Staff reports
Have you seen a cardinal with a white stripe on its chest? How about two birds’ nests welded together?
Helen Peacock, a bird aficionado, recently witnessed both at her residence in Salisbury.
“I have never seen anything like it in all the years I’ve lived here,” Peacock said.
Peacock found the unusual bird’s nest lying on the ground outside her home Thursday morning after spotting a bird resembling a cardinal eating from her bird feeder earlier in the week.
“I think the warmer weather is causing some birds to alter their migrating habits,” Peacock said.
While birds in North America typically fly south in the winter, warming climate changes can cause birds to migrate south earlier than usual.
According to an Audubon Society analysis examining four decades of Christmas Bird Count observations, bird populations grow most in the states experiencing the greatest warming.
“We’re seeing compelling signs that climate change has been with us and having serious biological consequences for the past 40 years,” the Audubon Society stated. “This means that even small shifts actually have an impact on many species.”