The 5 senses of spring: How climate change is shaping our seasonal experience | Globalnews.ca

As humans change the climate, our experience of the season is changing, too.

The chorus frog is highly sensitive to temperature change, breeding at some of the earliest signs of spring .

In Quebec , the population has declined at an estimated rate of 37 per cent a decade since the 1950s .

The average growing season starts about six days earlier than it did in the mid-20th century .

Studies indicate climate change is helping to fuel earlier wildfire seasons and more intense burns.

Near-term risks include extreme weather events, from wildfire to windstorms, and insect infestations.

Climate change is accelerating the decline of several bird species and thinning out the spring spectacle.

Shorebirds in particular, which nest as far north as the Arctic , have seen their populations decline.

Their spring migration passes through the Prairies , where wetlands are shrinking. Rising sea levels are expected to cut into its coastal foraging habitat, according to a federal assessment report. Allair said he finds it’s hard to get people to care about declining bird populations through graphs and data. It helps to see it for yourself, he said. “It’s about getting to know something and building those connections with nature through birds that could be the breakthrough.”.