This is Bird Note.

When the air is thick with wildfire smoke, people are advised to stay home.

But birds don't have weather apps, so what do they do?

Ah-korn woodpeckers are extremely social.

They live in family groups that cooperate to raise young and to cash food

in a communal granary. They often visit their neighbors, too, which can help young birds

find mates or establish new territories. To study these social networks, scientists have been using

tiny radio transmitters to track the movements of acorn

woodpeckers in a nature preserve near Monterey, California. In the summer of 2020, when nearby

wildfires blanketed the area in heavy smoke, the birds responded to poor air quality,

much like people do. On smoky days, woodpeckers spent more of their time at home. And when they did leave

their territories, they didn't venture far and visited fewer neighbors than usual.

The researchers calculated that from 2016 to 2020, almost 90% of the U.S. range of acorn

woodpeckers experienced similarly smoky conditions at some point each year. That's a lot of birds

whose lives and community ties are being disrupted by wildfire smoke.

Learn more about what you can do to help ensure that we all have clean air to breathe.

When you visit our website, birdnote.org.

I'm Ariana Rimmel.