Audubon launches innovative migratory bird resource

Today, the National Audubon Society is launching an interactive, free digital platform that combines bird distribution and migration maps with conservation data for 458 migratory bird species. It is called Bird Migration Explorerand it displays its information from hemispheric to local levels.

Audubon partners with nine other conservation and research organizations and integrates data from more than 500 bird studies. Partner groups are: Birds Canada, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, Bird Genoscape Project, BirdLife International, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Esri, Georgetown University, Movebank, and Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.

Three types of data

Bird Migration Explorer combines three types of geospatial bird data: occurrence data from the eBird Status and Trends models from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; connectivity data from the USGS Bird Banding Lab and Bird Genoscape Project; and tracking data from Birds Canada, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Centre, and hundreds of researchers from around the world, who generously contributed their datasets to this project. Audubon scientists and cartographers combine this data to create animated and interactive visualizations to bring species migration to life on a map.

Revealing insights about the full annual cycle of migratory birds and the conservation challenges they face, Bird Migration Explorer also captures the point-to-point connections made by tracked migratory birds traveling between any two locations in the hemisphere. We will see when and where our local migratory species go and what challenges they face on their journey.

With the loss of more than 3 billion birds in North America since 1970 (2.5 billion of them migratory) and in a Golden Age of migration tracking technology, Bird Migration Explorer brings to life the wonder and perils of migration. on anyone’s screen (now optimized for desktop and tablet).

“Of the 10 countries with the highest number of threatened birds in the world, six of them are in the Americas, as the 2022 State of the World’s Birds Report shows,” said Patricia Zurita, the CEO of BirdLife International. “In that context, Bird Migration Explorer is an important new tool to illuminate important bird conservation opportunities and help rethink conservation investments across the Western Hemisphere, building on Important Bird Areas and others yet fundamental scientific work. We are excited to use this tool and make a difference for biodiversity and communities.”

Four years in the making

The site offers users three search options: bird species, location, and conservation challenges. You can search, for example, by location name or ZIP code and find bird species around the area and the conservation challenges they face locally.

Jill Deppe, senior director of Audubon’s Migratory Bird Initiative, said work on the project began nearly four years ago.

“These maps bring migration to life in a way that we can’t explain by just giving you numbers or telling you,” he said. “Most of these birds spend most of the year outside the United States. But where? You want to see the big picture. So, we take all the pieces of the puzzle and put them together in these maps. You can see how far they go, how fast they travel, or how long they spend in other places.”

Deppe says the Explorer will drive home a powerful truth: that what we do or don’t do for the birds in our homes matters for our feathered friends.

“What we hope people will understand in Explorer is that the actions they take at home – planting native plants and making their homes bird friendly by trying to avoid window collisions – are used by birds are the places where you live,” he said. “When you see that, you realize how connected you are, and that means the little things you do in your backyard or in your community have a big impact.”

For conservation managers, Explorer seems poised to be a game-changer. Deppe said that recently, while the resource map was in its final development, an Audubon policy staffer used it to write comments to a government agency about a proposed oil and gas drilling project. Explorer can show which species can be found in the area, when they are there, and other facts. The staff member used to have to spend hours searching through different sources for the same information, but now it is at their fingertips.

If you spend even a little time in Explorer, you’ll notice the hexagon shapes on the individual maps for the birds. Deppe explained that they represent areas of different sizes — either 150 kilometers or 50 kilometers wide depending on how far you zoom in. The information within the 50-km hexagon does not change if you continue to zoom in because Explorer summarizes the data fairly. large areas. So, you won’t be able to drill down to the scale of a small city park, for example, but the available map data will still be useful to show which birds are in a particular region.

“It’s not the kind of tool we expect someone to use if they’re making decisions at the parcel level,” he added. “Where should I protect an area of ​​land or where should I invest in land management? That is not the purpose of the map.”

Regular updates

Deppe said the resource will be updated every three to six months to reflect new research papers on bird migration, eBird records, and other data.

Soon, he added, the site will include data on seabirds. Ocean species have less coverage on eBird than land birds, so mapping their movements requires compiling information from a variety of sources to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Deppe said adding seabirds to the platform was a “first priority” after launching Explorer.

Congratulations to everyone who helped get the Bird Migration Explorer out! This is a wonderful resource with wide applicability. As Scott Sillett, head of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, says:

“In times of uncertainty, birds are symbols of hope, connection, and perseverance. This new platform brings together important research and shows how birds connect communities, nations , and continent.”