Climate change affecting NL birds’ behaviour: scientists

Scientists are getting more concerned about warmer waters surrounding Canada, and the effect that’s having on wildlife who call the shoreline home.

One well-known St. John biologist has noticed the 12,000 gannets in Cape St. Mary’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, home to an ecological reserve, are behaving unusually.

One parent typically leaves to find food for the chicks, while the other stays behind to stand guard.

But this summer, both parents are flying the coop. “We’ve actually had gannets abandoning their chicks, which is something they never do,” says bird biologist Bill Montevecchi.

Biologists believe it’s because water in the cape is four degrees warmer than usual, and fish – that the gannets are relying on for food – have moved deeper beneath the surface, and out of the gannets’ range.

Montevecchi says the abandoned chicks are left vulnerable to predatory birds, like eagles. “That’s a hugely high risk. We know a lot of those chicks have died. A lot of those chicks are going to die of starvation,” he says, adding that some parents do return.

“In two three decades, we’ve never seen this abandonment.”

Even if the changes happening in the water turn out to be a short-term anomaly, marine researchers say the ramifications will be felt far beyond this summer.

“I think it’s an example of animals changing their behaviour because things are changing around them,” Susanna Fuller of the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax says. She chalks it up to climate change, as does Montevecchi.

“Birds are signalling that…something is radically different than we’ve seen in decades, in terms of how they have to go about getting their food,” Montevecchi says.

What’s still unclear is how successful the birds will be in their attempts to adjust.

Montevecchi says there are indications gannets in other North American colonies, including one in Quebec, are also behaving differently.