1
00:00:02,180 --> 00:00:06,940
Satellites are helping to feed tired and hungry birds.

2
00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:10,950
A project using NASA / USGS satellites

3
00:00:10,970 --> 00:00:14,460
and citizen science 

4
00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:19,320
has resulted in new ‘pop-up’ habitats for shorebirds.

5
00:00:19,340 --> 00:00:22,000
Roughly 7000 acres of temporary wetlands were created in California 

6
00:00:22,020 --> 00:00:24,920
from February to April 2016

7
00:00:24,940 --> 00:00:30,220
to aid birds during their migration.

8
00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:35,500
Every spring, shorebirds migrate up the Pacific Flyway.

9
00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:41,840
During this long journey they refuel by feeding in wetlands

10
00:00:41,860 --> 00:00:45,990
but 95% of these habitats have been lost to farmland and drought. 

11
00:00:46,010 --> 00:00:50,950
To help birds, The Nature Conservancy wanted to try something different. 

12
00:00:50,970 --> 00:00:56,470
Their BirdReturns program partnered with farmers by paying them to flood their fields when migrating birds traveled through the area. 

13
00:00:56,490 --> 00:01:02,090
Scientists used a database with more than 100 million bird sightings to predict where and when birds migrate.

14
00:01:02,110 --> 00:01:07,930
The whiter the area, the more likely the chance to spot birds.

15
00:01:07,950 --> 00:01:10,750
An 11-year satellite record helped predict 

16
00:01:10,770 --> 00:01:13,590
where water was located through the year.

17
00:01:13,610 --> 00:01:17,040


18
00:01:17,060 --> 00:01:18,880
Both datasets are analyzed to produce targets for flooding, 

19
00:01:18,900 --> 00:01:22,120
which are areas with little water but many birds.

20
00:01:22,140 --> 00:01:25,990


21
00:01:26,010 --> 00:01:30,960
"Our program creates, for these certain weeks of the year, temporary pop-up wetland habitat”.

22
00:01:30,980 --> 00:01:34,370
Mark Reynolds, Ecologist

23
00:01:34,390 --> 00:01:39,300
Scientists see BirdReturns as a model for managing scarce water for people and nature. 

24
00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:45,786