Science Café: Tracking Birds to Track Climate Change

Photo by Matt Florez. Used with permission. Grab a bite from the Daily Planet Café and join host Chris Smith for our monthly Science Café. Gather with other curious minds at this after-hours event for an informal presentation and conversation about current science topics with guest experts. The Daily Planet Café is open 5–8pm with a full menu during the Science Café. Tonight’s Topic Can a migratory bird species track climate change? Purple martins are migratory songbirds, a type of swallow, that breeds in North Carolina from March to early August.  After breeding season, individuals congregate into large flocks for several weeks before they migrate to South America. A team from Columbia University working with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and local purple martin experts are investigating potential effects of climate change on the migratory behavior of purple martins. In the eastern US, purple martins rely almost exclusively on people for nesting sites. While still a common bird, their populations have been in decline in the last several decades. In tonight’s Science Café, Shasta Corvus will discuss how and why they are swapping eggs with other martins from up north, taking blood samples, and using the ultimate “airtag” to learn more about local flight movements. Since arriving in early May, she and a field technician have been so busy that it’s likely that they are doing even more activities to study the species – but you’ll have to attend this event to know for sure. Tonight’s Expert Shasta Corvus, PhD candidate in Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology at Columbia University Shasta joined the research lab of Dr. Kira Delmore, in 2024. They are interested in how anthropogenic disturbances, such as climate change, affect bird ecology and evolution. As part of their Ph.D studies, Shasta is in NC for the spring/summer of 2026 to study the purple martin.