How the drought is changing not only what we see, but what we hear

MORONGO VALLEY, CA - APRIL 11: An unidentified songbird rests on charred branches near a desert marsh as recovery from a 2005 wildfire continues at Big Morongo Wildlife Preserve on April 11, 2007 in Morongo Valley, California. The preserve, faces the prospect of being affected by a proposed plan to build power lines and transmission towers to deliver "green" energy to Los Angeles from geothermal, solar, and nuclear sources in southeastern California near the Salton Sea, and Arizona. The 85-mile-long "Green Path" energy corridor being pushed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to bring nonpolluting power to Los Angeles would cut through two desert wildlife preserves, a national forest, and Pioneertown, a set used in the filming of countless westerns. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) and the mayor have been condemned by more than a dozen preservation and community groups for the project that threatens to destroy wildlife corridors, natural areas, and vistas. Big Morongo Canyon, west of Joshua Tree National Park, is designated by the Bureau of Land Management as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern and is one of the 10 largest cottonwood and willow riparian, or stream, habitats in California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

Rising temperatures and the fourth year of the worst drought in recorded history have meant that spring and summer have been coming earlier than usual to California.

The result of that, according to bird enthusiast Bernie Krause, sounds more like a winter day than one in spring in his neighborhood of Glen Ellen in Northern California. Krause has been recording songbirds throughout California for the past 20 years and in doing so has captured the dramatic effects of environmental degradation over that time. "This year—because of the drought—we experienced what was virtually a silent spring with no birdsong for the first time in living memory—even at what would have normally been the height of the season in mid-April," he told Fast Company's Co.Exist. A few monsoonal rains in Southern California have temporarily boosted the population of songbirds, but that's an outlier for the state.

Ecologists aren’t sure why the birds are leaving. Theories suggest West Nile virus may be a culprit, boosted by a consolidation of mosquitoes as water sources become more scarce. It’s also possible that migratory patterns are changing with the altered seasons.

We check in with the Audubon society of California about the the drought’s impact on California’s soundscape ecology.

Guest:

Andrea Jones, Director of bird conservation for the California Audubon Society