Population
Rusty Blackbirds have declined significantly in recent decades. The reasons are unclear, but habitat loss is likely a major contributor to the decline. Mercury contamination may be a problem for populations in northeastern North America. Rarer than previously believed, it is uplisted from a species of Least Concern to Vulnerable status in the 2007 IUCN Red List.
Additionally, citizen science projects such as the North American Breeding Bird Survey and Christmas Bird Count have determined that Rusty Blackbirds have dropped 85%–98% in the past 40 years. This is very worrisome for many people, as scientists are desperately trying to figure out what exactly went wrong. Sighting submission services such as eBird are encouraging birders to keep track of Rusty Blackbirds. The Rusty Blackbird Technical Working group has been actively coordinating and conducting research on this species since 2005
Read more about this topic: Rusty Blackbird
Famous quotes containing the word population:
“America is like one of those old-fashioned six-cylinder truck engines that can be missing two sparkplugs and have a broken flywheel and have a crankshaft that’s 5000 millimeters off fitting properly, and two bad ball-bearings, and still runs. We’re in that kind of situation. We can have substantial parts of the population committing suicide, and still run and look fairly good.”
—Thomas McGuane (b. 1939)
“O for a man who is a man, and, as my neighbor says, has a bone in his back which you cannot pass your hand through! Our statistics are at fault: the population has been returned too large. How many men are there to a square thousand miles in this country? Hardly one.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“How much atonement is enough? The bombing must be allowed as at least part-payment: those of our young people who are concerned about the moral problem posed by the Allied air offensive should at least consider the moral problem that would have been posed if the German civilian population had not suffered at all.”
—Clive James (b. 1939)