http://www.audubonmagazine.org/features1005/citizenscience.htmlBand of Brothers
Not even a tragic accident could derail two young men’s inspiring project to study one of North America’s least-understood birds. Their groundbreaking research is helping ornithologists understand how to help these birds as a warming climate alters their mountain home.
One night four years ago, two boys were driving outside of Roswell, New Mexico, after a day of birding, when suddenly the unimaginable happened: a terrible car wreck. Ryan Beaulieu, 17, a bird enthusiast who had helped bring national attention to Sandia Crest, the highest point in New Mexico’s Sandia Mountains, and to the rosy-finches that congregate there in winter, was killed instantly. (Continued)