Arctic oil exploration attracts bird predators

Opening the Arctic to oil development could have the unintended consequence of creating “subsidised housing” for predators that feed on native nesting birds, according to a new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the US Fish and Wildlife Service and other organisations.

Opportunistic predators like Arctic fox, ravens and gulls tend to set up camp around drilling infrastructures — everything from road culverts to drilling platforms — and supplement their diets with both garbage and nesting birds from the area, the study found. The paper’s authors monitored nearly 2,000 nests of 17 different bird species over a four-year period. Birds from five continents migrate to the Arctic each year to nest… Read Full Article