Wildfires have become more frequent and bigger in the western United States. In 2025, 24 of the 40 largest wildfires in the US were in the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West (Alaska, Oregon, California, Nevada, Washington and Idaho). In this age of megafires, people and wildlife are increasingly being exposed to hazardous smoke. It is certainly a danger to birds but we don’t have enough data to know exactly how they are being affected. Learning more is critical for bird conservation.
In 2023, scientists on the west coast embarked on a citizen science survey to get more data on how birds in our region are being impacted by wildfire smoke. This survey is Project Phoenix. Most bird monitoring projects collect data in the spring and summer to study breeding bird populations, but major fires tend to occur later in the year. So Project Phoenix engages community volunteers across California, Oregon, and Washington to monitor birds during the fire season of July 1 through November 30.
Volunteers select where they want to monitor birds. Then for 10 minutes once a week they record all the birds they see and/or hear and report their observations to eBird. These observations are shared with decision makers to inform bird conservation policy.
Project Phoenix is open to all birders and bird enthusiasts. The project has step-by-step instructions for how to sign up and gather data, along with a training video on its website, https://www.project-phoenix-investigating-bird-responses-to-smoke.org/
Today, with our climate warming and wildfires proliferating, scientists in California, Oregon, and Washington need our help more than ever to understand how hazardous smoke is impacting the birds we love.
Tom Reynolds
