Studying Climate Change by Watching Bird Nests
6/20/20262 min
Organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and by Birds Canada, volunteers for Project NestWatch observe local nesting birds and track whether they’re successful in raising their young. Because the nest-watching volunteers monitor birds over a huge area, they cover way more ground than a small team of scientists ever could. Data from Project NestWatch helped scientists reveal that cold snaps and heat waves make many bird parents less successful in raising their young.
More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.
Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free listening and other perks.
BirdNote is a nonprofit. Your tax-deductible gift makes these shows possible.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAriana Remmel· Host0:00
[upbeat music] This is BirdNote. [birds chirping] We know that climate change puts birds at risk broadly speaking, but helping them means figuring out the nitty-gritty details of how climate events affect birds. A people-powered effort called Project NestWatch is helping scientists put the puzzle together. Organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and by Birds Canada, volunteers for Project NestWatch observe local nesting birds and track whether they're successful in raising their young. Because the NestWatch and volunteers monitor birds over a huge area, they cover way more ground than a small team of scientists ever could. This was a big help when researchers investigated how extreme temperatures in the spring affect nesting birds throughout North America. Using Project NestWatch data, the researchers found that for many species, including these purple martins, cold snaps and heat waves make them less successful in raising their young. [birds chirping] So NestWatch and volunteers helped reveal that extreme weather events from climate change, not just higher temperatures overall, have a specific impact on bird parents, and that helps us understand just a little bit better how to protect birds in the future. [birds chirping] Learn how