As cities continue expanding, forested areas are becoming scarcer, and less dense. That's bad news for the wildlife that call those areas home. A University of Cincinnati doctoral student is studying what local areas are important to North America's largest woodpecker. "The pileated woodpecker is not considered as a vulnerable species, but it is an indicator species for mature and older forests," says Ruijia Hu, a doctoral student in UC's Department of Geography and GIS (Geographic Information Systems and Science). "I wanted to study this bird and to try to see how the mature and old forest has been changing through time in Hamilton County.“ Hu combined remote-sensing data with eight years worth of sightings from naturalists and birders recorded on the eBird website to chart the best habitats for Hamilton County for pileated woodpeckers.