Birds are Good for Trees

There's a neat article out in this month's Ecology detailing a University of Colorado study showing the beneficial effects of birds on pine forests.

I don't get Ecology and the online site doesn't have the August issue up yet so I haven't read the technical article, but CU did a press release about the study- here's the opening line to give you a taste:

Chickadees, nuthatches and warblers foraging their way through forests have been shown to spur the growth of pine trees in the West by as much as one-third, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study.

So yesterday a CU publicist emailed me to see if they could use a Mountain Chickadee picture to send out with their press release. As an alum (I got my master's degree there in '01), I happily obliged, sending them a couple to choose from.

Well, imagine my surprise when I pulled my Denver Post out of its orange plastic bag this morning and saw my chickadee pic on the front page, with an accompanying article about the study! Here's a link to the online article by the Post, featuring a couple of my Mountain Chickadee pics. I wonder where else they might turn up?