Factors affecting trends in BOGS

1. Climate Change: The changing climate has a tremendous effect on the populations of birds of prey, as well as other species of wildlife. A warming earth is causing some species to move further north, into cooler climates, while others are losing habitat due to human-caused development. When regions that had been home to birds of prey become unusable due to development, their population numbers naturally decrease. 2. Human Interference: Human activities can significantly disrupt birds of prey’s habitat and availability ofresources, thus causing their population levels to decrease. These activities can include habitat destruction and fragmentation, intentional poisoning, hunting, and trapping. Increasing urbanization, agricultural conversion, and logging also have a major effect on the birds of prey. 3. Poaching: Poaching is also a major factor affecting the birds of prey populations, particularly in the case of endangered species. Hunting and trapping of birds of prey have resulted in their extinction in certain areas and the numbers of species is declining. 4. Climate Adaptation: Birds of prey may need to adapt to their new and changing environments in order to survive. Whether or not they can successfully do so depends on their flexibility and the availability of resources in the new environment. This can heavily affect the population numbers of birds of prey as different species may not be able to successfully handle the transition.