"Ornithologist Katie LaBarbera arrives at the Coyote Creek Field Station in Alviso about 45 minutes before sunrise - peak time for bird activity. The early part of LaBarbera's Sunday shift is peacefully spent capturing, banding and releasing birds in what they call a "little oasis of trees." But around 9:00 am every week, their team of volunteers hears a cacophony of car horns from I-880, less than half a mile to the east."
"The Bay Area is a permanent or temporary home for 250 different species of resident and migratory birds. Noise can affect their stress response, interfere with their ability to listen for predators and prey, and alter their vocalizations. But for conservationists striving to preserve the region's threatened bird populations, disturbance from traffic, airplane and other noise is an unavoidable backdrop-and one that, until recently, has been little studied."
An early-morning field station near I-880 provides habitat for birds but is regularly disrupted by traffic noise. The Bay Area supports about 250 resident and migratory species, and noise alters birds' stress responses, impairs their ability to detect predators and prey, and changes their vocalizations. Conservation efforts for threatened populations must contend with pervasive traffic, airplane and industrial noise. Research in New Mexico found fewer species and individuals at sites with gas-compressor noise, and the COVID-19 shutdown offered researchers a rare opportunity to study how reduced human activity affected bird song and behavior.
Read at The Mercury News
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