As we Washingtonians know, the American West is experiencing larger and more frequent wildfires. Wildfire smoke has an impact on people and animals. Birds are highly sensitive to air pollution, but scientists know very little about how wildfire smoke impacts birds.
Project Phoenix is a community science monitoring project to study the effects of smoke on birds in California, Oregon, and Washington. During the fire season (July-November), volunteers in communities across the region monitor bird behavior and provide valuable data on bird activity when fires are likely to impact air quality.
Project Phoenix is open to all birders and bird enthusiasts. Collecting data for Project Phoenix is easy. Volunteers pick where and when they want to monitor birds. Once a week, they survey birds in this area for as little as 10 minutes and then share their data with the Project. To help in the effort to better understand the impact of wildfire smoke on birds, volunteer for Project Phoenix. To get involved go to:
http://www.project-phoenix-investigating-bird-responses-to-smoke.org/get-involved
Tom Reynolds
