubelka, an evolutionary ecologist and ornithologist at Charles University in Prague. With many shorebird populations dwindling, nest success matters more every year.