Climate change is making birds boring

Bigger storms and rising seawater aren't the only bad things about climate change. Birds are reportedly going to get a lot "uglier" as the Earth warms, The Independent reports.

Most of what makes birds interesting or even spectacular comes from characteristics used for attracting mates or intimidating rivals. But in the case of male flycatchers, who have a brilliant white patch on their forehead during mating season, the warming habitat has resulted in the birds having smaller and smaller patches. “Just as climate change will lead to winners and losers in terms of species' abundance and distribution, it seems it may also lead to winners and losers in the global beauty pageant," researchers Cody Dey, of Windsor University, and James Dale, of Massey University, wrote for Nature Ecology & Evolution.

And it's not just the flycatchers: "The researchers said other studies suggested this reduction in 'ornamentation' could be happening all over Europe and that more species could be similarly affected," The Independent reports, although the direct link between the vanishing mating characteristics and the warming global temperatures isn't yet clear.

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