– If you walk down the streets, there will be 100 kids lying by a building. Some are dying and some are barely alive.
This is what biologist Elena Moreno Portillo from the environmental organization Ecourbe tells us The Guardian.
After a heat wave hit southern Europe last week, there has been a sharp increase in the number of bird deaths in Seville.
The birds often build nests on buildings, which get an increased temperature when the sun hits them.
– The buildings are usually made of concrete or metal plates, and these get very hot. It becomes like an oven for the chicks, and the chicks thus move out of the nest before they can fly, as they cannot withstand the heat. They are literally cooked, says the biologist.
AERABLE: The sailors are basically a very airworthy bird family. Photo: Alberto Novo / Shutterstock / NTB
sea view
Do not get the opportunity
The struggling birds belong to the sailing family. A family that according to Large Norwegian encyclopedia usually characterized by the fact that they are very skilled pilots.
Now, however, the extreme heat in Spain has meant that many of the birds have to pay with their lives even before they can enjoy life on the wings.
– In mid-July, many of these could probably have flown, but they have been hit by the heat wave and have not had the opportunity to learn it, Portillo says.
Not surprised
Last week, temperatures were between 35 and 40 degrees. It has been over 20 years since it has been so hot in Spain in the months before in the summer.
It is especially bad in the region of Andalucía, where you will find the city of Seville, among other places.
Ornithologist and general secretary of Birdlife Norway, Kjetil Solbakken, is not very surprised when Dagbladet makes contact.
sea view
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He says that the sailors stay in the nest for more than a month after the eggs have hatched. He supports the explanation that the nest becomes like an oven.
– What happens if they move out ahead of this is that they are unable to fly. Then they just fall to their deaths.
When he found out about the heat wave, he became worried.
– This is just a small result of climate change. This also applies to the lives of other animals.
Warmest in over 20 years
2000 dead cows
Also in the United States, the heat has had a deadly effect. In Kansas, 2,000 cows have been reported to have lost their lives due to the heat, he writes NBC News.
The channel quotes the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which explains that the cows have died as a result of high temperatures and high humidity.
According to the head of the international weather service World Weather, Drew Lerner, the temperature in Kansas reached above 42 degrees Celsius on Monday.
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