On Tuesday’s CBS Evening News, correspondent John Blackstone presented the view that cutting greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to save birds from global warming, as the report related that migration patterns have changed as a result of rising temperatures. Blackstone vaguely relayed that Audubon scientists somehow "found" that "reducing greenhouse gas emissions" could be beneficial to birds: "Here in California, Audubon scientists went beyond measuring bird movement to look for solutions. They found that reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming could make a dramatic difference for many birds."
Katie Couric introduced the piece: "Meanwhile, global warming has a new warning sign. Instead of heading South, many birds are going North for the winter. A report released today only proves what birders already know: Many species are responding to climate change."
After relaying evidence that birds are not migrating as far South during the winter as they used to, Blackstone played a soundbite of Greg Butcher of the National Audubon Society: "It's a very strong indication that global warming is not something that's remote. It's something that's been with us for the last 40 years."
Blackstone then plugged efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:
JOHN BLACKSTONE: Here in California, Audubon scientists went beyond measuring bird movement to look for solutions. They found that reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming could make a dramatic difference for many birds.
WILLIAM MONAHAN, AUDUBON CALIFORNIA: California can really lead the way in this. But ultimately it's going to have to be a global solution that we're looking at.
Blackstone concluded his report intoning: "While birds are moving to adapt to global warming, Audubon scientists say climate change may be coming too quickly for some to survive."
Below is a complete transcript of the report from the Tuesday, February 10, CBS Evening News:
KATIE COURIC: Meanwhile, global warming has a new warning sign. Instead of heading South, many birds are going North for the winter. A report released today only proves what birders already know: Many species are responding to climate change. Here's John Blackstone.
JOHN BLACKSTONE: Near San Francisco, this was a perfect day for bird watching.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE BIRD WATCHER: Oh, yeah, Bewick’s wrens are really, really singing, and they are confusing for most people.
BLACKSTONE: In fact, for bird watchers, something confusing has been going on for years. Bird species have increasingly been showing up where they don't seem to belong. Now scientists with the Audubon Society have taken four decades of bird sighting records and found that some species, like the house finch and Stellar's jay, have moved their winter homes hundreds of miles North. In those same four decades, the average January temperature in the U.S. has risen by almost five degrees. As the temperatures have gone up, the birds have gone North. Since the 1960s, some species have changed their winter destination by more than 400 miles. Of 305 species studied, more than half had moved North an average of 35 miles.
GREG BUTCHER, NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY: It's a very strong indication that global warming is not something that's remote. It's something that's been with us for the last 40 years.
BLACKSTONE: Here in California, Audubon scientists went beyond measuring bird movement to look for solutions. They found that reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming could make a dramatic difference for many birds.
WILLIAM MONAHAN, AUDUBON CALIFORNIA: California can really lead the way in this. But ultimately it's going to have to be a global solution that we're looking at.
BLACKSTONE: While birds are moving to adapt to global warming, Audubon scientists say climate change may be coming too quickly for some to survive. John Blackstone, CBS News, Emeryville, California.
—Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Why not we
February 11, 2009 - 16:30 ET by 10ksnookerRemove all CO2 from the atmosphere. If a reduction is good then all ought to be better.
Or better yet, how does seBS know how much should be removed? Look at all the CO2 that could be saved by shutting down seeBS and their affilates. Must be mega-watts in there to save. More for others.
Spirit of Carrie Nation
February 11, 2009 - 17:15 ET by allanfThe spirit of Carrie Nation lives on in Katie Couric.
HAPPY DARWIN DAY (not)
February 12, 2009 - 08:36 ET by reelman4663% REJECT DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION
The question remains…if we came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?
(and, of course, where are the half-human-half monkeys?)
Remember the theory is evolution by natural selection…
made after Darwin noticed many more animals were born than could survive…
and nature “selected the fittest”.
Nothing in there about half-human monkeys.
(I am a retired college BIOLOGY prof)
Doug Schexnayder, Ph.D. (theconservativecrawfish)
Darwinism
February 12, 2009 - 09:00 ET by LionKingIt is not a theory, it is part of the liberal religion. The latest axiom of the liberal religion is anthropogenic global warming.
Facts are not required. These are accepted on faith.
The irony is..
February 12, 2009 - 09:03 ET by Sergeant ROCK.. that liberals are constantly creating and/or embracing pseudo-religions to counter the real ones. Again demonstrating their total hypocrisy.
"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
George Mason
Bolton/KEYES 2012
This AGW is getting pretty
February 11, 2009 - 16:30 ET by SickofLibsThis AGW is getting pretty bad - I just saw a flock of migrating penguins fly over my NJ neighborhood.
Funny tho, they were heading due east.
Too funny. So while we
February 11, 2009 - 16:58 ET by kgToo funny. So while we "save them" we butcher them with gigantic windmills and give them no place to live because solar panels cover the ground.
"Forget change, I want improvement!"
kg.. funny. Actually Gov. Palin can help here
February 11, 2009 - 17:54 ET by Gary Hallkg.. you're on to something here.
Actually Gov. Palin can help here. In addition to CA placing massive arrays of gigantic windmills along it's norther and eastern borders to keep the birds from migrating, you see, Gov. Palin could approach from the North and East with flock of armed hunting airplanes (converted from wolf to birds) - effectively working to push the migrating birds back south were they belong.
Besides the birds are getting quite tired of migrating every few hundred years with constant climate change. (;~> gary
There's a flock of
February 11, 2009 - 18:05 ET by danboThere's a flock of parrots living in New Orleans. (It's great to watch them at sunset.) They're the offspring of escapees. I understand there's also one in New York. They survive the winters by roosting around heat sources.
Why didn't the audubon society use the parrots as proof of AGW.
Limited Disclosure: I used to belong to the Sierra Club untill they went crazier. Worse of all, I was bribed by Exxon with free New Orleans Saints glasses with fill ups in the 70's.
For the birds
February 11, 2009 - 16:44 ET by QueenMumSo if birds somehow manage to adapt to climate change, why should we humans be quaking in our boots over the prospect? But I guess if you've got a brain smaller than a bird's, you could be excused from thinking like a more intelligent species.
just another thing to add to
February 11, 2009 - 16:50 ET by katainkentjust another thing to add to the list
MORE INVASIVE BIRDS, to be sucked into jet engines
February 11, 2009 - 16:54 ET by upcountrywaterBird species have increasingly been showing up where they don't seem to belong
Because MORONS like you, move then to places, they have never been before.
Sky carp!!
FREEDOM
(D)
Arctic Owls
February 11, 2009 - 17:00 ET by NorthCoasterArctic Owls have been sighted in larger numbers along the shores of Lake Erie in recent Winter bird counts. Greater numbers of birds that normally stay north in the tundra are also showing up in greater numbers along the North Coast.
So is it availability of food that is causing the range changes? Changing temperature? We know generally that with the Arctic Owls, there is a regular cyclic change in their normally available food sources that drives them further South.
Are the Southern birds staying further North because of food availability? How do you control for all of the millions of possible variables to identify specifically that increased CO2 causes the change in ranges of birds?
Its not even clear that positive CO2 change causes positive temperature change. The historical record shows that CO2 rise follows temperature rise.
Let the lemmings of California follow Al Gore and their leaders off into the ocean.
Look what happened to the mammoths.
February 11, 2009 - 17:00 ET by c5thenmaybe we can reverse the last 10,000 years of climbing temperatures and push the climate over into another ice-age. Then maybe we can bring back all those poor fragile species like the mammoth, mastadon, sabre-toothed cats, dire wolves, short faced bear, giant sloth, etc.
Explain to me scientifically why having to migrate shorter distances for many species is supposed to be bad?
Hey, I got the wrong "CHANGE"!
Alan Keyes / Sarah Palin - 2012
Man first sent foot in
February 11, 2009 - 17:57 ET by danboMan first sent foot in North America during the last ice age. And it's been getting warmer ever since. Obviously it's man's fault.
Limited Disclosure: I used to belong to the Sierra Club untill they went crazier. Worse of all, I was bribed by Exxon with free New Orleans Saints glasses with fill ups in the 70's.
Katie... Please...fly
February 11, 2009 - 17:29 ET by bigtimerKatie...
Please...fly away.
Just fly away...get out of our hair.
I am sick and tired of her, have been since she has been on the scene.
And all of this proves that
February 11, 2009 - 17:30 ET by ThisnThatAnd all of this proves that mankind is causing global warming -- how?
___________________________________
The challenge is to follow a consistent plan despite inconsistent prices - Sarah Palin, State of the State of Alaska speech
Birds fly...
February 11, 2009 - 17:44 ET by CobraMan... to areas that suit them. Just because an area is more suitable to a bird today, or even this year, it doesn't mean that they will always return to that same area later. They may fly somewhere else next year.
What I want to know is: How does that indicate a change in "migratory patterns?" We're not the birds, so we really don't know WHAT "pattern" they follow, what criteria they use when they migrate. This "change" could actually be part of a larger pattern that we hadn't observed before. We can't even tell what the pattern really is since most of those birds weren't even tracked until just a few years ago.
Obama: My job is above my pay grade
Interesting Cherry Picking!
February 11, 2009 - 17:51 ET by danbo"the last 40 years"? They went back to the last cold period to start counting. Where were they in the 30's. In fact: have they compared the last 20 years? I don't think so.
I checked over at NOAA's climate at a glance. It seems that California's climate is more interesting than global climate. Since 1986; (I can cherry pick just as well as the audubon society.) California's statewide temps (annual) have gone down by -0.093degF/dec. (And they worry about an increase of .6 in 100 years?)
California's winters since 86 were a bit warmer. But that's because of a string of warm winters from 98-06. But last winter was one of the coldest in the period.
This may say something about the quality of audubon society's "scientist". And the audoban societies integrity.
Bird Brains? The birds may be smarter than the audubon society.
(Note: I'm not typing the audubon society's name with a capital A or S. The don't deserve it.)
Limited Disclosure: I used to belong to the Sierra Club untill they went crazier. Worse of all, I was bribed by Exxon with free New Orleans Saints glasses with fill ups in the 70's.
Here's a Theory
February 11, 2009 - 18:06 ET by Front_RangeMigrating Birds May See Earth's Magnetic Field
LONDON (Reuters) - Migrating birds, it seems, can "see" the Earth's
magnetic field which they use as a compass to guide them around the
globe.
Scientists have known for many years, from behavioral experiments, that
birds use an internal magnetic compass to navigate on their epic annual
journeys. But exactly how the system works has been a mystery.
http://www.reuters.c...
Migration is a mystery to many scientists so how can everything be "blamed" on global warming? Maybe the magnetic field has changed and that's why the birds are migrating in different patterns?
From NASA in December 2008: A Giant Breach in
Earth's Magnetic Field
http://science.nasa....
Did anyone do research on where the birds went
February 11, 2009 - 18:09 ET by JTPduring the last ice age??? Or the ice age before it? Or the warming that caused the last ice age to melt?? Or the warming that caused the ice age before that one to melt?? I think they have more work to do to convince me.
"I need more cowbell!" SNL
K-K-Katie the Ch-Ch-Cherry P-P-Picker
February 11, 2009 - 18:16 ET by dboKatie Couric introduced the piece: "Meanwhile, global warming has a new
warning sign. Instead of heading South, many birds are going North for
the winter.
Yeah, right Katie. And many birds are heading farther south than they use to. Mature Arctic Ivory Gull Seen in Massachusetts-first time in over a century.
Where do they belong?
February 11, 2009 - 18:58 ET by CobraMan"Bird species have increasingly been showing up where they don't seem to belong."
Tell me, Audubon Society, where do the birds "belong?"
I'd like to know when the Audubon Society selected itself as the Masters of the Birds and are now qualified to determine just where birds 'belong." Should the birds themselves be the ones making the decision as to where they belong? Talk about human arrogance!
Obama: My job is above my pay grade
Bias by removal of information.
February 11, 2009 - 19:05 ET by TIRMor complete ignorance of information. If you look at the map of migratory birds listed, the vast majority of birds moved west (usualy moreso) and north. One would assume by the nature of the research that movement north is the only factor correlated with increase in temperature, however the movement west almost completely cancels out the effect of northern movement. For example, Minneapolis is about 130 miles south of Bismarck, ND (about 400 miles east). Yet the average Jan temps for Bismarck and Minneapolis are 21/-1 (Bismarck) and 22/4 (Minneapolis). Total difference is 6 degrees
Not much of difference. Now look at Pierre, SD. Pierre is about 140 miles south of Bismarck and about 400 miles west of Minneapolis (the three almost form a perfect triangle). The average Jan temps for Pierre are 28/8 for a difference of 16 from Bismarck and 10 from Minneapolis. So the movement West has a much greater influence on temps than movement north. Now go back and look at the movements and tell me what is happening. Also the study started on a convienient cold year, while the following year had the same average temp as the end year (34). Add into this the increase in people feeding birds during the winter and I think it is pretty clear that birds are moving where the food is, and not neccessarily to warmer climates. There are a few that buck this trend, but they are hardly the majority.
Here is the map http://www.startribune.com/newsgraphics/39373627.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiacyKUUr
Warming by Man Is Not Proven
February 11, 2009 - 19:55 ET by NHChemistMost people agree with the statement that there has been
warming in the US since the 1970's. The Christmas bird
count is a confirmation of this. Another confirmation is the ice out date for Lake Winnipesaukee here in New Hampshire.
Since 1970, the rolling average of the previous 5 years’ ice
out date has moved ten days earlier; April 27 for the period ending 1970 to April 17 for the period ending 2008. However, the average date of ice out over the last 122 years is April 19. Last year the ice out date was April
23. The earliest date for the 5 year moving average is April 8 for the period ending in 1949.
Plotting the moving averages shows decades long warming or
cooling trends. 1971 and 1972 were the coldest of the century, so by starting a study at the coldest point of the last 100+ years the outcome is predetermined.
All this proves that our climate is variable and that warming trends in the recent past are similar to the one from 1970 to today. It does nothing to prove that the warming is caused by man or that man can do anything about the warming.
The rats are jumping ship.
February 12, 2009 - 09:57 ET by danboLooks like more of the rats are jumping off the AGWing ship.
Is UK MET trying to distance themselves from their own hysteria?
Limited Disclosure: I used to belong to the Sierra Club untill they went crazier. Worse of all, I was bribed by Exxon with free New Orleans Saints glasses with fill ups in the 70's.
We have to do something about global warming
February 12, 2009 - 10:08 ET by cocodrieWe have to do something about global warming immediately.
The birds are already revolting. They attacked one airliner and next they'll be blowing themselves up in shopping malls
There are rumors the alligators in Florida and Louisiana held a bi-partisan conference to decide who has first dibs on fishermen. Air support will be provided by sea gull dive bombers.
Jesus Loves You
Don't even get the squirrels started on this
February 12, 2009 - 10:30 ET by on-the-rocksI have seen the results of a couple of their suicide missions against powerline transformers and substations. (The substation attack was spectacular, aside from the flames, it knocked out traffic lights a mile or two away.)
Mother Nature has been
February 12, 2009 - 10:38 ET by danboMother Nature has been revolting against Al Gore for years.
She keeps giving him a (scratch that "a") the cold shoulder.
Limited Disclosure: I used to belong to the Sierra Club untill they went crazier. Worse of all, I was bribed by Exxon with free New Orleans Saints glasses with fill ups in the 70's.