Bird Watchers and Advanced Technology Contribute to Complex Biodiversity Study

Dedicated volunteer bird-watchers covered around 3,500 routes across the United States, Canada and Alaska as participants in the North American Breeding Bird survey. This data is being used by the Montana State University (MSU) in a study that examines biodiversity across North America. Together with additional information gathered by a satellite sensor developed at the university, researchers are gaining tremendous insight on issues such as conservation and land use.

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Clark’s Nutcracker Prepares for Winter

If you live in North America you may well be familiar with the Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifraga Columbiana). This adorable passerine bird is fairly large in size and is ash-grey in color with black and white wings and tail feathers. The bill, legs and feet of the Clark’s Nutcracker are also black – all in all a fairly ordinary looking bird. However, the Clark’s Nutcracker is anything but ordinary.

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Bird Species: Red Crossbills

Red Crossbills are brick-red songbirds that specialize in eating pine-cone seeds. They have an unusual bill- the tips cross over each other, almost as if their bill is overgrown. This shape helps them pry open pine cones, to get the seed inside.

These crossbills are found throughout most of North America (and Europe and Asia too). But one Red Crossbill isn’t the same as another – recent research in North America shows that there may be NINE different types, or subspecies…some suggest they’re actually nine different species.

Each type has a different voice, and a different size. Some crossbills with larger bills like to feed on the large cones of pine trees. Other, smaller crossbills have bills that are better for opening little spruce or hemlock cones. These different kinds of crossbills don’t flock together or mate together, as far as researchers know.

These birds live a very nomadic life. Wherever the pinecone crop is richest, that’s where they’ll migrate to – even if that means heading north in the winter. And, unlike most other songbirds, they’re not restricted to nesting in the summer. If there are more pinecone seeds to eat in winter, they’ll build their nests when the snow is falling.