Experts dismiss claim that new mobile phone networks reduced bird population

"Do you see how the birds have waned away with the advancement of mobile radio waves 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G," reads the text of an image shared in this Sinhala-language Facebook post on June 7, 2023.

The image also has an illustration depicting the evolution of mobile network technology alongside a thinning flock of birds.

The same misleading claim has been shared on Facebook here and here.

Image

Screenshot of the Facebook post captured on August 18, 2023

Nearly half of all bird species around the world are in decline, with more than one in eight at risk of extinction, according to the most recent State of the World's Birds report in 2022 released by BirdLife International, a global conservation group (archived link).

However, experts told AFP that Sri Lanka's declining bird populations cannot be blamed on advancements in mobile technology alone.

"In Sri Lanka's context it is not possible to state with certainty that bird populations have declined due to mobile telecommunication radio waves because there has been no scientific study done on the subject," Sarath Kotagama, a professor of zoology from the University of Colombo, told AFP on August 17.

"Therefore it is misleading to claim that advancements in technology are the cause behind the drop in bird populations," he went on to say.

Pat Leonard, a media relations officer for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in the United States, also told AFP on August 17 that there was no evidence to support the claim that radio waves harm birds or their breeding cycles.

However, research has shown that the rollout of new mobile towers could adversely impact birds as they could collide with them.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that nearly seven million birds die each year from striking communications towers in the country (archived link).

"This is especially true for migratory birds flying at night who become disoriented and attracted to the lights on the towers," Leonard said. "Reducing the number of bird deaths may come down to changing the lighting system."

She went on to say other factors that have contributed to the decline in the global bird population are habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation as well as free-roaming cats and accidents involving windows, vehicles, power lines, communication towers, and wind turbines.