Noisy oilpatch equipment is causing songbirds to change their tune, concludes research from the University of Manitoba. “We want to see what is that doing for the birds.” Warrington looked at savannah sparrows, a small, common, thick-beaked sparrow with a splash of yellow over the eye. Article Continued Below“You can hear birds clearly when it’s quieter,” she said. “You start to think, if I can’t hear, maybe the birds can’t hear.” She looked at 26 sites around Brooks in southern Alberta. The sites contained four types of energy infrastructure: natural gas compressors, pumpjacks, screw pumps powered by the electrical grid and screw pumps powered by generators.

Source: thestar January 26, 2018 19:52 UTC