The 2009 fire season – which has already brought major fires in many parts of the state – could pose a particular challenge to California birds, particularly in the southern part of the state where repeated fires can lay waste to precious habitat. In July, researchers from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service predicted that the 2009 season could be one of the worst on record.

According to Gary Langham, PhD, director of bird conservation for Audubon California, fire is often a healthy part of life for a natural ecosystem. Moreover, he noted, healthy bird populations can usually adapt to fire. The problem for birds, he noted, is when habitat has been chopped up by development and other disruption long before a fire comes.

“Birds are highly mobile, so they can move to other habitat areas,” Langham said. “But if the place they’re going has been reduced by development or non-native growth, it is all the less likely to temporarily support these new transplants. Moreover, if a bird population is already in a steep decline for other reasons, fire can greatly accelerate that decline.”

For instance, when a particular bird population is exceedingly small, such as the California Condor, losing one or two nests to fire can be catastrophic to the bird’s recovery. This was a major concern during last year’s fires in Big Sur, a key part of the condor’s range.

Some parts of California seem to get hit year after year with major fires, and this is a particular concern to habitat preservation, according to Sandy DeSimone, PhD, director of research and education at Audubon Starr Ranch in Southern Orange County.

DeSimone notes that repeated burning will actually convert some of our rare native habitats to weed-dominated vegetation, meaning that birds that rely on these places have no home to which they can return.

“What we’re seeing is that our increasingly rare coastal sage scrub habitat, when subjected to repeated fire, becomes weed, rather than shrub, dominated,” DeSimone said.

This could mean serious trouble for a species such as the Coastal Cactus Wren, which has seen its numbers drop precariously as more and more of its coastal sage scrub habitat is lost to development and non-native weeds. As mentioned above, repeated fires only accelerate its decline.

Because of the danger fire presents to shrubland habitat in Southern Orange County, DeSimone has helped found a group called the South County Land Stewards to set up an South Orange County Fire Watch. Starr Ranch, along with park agencies, a national forest, and private land trusts, will start sending volunteers to specific points in Orange County to serve as both deterrents and lookouts.

“According to records going back decades, the bulk of fires in Orange County have been set by humans, either intentionally or accidentally, so it’s important to have people out there,” said DeSimone.

All volunteers with the Orange County Fire Watch are going through extensive training from the Orange County Fire Authority.