In the Most Untouched, Pristine Parts of the Amazon, Birds Are Dying by the Millions - Scientists May Finally Know Why

What kills birds by the millions in untouched wilderness?

In "a tiny scattering of research cabins in 1.7m hectares (4.2m acres) of virgin forest" scientists in the Ecuadorian Amazon - a section of forrest so remote that it has no roads in to it, with no nearby farms, no industry or logging - saw populations of birds drop more than 50% between 2000 and 2022.

But it's not only the Ecuadorian Amazon.

In the Brazilian Amazon where "we've had pockets of stable forests over millions of years" researchers compared bird numbers with the 1980s and found deep declines, and in Panama "their numbers had gone off a cliff: 70% of species had declined, most of them severely; 88% had lost more than half their population.

Research sites in Panama report an "almost complete community collapse"

It's us:

"A 1C increase in dry season temperature would reduce the average survival of birds by 63%.