Impacts of Tar Sands Development on Birds

From the executive summary of a report issued jointly by the Boreal Songbird Initiative, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and The Pembina Institute:

The projected strip mining of 740,000 acres (300,000 hectares) of forests and wetland in the tar sands [beneath Alberta, Canada, North America’s No. 1 source of oil] will result in the loss of breeding habitat for for between 480,000 and 3.6 million adult birds. The corresponding impact on breeding will mean a loss of between 4.8 million and 36 million young birds over a 20-year period, to between 9.6 million and and 72 million birds over a 40-year period.

For additional information, read independent reactions to the news here, here, and here, and view an 8 and 1/2 minute video about the impacts here.