The annual arrival of migratory birds by the millions, stopping to refuel along the route known as the Pacific Flyway on journeys that may span from Patagonia to the western Canadian Arctic. Rice fields become 'pop-up' habitat for migratory birds 0:21 In California, innovative programs are paying farmers to flood their fields in the off-season to make surrogate wetlands for birds. 0:21In a drought year like this, it's trickier and more necessary to create pop-up habitats, says Luke Matthews, wildlife programs manager for the California Rice Commission. A greater yellowlegs nabs a crayfish in rice fields flooded to create 'pop-up' habitat for shorebirds. Using crowd-sourced data to map migration 0:25 Biologist Richard Schuster and colleagues used crowd-sourced data from birders to track the week-by-week movement of 117 migratory birds, to figure out how best to protect them.

Source: CBC News June 06, 2021 08:00 UTC