Every spring, the familiar songs of Wood Thrushes and warblers return to the parks and backyards of eastern North America. But their journey begins far to the south—in the lush, remote forests of Central America that sustain them throughout most of the year.

A new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (Cornell Lab), published in Biological Conservation, reveals that the Five Great Forests of Central America—which stretch from southern Mexico to northern Colombia—are indispensable lifelines for dozens of migratory bird species that link the Americas.

Using information on where bird populations concentrate week by week each year—made possible by millions of observations around the world from birdwatchers on the Lab of Ornithology's eBird platform—scientists found that these five forests collectively support between one-tenth and nearly one-half of the global populations of 40 migratory bird species, including some of North America’s most rapidly declining birds.

Read the full article on the Lab of Ornithology's news room