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.

Using a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), which was first launched in 1999 on the NASA Terra satellite, researchers are receiving comprehensive data of vegetation in the areas that are included in the study. Although extensive data has been collected by volunteers, the fact that birds are so mobile makes it difficult to get a true understanding of large areas of bird breeding habitat purely from ground surveys. This is where MODIS is proving invaluable by allowing a “bird’s-eye view” of the landscape. Combining ground surveys with MODIS data gives researchers a wealth of information on a national scale.

During the time that he was park ornithologist, Terry McEneaney drove around Yellowstone National Park every June over a period of thirty years, identifying and recording information on the birds he came across. Starting early in the morning he would stop at a designated spot to identify and record his findings, moving onto the next spot and repeating the process. McEneaney would stop 50 times along his 24.5 mile route, trying to complete the routine before 9:30 am, which is roughly the time that birds stop singing. Birdsong is invaluable in the accurate identification of birds. McEneaney is now retired from his job at the National Park Service, but it is rewarding for him to know that the data he gathered with such dedication and perseverance is being put to good use.

Using information gathered by bird-watchers involved in the North American Breeding Bird Survey, Montana State University analyzed 1,390 of the almost 3,500 routes covered by the survey. This analysis was then combined with the results obtained from MODIS. Delighted with the results obtained from this complex exercise, researchers are most appreciative of the efforts of bird-watching volunteers in gathering the information which is now being used, along with advanced technology, to benefit the birds of America – and, in turn, will benefit future generations of bird-watchers

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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.

The Clark’s Nutcracker is a fairly industrious bird that works hard to ensure that he has enough food for the winter months. He collects and buries about 33 000 seeds every year! What’s more, he does not store them in the same location but may choose from as many as 2 500 different storage spots when deciding where to keep his winter hoard. Clearly this is not your typical bird! The average Clark’s Nutcracker is well equipped to handle the cold winter months with such a large supply of food. How the bird knows exactly where it has placed its little stockpiles is another mystery. It seems their long-term spatial memory allows them to relocate caches with noteworthy accuracy for a period of up to six months – even if their little hidey holes are located under three feet of snow!

These intriguing birds feed on a number of different foods, but their most important food resource is that of pine seeds – something which is quite widespread in North America. However, when the breeding season is over, the birds may wonder down to lower altitudes where they may use the seeds of pinyon pines or search out other food sources. Once they have gathered up these seeds they may store them in the ground in caches of 5-10 seeds. The reason they store so many seeds in different places is to ensure that they will still have some food if one or two of their caches are raided by other animals such as squirrels. Thus the Clark’s Nutcracker is one of nature’s foremost tree planters, since any seeds that are not consumed by the end of the winter months are left to germinate and grow into beautiful trees.

Other foods consumed by the Clark’s Nutcracker include insects, berries, some fruits, peanuts, small mammals and occasionally carrion. They have even been known to eat eggs and nestlings! Fortunately this is the exception rather than the rule and it seems that Clark’s Nutcrackers generally prefer to stick to pine tree seeds, which they are perfectly adapted to retrieve from pine cones.

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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.

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