Friday, December 26th, 2008

Holiday Birding

Flickr user Gwaar

For the 109th year, volunteer birders are braving the winter weather around the country. Data collected during Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count helps researchers monitor bird behavior and bird conservation. Join Ira Flatow in this segment of Science Friday for an update on Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count with count director Geoff LeBaron and John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. We'll be taking calls and questions if you've spotted something exciting or have a birding tale to share. Plus, shade-grown coffee is also known as "bird friendly coffee." But new research in the journal Current Biology suggests that shade grown plantations may give a boost to native forest trees too. We'll find out why.