Coming north, blackpoll warblers leave threatened landscape

As blackpoll warblers (Setophaga striata) start to return to the Great Lakes Basin on a stopover to Alaska and northern Canada, attention is turning to their wintering grounds in South America. “Once we understand where and what it is they’re doing then we can start to figure out where those populations are limited,” William DeLuca, an author on a recent study on blackpoll warbler migration in Ecology, told the Great Lakes Echo. “Then you can start to target your conservation efforts.” At issue, DeLuca says, is palm oil plantations replacing the natural landscapes they use. “It’s a direct connection between the choices we make as consumers and what’s happening with our biodiversity,” he says.

Read the story here, and our coverage of blackpoll migration here.