"Cooked Alive" - Baby Swifts Are Suffering from Extreme Heat Wave Reaching 100 Degrees

Baby Swifts 'cooked' alive as they leave nests in 100-degree heat. Swifts, in particular, frequently build their nests in buildings made of materials such as concrete or sheet metal. These circumstances and the current Spanish heat wave can turn their nests into furnaces.

Hundreds of juvenile birds have been discovered spread over streets in southern Spain after falling from their nests in a frantic bid to escape the excessive summer heat.

"They're actually being fried," said Elena Moreno Portillo, an animal activist with the Seville-based conservation group Ecourbe, according to The Guardian.

Collecting Newborns

People have been collecting boxes full of newborn birds, according to the group's Facebook page. As many as 100 swifts have been gathered in a single day in Seville and Cordoba, where there are significant urban colonies of swifts.

Hundreds of birds have been taken to rehabilitation clinics hoping that any survivors might be nursed back to health. Many others have not been so fortunate.

Diego, a volunteer, told the Seville daily Diario de Sevilla that he has been traveling to the city's airport every day to collect live young that have been found in need of aid since there is a colony that lives there.

Diego stated that during the last week or two, he had gathered around 80 individuals, who were subsequently sent to the Center for the Recovery of Endangered Birds (CREA) in San Jerónimo. However, he stated that the number of dead significantly outnumbers the number of survivors.

Early Onset of Heat Wave

This is happening this year because of how early the Spanish heat wave began. Temperatures like these are more frequent in July and August but seldom in June.

Interestingly, June is also a rapid breeding season. According to Moreno Portillo, if the heat wave had occurred later in the year, as it usually does, many of the birds would have been able to fly.

According to Spain's AEMET meteorological organization, the current heat wave is the first recorded since 1981-more than 40 years ago. According to The Local, Spain's minister for environmental transition, Teresa Ribera, termed it "extraordinarily frightening."

Advised to Hydrate

People around the country have been encouraged to drink plenty of water and remain as cool as possible. Meanwhile, rising temperatures are impacting the United States and have been blamed for the deaths of thousands of cows.

Scientists have consistently warned that global temperatures have risen since the Industrial Revolution and that human activities are mostly to blame for global warming, one facet of climate change.

Impact of Climate Change on Birds

According to NASA, nine of the ten warmest years have happened in the last decade.

Climate change impacts birds both directly and indirectly, according to bird research. Bird distributions are strongly related to both winter and summer temperatures. Rising temperatures due to climate change may directly impact birds by pushing them to use more energy for thermoregulation.

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