This is bird note.

We know that climate change puts birds at risk broadly speaking,

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 Nest Watch 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.

This was a big help when researchers investigated how extreme temperatures in the spring

affect nesting birds throughout North America.

Using Project Nest Watch 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.

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.org.

I'm Ariana Rimmel. You're going to be.