Red Alert For The Red Lark

Red Alert For The Red Lark

- Andrew Mckechnie

Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense. During June this year, temperatures above 48 degrees Celsius in the American southwest resulted in dozens of flights out of Phoenix airport being grounded; many aircraft cannot take off safely under such conditions. Earlier, in February 2017, on the other side of the planet, yet another wave of mass mortality events struck flying foxes along Australia’s east coast, the bats dying in their thousands because of extreme heat. Over the past few decades, these flying fox die-offs have become regular occurrences rather than the occasional events they were in the past.

Birds that inhabit hot, arid regions are particularly vulnerable to heatwaves and species whose entire ranges are restricted to desert habitats are of greatest concern. In southern Africa, one could easily argue that the endemic Red Lark