SCIENTISTS CONTINUE TO MONITOR CLIMATE CHANGE, SOME FOCUS ON THE EFFECTS IT HAS ON BIRDS. NOW, LOCALLY, BIRD WATCHERS AND SCIENTISTS ALIKE ARE NOTICING SOME SLIGHT CHANGES IN THIS FORECASTING OUR FUTURE REPORT. YOU CAN HELP MONITOR THEM. AVID BIRD WATCHER RON SAYS OUR WATCHES FOR BIRDS AT HITCHCOCK NATURE CENTER IN IOWA. WE’RE KIND OF BASICALLY IN A VERY IMPORTANT GLOBAL GLOBALLY IMPORTANT AREA ALONG THE MISSOURI RIVER IN THESE LUSH HILLS BECAUSE YOU HAVE A PERFECT KIND OF A TRAVEL LANE OR A FLYWAY FOR YEARS, HE’S DOCUMENTED WHAT HE’S SEEN. THEIR MIGRATORY PATTERN HAS CHANGED, I THINK, A LITTLE BIT OVER THE YEARS. BIOLOGY PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, OMAHA, JOHN MCCARTY, AGREES AND SAYS CLIMATE CHANGE COULD BE IMPACTING BIRDS IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE. THE CONCERN WOULD BE AN EQUALLY DRAMATIC BIRD THAT’S STILL FAIRLY COMMON HERE IN OMAHA IS A RED HEADED WOODPECKER, REALLY DRAMATIC, BEAUTIFUL BIRD PROJECTIONS ARE THAT AS CLIMATE WARMS AND DRIES HERE IN THIS PART OF NEBRASKA, WE’LL SEE FEWER AND FEWER OF THEM, MCCARTY SAYS. THAT’S WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO TRACK THESE CHANGES. IT SHOWED THAT CLIMATE WAS CHANGING FAST ENOUGH THAT ORGANISMS WERE RESPONDING, THAT WAS THE INITIAL INTEREST. NOW WE’RE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND HOW THINGS MIGHT BE IMPACTED GOING INTO THE FUTURE. BUT THE DATA ISN’T JUST COMING FROM RESEARCH. IT’S ALSO BEING DOCUMENTED BY PEOPLE LIKE CAESAR. THAT LITTLE CHICKADEE CAME BACK FIVE YEARS IN A ROW TO THE SAME LOCATION WHO ARE CALLED CITIZEN SCIENCE ARTISTS. NOT TOO LONG AGO, THIS LAST YEAR, WE HAD A RARE BIRD ALERT OF A BIRD CALLED THE LINCOLN. IT PREDOMINANTLY FOUND, LIKE IN THE SOUTHERN PARTS OF THE COUNTRY AND IN CUBA. AND SO NOW THEY’RE STARTING TO POP UP HERE IN THE MIDWEST, AND YET EACH OTHER. WOW. IT WAS THE TALKING ABOUT VERY IMPORTANT STUFF. BUT ALSO IT WAS JUST KIND OF FUN TO LIKE WATCH THE BIRDS. I’M NOT A BIRD PERSON, BUT I WAS LIKE, OH, YOU ARE NOW. NO, NO, START TAKING SOME