This is bird note.

Birds can tell us a lot about the environment.

Some of them, known as indicator species, depend on clean water and what it produces,

such as food for fish eaters and fly catchers, like this eastern wood

peewy.

John Zectansky leads the Middle Sesquahanna Riverkeeper Association, which is using recording devices to ID birds by sound

on different parts of the Sesquohena River in Pennsylvania.

It's cool to see species that you know that are there, but you just don't see regularly.

I mean, we're not out 24-7 watching for species as much as we'd like to be.

So, you know, things like peewees or the saw wet owls or the screech owls.

And then the extra excitement of living on a waterway and knowing that that bird is in your

waterway regularly knowing that that means that your waterway is clean to know that you have maybe a

mallard or a wood duck living in your area and then all of a sudden you see the vocalizations

double, triple, quadruple when it's raising its young.

It's just kind of neat to see because you can actually follow the life cycle of these bird species

living in your backyard.

John's hope is that the birds ID'd by these recorders can help create a health report for the river

as an early warning system for toxic pollutants, contaminants, and other threats.

Learn more about how birds are helping riverkeepers track water quality on a special season of the Bring

Birds Back podcast.

Listen in your favorite podcast app or at birdnote.org. I'm Tricia McCurgy.