Birds follow the flames

In the Sierra Nevada of California, fire gives some birds a boost

- Richard Pallardy

FIRES IN THE WILD ARE GENERALLY FEARED among humans, for good reason. But they are crucial to the functioning of many ecosystems, from prairies to forests. Now, a new study published in the journal Fire Ecology finds that some birds benefitted from blazes over a 35-year period in Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in the Sierra Nevada region of the USA. Of the 42 species studied, 28 showed increased population densities for several decades in regions that had burned. And it wasn’t only known post-fire specialists that reaped the rewards – generalist species, such as dark-eyed juncos and m