Forests support many different bird species, but birds do not all respond to forest structure in the same way. Some species prefer tall, dense forests, while others do better in more open or patchy areas. These preferences can also depend on the size of the area being considered. In this study, we looked at how forest structure affects where birds are found in Eastern North America and how those effects change depending on the size of the surrounding landscape.

We used 3D forest measurements from NASA’s spaceborne LiDAR mission, which provides information like canopy height and vegetation density. We combined these data with over 443,000 bird checklists from the eBird citizen science program, focusing on 170 species found in forests and open woodlands. We then built models to see how well forest structure at different spatial scales predicted bird occurrence.

We found that bird species respond to forest structure in different ways and at different scales. Our results show that combining remote sensing data with community science can help us better understand how birds use forests. This work can guide efforts to manage forests in ways that support a greater diversity of bird species.