UK’s cuckoos unable to adjust migrations to keep up with climate change

UK’s cuckoos unable to adjust migrations to keep up with climate change - Natural History Museum

Cuckoos are on the Red List of British Birds, with their populations in steep decline in much of the country. Image © Edwin Godinho/Shutterstock.

Cuckoo populations are in steep decline in the UK, and climate change may be to blame.

While other birds are shifting their breeding and migration to adapt to rising temperatures, cuckoos are being forced into riskier migrations to get ahead of the competition.

Cuckoos are having difficulty adjusting their internal clocks to the changing pace of the world.

As the world gets warmer due to climate change, the timings of once regular events are starting to shift. Icy periods are growing shorter as temperatures rise, while the heat of summer is lasting increasingly longer.

As a result, animals and plants are struggling to keep up. While many species can shift the timing of key life events to try and adapt, others aren’t so fortunate.

A new study reveals that cuckoos face the choice of setting off on their annual migration across the desert perilously early, or risking their hosts having already bred by the time they arrive.

Dr Chris Hewson, a Senior Research Ecologist at the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) who co-authored the study, writes, ‘There is a trade-off between survival and the benefits of early arrival, perhaps due to birds migrating with less on-board fuel than they otherwise would. Such risks may become more necessary as birds try to keep up with climate change on the breeding grounds.’

The findings of the research were published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.