Locals and bird lovers of Australia have been seeing less magpies, kookaburras, willie wagtails and other birds in some regions.
The birds are not endangered just yet but could soon be.
Birdlife Australia published the State of Australia's Birds Report, where data from over 400,000 surveys across the country were collected and analyzed, resulting in data that surprised researchers.
According to Birdlife Australian editor Sean Dooley, predators, loss of habitat and climactic changes may be factors that led to the decline, but more research is needed before species actually become endangered.
"The stuff that Birdlife Australia has come out with is showing is that a lot of birds that we assumed were really common and sailing along quite fine are showing significant declines," Dooley said.
According to the report, only 10 percent of Australia's 137 terrestrial bird species follow a consistent trend. Birds such as willie wagtails and magpies showed inconsistent trends, declining in some regions, while increasing in others.
Sightings of the laughing kookaburras declined to 40 percent in the southeastern region, including Melbourne, Syndey, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Magpies consistently declined in the east coast, while willie wagtails also decreased in the east coast and eastern Mallee.
Out of 39 species dependent on Mallee woodlands, 22 were found to be declining. In over 36,000 surveys, sightings in Mallee, which is home to national parks, dropped from 2001 to 2006, went back up in 2011 and then started to drop again.
Other Australian birds whose sightings were reported to have declined are the Southern boobook, the tawny frogmouth owls and birds of prey.
Almost two decades ago, volunteers started collecting data and gathered 14 million records in over 900,000 surveys. The gathered data was used as the basis for the report. Of the 900,000 surveys, 427,000 were used for indices.
The results of the report highlight that the start of the decline of birds, which are top prey in many ecosystems, may lead to their being endangered and further, a possible danger in the whole system.
Photo: Leonora Enking | Flickr
