Spotted flycatchers have declined 87% since 1970
On Tuesday
3rd September 2019 at 8pm upstairs in the Spirit Store Dundalk
Docks, Breffni Martin will give an illustrated talk entitled Birds in an Age of
Extinction.
About 2%
of birds have gone extinct over the last few hundred years, and about a further 12% are under threat; about 22% of
mammals and a staggering 33% of amphibians. This is between 100 and 10,000
times the background rate of extinction and tells us that we are currently
living in an age of extinction. How great it will turn out to be depends on
many factors. While birds have performed relatively well compared with other
taxons, but up to 30% of what’s left are threatened. For example spotted
flycatchers used to be common but have declined 72% in the last 20 years. The
talk will cover how this came about and what is likely to happen over the next
few decades.
Entry is
free and all are welcome!
