Pictured left to right: Cecily Cooper ’26, Verity Hannan ’26, and Bennett Silvestry ’27

2026 Introduction: The Birds Team is a team within the Forman Rainforest Project. 2026 is the 31st anniversary of the project. The Birds Team this year consists of 3 members: Verity Hannan ’26, Cecily Cooper ’26, and Bennett Silvestry ’27. Our mission is to research the population of migratory birds in Costa Rica and the percentage of bird species that are threatened or endangered. Costa Rica is home to 850 species of birds, with 630 being native species and 22 being endangered species. We aim to assist in protecting the endangered bird species from extinction by collecting data and closely monitoring the population. This process starts with catching and banding them, then finding out if they will return to the same location next year. We keep track of these species and send our data to Cornell Lab of Ornithology to inform the status of whether any more species are endangered or extinct.

2026 Focus Questions:
• How is global warming impacting bird migrations?
• How do the populations change with elevation?
• Why is such a high percentage of birds male?