Studying Climate Change by Watching Bird Nests

BirdNote®
Studying Climate Change by Watching Bird Nests
Written by Conor Gearin

This is BirdNote.

    [Purple Martin calls]

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 nest-watching volunteers monitor birds over a huge area, they cover way more ground than a small team of scientists ever could.

That 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.

    [Purple Martin calls]

So nest-watching 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.

Learn how you can participate in Project NestWatch on our website, BirdNote dot org. I’m Ariana Remmel.

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Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Purple Martin ML359017961 recorded by Jeff Ellerbusch.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2024 BirdNote June 2024
Narrator: Ariana Remmel

ID# nestwatch-02-2024-06-06        nestwatch-02

Reference:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43071-y