The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected our day-to-day lives. It may be influencing citizen science, too. Case in point? During lockdown periods, there were fewer cars on the road and less traffic noise as a result. Those quieter streets actually helped to put nature especially birds back on our collective radar.
People increasingly noticed birds and their accompanying songs, which sounded louder in the quiet. As Elizabeth P. Derryberry and colleagues, writing in September 2020’s
Science magazine, noted, “Despite a reduction in song amplitude, communication distance more than doubled during the shutdown, further indicating the impact of noise pollution on communication during normal conditions.”