Climate change is devastating one iconic east coast bird species

While humans can detach themselves from the natural rhythms of seasons and sunlight, plants and animals cannot.

Scientists recently discovered that the breeding cycles of a population of tree swallows in Ithaca, New York, are becoming out of sync with when their food, flying insects, becomes available. And this conflict is due to climate change.

Because higher temperatures are occurring earlier in the spring, tree swallow chicks are hatching sooner on average now compared with 30 years ago, a new paper reports.

But bad weather is more common earlier in the spring, so because they’re hatching earlier, tree swallow chicks are less likely to survive.

Even a single inclement weather event, like a storm, can reduce a chick’s chance of survival by 50 percent, the researchers report.

“Our results raise the possibility that animals relying on food resources that can rapidly change in abundance due to the weather may be particularly at risk to climate change,” says lead author Ryan Shipley, in a statement.