Iraq war is disrupting bird migration patterns

ISTANBUL (AFP) Apr 01, 2003
The US-led war on Iraq has upset the behaviour of migrating birds, frightening them into flying north earlier than usual, a Turkish biologist was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying on Tuesday.

Bombardment and ground fighting have scared many birds including falcons and hawks into migrating to Turkey too early in the year, according to Professor Mehmet Siki of the Aegean Izmir university.

The Euphrates and Tigris rivers form natural migration channels for birds travelling north from Iraq towards their nesting place at the rivers' source in southeast Turkey.

Siki fears that the war could endanger the bird population, by scaring them into areas unsuitable for nesting.

SPACE.WIRE