Birds nesting earlier to try to survive global warming
Steller Jays find all sorts of places to build a nest. Photo/LTWC
By Kurtis Alexander, San Francisco Chronicle
The early bird not only gets the worm, but may stand a better chance of riding out global warming.
A study finds that birds in California are breeding up to 12 days earlier than they did a century ago, an apparent effort to maintain their optimal nesting temperatures as the planet warms.
Like many plants and animals, birds have been known to relocate to cooler places to compensate for rising temperatures, moving north or to higher elevations. But the research published this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences highlights the extent to which birds are going to adapt in other ways to a changing world.
