Extreme heat causing baby birds to injure themselves after fleeing hot nests

The extreme heat in the West Coast is causing a harsh affect on the area's birds, as nesting infants are jumping out of their hot nests and inuring themselves.

The record-breaking heat waves that have killed dozens of people in the West Coast last month have also had a dire impact on the region's bird population, particularly its youngest members. And wildlife experts and environmentalists are warning that this could be a dire sign of things to come as climate change continues to alter the ecosystem. During the record-breaking heat wave at the end of June, dozens of nesting baby birds, from raptors to corvid species, have been jumping out of their nests to escape the heat and falling to the ground. The Portland Audubon Society reported that it had 100 hawks admitted to wildlife care centers during the final week of June when temperatures were as high as 116 degrees. "As we have more heat waves and more wildfires, we're taking away their habitat and they won't have anywhere to nest," Sally Compton, the executive director of Think Wild Central Oregon, a nonprofit wildlife hospital, told ABC News.