A Major Climate Threat Could Be Disastrous for Birds

This article was originally published by High Country News.

Last summer, Carrie Brown-Kornarens spent 10 minutes every week observing birds in her Los Angeles backyard and at nearby Griffith Park. Brown-Kornarens, a ceramicist with a background in graphic design and animation, looked and listened closely for birds amid the coastal sagebrush, scrub, oak, and walnut trees. She was already collecting data for a local raptor study, and she liked the idea of learning even more about birds and their behavior.

Just 10 minutes a week: That’s all it takes for volunteers to help scientists such as Olivia Sanderfoot, a postdoctoral scholar at UCLA, understand how birds respond to wildfire smoke. Brown-Kornarens is one of more than 300 volunteers who participated in Project Phoenix, a joint initiative of UCLA and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, led by Sanderfoot. Following a successful pilot season in California last year, the effort is expanding into Oregon and Washington this summer, with data collection to run from July 1 to November 30.

Birds are more sensitive to toxic gases and particle pollution than humans are. They’re sometimes enlisted as early indicators of poor air quality—that’s where the expression “a canary in a coal mine” comes from. But little is known about the specific effects of wildfire smoke and its fine particulates on bird health and behavior. A 2021 U.S. Geological Survey study of radio-collared tule geese suggested that smoke pushed at least four birds hundreds of miles out of their way: On average, the quartet’s members flew an additional 470 miles to go around the smoke, more than doubling their previous year’s migration time. The lead author, Cory Overton, said that a handful of waterfowl also detoured last year around the smoke plumes from Canada’s wildfires. Longer migrations require more energy, which could hinder reproduction or even lead to death.

[Read: You have every reason to avoid breathing wildfire smoke]

As wildfires grow in frequency and severity due to climate change and forest mismanagement, birds and other species are being forced to adapt. “Smoke impacts millions of animals, and yet we know so little about what their natural defenses are against that,” says Jamie Cornelius, a biologist at Oregon State University who has collaborated with the Project Phoenix team. Air pollution from wildfires is eroding the improvements in air quality seen since the passage of the 1970 Clean Air Act. Although summer smoke doesn’t typically coincide with most breeding seasons or spring migrations, that could change as fire seasons lengthen. “There’s an urgency here to figure out more about what’s going on and how we can help birds in this tumultuous time,” Sanderfoot says.

Sanderfoot is studying behavioral changes in 20 species of backyard birds, including crows, song sparrows, and two common hummingbirds. No one really knows what to expect: Birds might hunker down, limiting their activity in order to minimize smoke exposure, or they might become more active, increasing their preening and feeding. They may show signs of stress, such as loss of appetite, or changes in vocalization, as in singing more or less; they may even exhibit aggressive behavior. Or they might leave the area entirely in search of cleaner air. Smoke might also attract other species such as the black-backed woodpecker, which feeds on the insects that are drawn to smoke.

Project Phoenix volunteers are asked to record all the birds they see or hear during a 10-minute survey each week at the same location. Knowing which birds are around when, and in what numbers, will indicate where they are and aren’t when it’s smoky. As the project progresses, researchers will use that basic information to learn more about different species’ behavioral responses. Last year, Project Phoenix volunteers captured 170 hours worth of data at more than 320 different sites throughout California.

Volunteers can sign up at any point during the study window. The project has compiled resources to help novices identify birds; no previous bird-watching experience is required. “It was kind of too easy,” Brown-Kornarens says. “I thought, Am I missing something?”

Recruiting volunteers is about more than just collecting data, says Caitlin O’Neil, the communications lead for the project and an undergraduate student at UCLA: “We also wanted to introduce birding and the benefits of it to people who maybe had never heard of it or never really thought about getting involved with it before.” Sanderfoot hopes to inspire a birder or two along the way. Bird-watching, she says, “has changed my life in a very powerful, positive way”—it’s become a meditative practice that has improved her mental health. “I just want to share that with other people,” she says.

[Read: Why birds do what they do]

In Oregon, Cornelius is trying a different approach to learn more about what birds do when it’s smoky outside. Each summer, she travels to the region’s smokiest areas to tag and monitor common forest songbirds. Her team assesses the birds’ fat and muscle tone and takes blood samples in order to measure stress hormones and immune responses. She also attaches small radio transmitters to finches in order to track the birds and document their heart rate, likely a good indicator for activity levels. As these data accumulate, her lab will use them to understand the physiological and behavioral effects of smoke on birds.

The summer of 2023 wasn’t particularly smoky in California, so last year’s data will serve as a baseline for smokier summers. Even so, Brown-Kornarens left her survey sites with a deeper understanding of the world around her. She learned the favorite cache spots of acorn woodpeckers and even found a great horned owl’s nest. “It’s learning more intimate things you wouldn’t normally pay attention to,” Brown-Kornarens says. She plans to volunteer with Project Phoenix again this summer, adding more observations to a growing data set.