California’s birds navigate survival as wildfires intensify from natural cycles to destructive megafires

Deep in California’s Sierra Nevada forests, an unlikely fire specialist thrives where others flee. The black-backed woodpecker has evolved as nature’s perfect post-fire opportunist, swooping into recently burned areas to feast on beetles and nest in fire-hollowed trees. The steady drumming of their bills against charred bark has become a familiar soundtrack in California’s burn zones.

This remarkable adaptation highlights the complex relationship between wildlife and wildfire that has shaped California’s ecosystems for millions of years. Many bird species actually depend on periodic fires to create ideal habitat—flames open dense forest canopies, boost insect populations, and generate the mosaic of burned and unburned patches that diverse wildlife communities need to flourish.

However, this delicate balance now faces unprecedented disruption. The moderate, mixed-severity fires that historically supported species like the black-backed woodpecker are increasingly being replaced by catastrophic “megafires” that leave devastation in their wake. Over the past decade, more than 13 million acres have burned across California, with 2020 alone seeing massive blazes tear through vast swaths of habitat.

“While it’s ephemeral, it’s a native habitat of California that many species rely on and have evolved with over millions of years,” explains UCLA ornithologist Morgan Tingley, who studies fire’s impact on bird populations. The challenge now is understanding how California’s fire-adapted birds will cope as their natural partner—periodic, moderate wildfire—transforms into something far more destructive and unpredictable.