Book Reviewed: Flight Paths: How a Passionate and Quirky Group of Pioneering Scientists Solved the Mystery of Bird by Rebecca Heisman

Survival of migratory birds Many wonderful books have been written on what migrating birds do and how they do it, but if you dig a little deeper, you will find another story that is equally fascinating. The environmental impact on the survival of migratory birds. For example, many birds seek out similar climates year-round in the Americas, they spend the summer in drier parts of North America, and the winter in drier parts of Central and South America. Recent studies suggest that we are the sixth mass extinction on this planet. Approximately 3 billion fewer birds are living in North America today than there were in 1970. This is a staggering 29 percent decline. The volume of annual bird migration to the Americas alone has dropped by 14% in just the last decade. The causes are habitat loss, impact of pesticides, collisions with human-made structures, predation by outdoor cats, and climate change. This book focuses on how to fight the extinction of migratory birds with modern tools. The radar gathers data on migration patterns, the use of miniaturized tracking devices tracks the movements of individual bird, and the machine learning and high-volume genetic sequencing examine migration in finer detail. Instead of relying on trackers, we can now follow their journeys using information already encoded in their feathers, their blood, and their DNA (intrinsic markers). Birds’ feathers carry crucial information about where they've been and what's happening in their habitats, which can help with much-needed conservation efforts. In addition, the mercury concentrations in historical versus modern feather samples gives a sense of environmental effects. North American Breeding Bird Survey, an annual volunteer effort in which bird-watchers comb established roadside routes in spring and report what they find have been significant in understanding human impact of the habitats of migratory birds. This book is written for all readers interested in bird migration, and what one can do to minimize the extinction of birds.