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First-of-Its-Type Digital Platform Reveals Migration Information for Birds Throughout the Americas Simply In Time for Fall Migration

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    NEW YORK – At the moment, as tens of millions of birds are flocking to their wintering grounds, the Nationwide Audubon Society and 9 companion organizations introduced the Chicken Migration Explorer (www.birdmigrationexplorer.org), a state-of-the-art digital platform that reveals migration information consolidated for 458 fowl species that breed in the USA and Canada. The free, interactive platform, obtainable in English and Spanish, permits customers to see essentially the most full information collected on migratory species of their neighborhoods and the place these birds go all year long. (This platform is at present finest considered on a desktop browser.)

    The Chicken Migration Explorer reveals insights in regards to the journeys of particular person species, the connectedness, via migratory birds, of any given location within the hemisphere, and likewise particulars how migratory birds encounter 19 totally different conservation challenges. For instance, at the very least 299 species join New York Metropolis to at the very least 30 different nations and territories within the hemisphere, together with locations as distant as Argentina and Uruguay. And, the well-known “River of Raptors” migration hall in Veracruz, Mexico, is a hub connecting the acute northern and southern ends of the globe.  

    The Chicken Migration Explorer may present when every of those species passes via New York, Veracruz, or another location, and the extent to which every of these species overlaps with any variety of conservation challenges corresponding to gentle air pollution or energy strains alongside their journeys. Extra usually, a consumer can see how nations within the Americas are all related to one another by migratory birds, underscoring the significance of worldwide cooperation and collaboration within the analysis and conservation of those species. 

    “Folks have all the time been curious and amazed by migratory birds and their unbelievable journeys, however solely not too long ago are scientists piecing collectively the total image of how these birds journey from one finish of the globe to the opposite,” stated Dr. Jill Deppe, senior director of Audubon’s Migratory Chicken Initiative, the founding group of the Chicken Migration Explorer.

     

    “Migratory birds additionally want our assist—populations are dealing with steep declines throughout the board. By consolidating and visualizing these information, the Chicken Migration Explorer can train us extra about easy methods to shield these unbelievable vacationers that join individuals throughout the complete hemisphere,” stated Deppe.

    Since 1970, North America has misplaced greater than 2.5 billion migratory birds. By visualizing and highlighting the locations birds needn’t solely throughout breeding and wintering seasons, but additionally all through the migratory durations in between, the Chicken Migration Explorer offers a scientific foundation for obligatory conservation insurance policies and options to handle these steep declines. 

    “We’re in a golden age of fowl migration analysis and know-how, and by consolidating all of those information into one interactive platform, we are able to higher perceive which locations can have the most important influence to assist migratory birds,” stated Melanie Smith, director of the Chicken Migration Explorer for Audubon’s Migratory Chicken Initiative. “The unprecedented quantity and integration of the Chicken Migration Explorer’s information can result in higher conservation efforts and outcomes.”

     

    The Chicken Migration Explorer brings collectively three varieties of geospatial fowl information: abundance information from Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird Standing fashions; connectivity information from the USGS Jap Ecological Science Middle Chicken Banding Lab and Chicken Genoscape Mission; and monitoring information from Birds Canada, the Smithsonian Migratory Chicken Middle and a whole lot of researchers from throughout the globe, who generously contributed their datasets to this venture. Audubon scientists and cartographers consolidated these information to create animated and interactive visualizations to carry species migration to life on a map.

     

    The Chicken Migration Explorer contains:   

    • Interactive, animated maps of the total annual migration for 458 species  
    • Greater than 4.2 million point-to-point migratory fowl connections throughout the hemisphere  
    • Visualizations for 19 chosen Conservation Challenges that migratory birds are uncovered to all year long throughout the Americas. 

    “The simplest migratory fowl conservation efforts are knowledgeable by the best-available science, have interaction native communities, and are supported by companions and governments throughout their migratory ranges,” stated Marshall Johnson, chief conservation officer for the Nationwide Audubon Society. “The Chicken Migration Explorer makes it plain to see how related we’re by these unbelievable birds. It’s clearer than ever that we’ve got a collective duty and alternative throughout the hemisphere to guard these birds and the locations they want, at the moment and tomorrow.” 

     

    The Chicken Migration Explorer displays a rare partnership amongst science, conservation, and know-how organizations and establishments and is made potential with information from the next companion organizations and greater than 500 research from researchers and establishments from world wide.  

    “The Chicken Migration Explorer is an urgently-needed new device for conservation and an impressive collaborative achievement! Utilizing the explorer, individuals can uncover the magnificence of migratory birds, the challenges they face, and efforts to preserve them – together with steps anybody can take to assist birds. Birds Canada is a proud companion, contributing experience and massive information from the Motus Wildlife Monitoring System and initiatives utilizing different monitoring applied sciences.”  

    — Stu Mackenzie, director of strategic property, Birds Canada. 

    “The Chicken Migration Explorer is a state-of-the-art information visualization platform that brings to life the unbelievable transcontinental journeys of our migratory birds, utilizing the most recent obtainable information on migratory connectivity for a whole lot of species, and highlights the locations and pathways these birds rely on all through their full annual cycle, in addition to the challenges they might face alongside the best way. This device will little question be of nice curiosity to researchers, conservationists, educators and fowl fans alike, and can solely turn out to be extra wealthy over time.” 

    Arvind Panjabi, avian conservation scientist, Chicken Conservancy of the Rockies. 

    “The Chicken Migration Explorer brings collectively cutting-edge applied sciences and many years of exhausting work by migration scientists from numerous backgrounds right into a single invaluable device that gives easy-to-access insights into the motion patterns of our yard birds and the challenges they face alongside the best way.” 

    Dr. Kristen Ruegg, co-director, Chicken Genoscape Mission. 

    “Of the ten nations with the best variety of globally threatened birds, six of them are in Americas, because the 2022 State of the World’s Birds Report reveals. In that context, the Chicken Migration Explorer is a crucial new device to light up essential fowl conservation alternatives and assist reimagine conservation investments throughout the Western Hemisphere, constructing on Vital Chicken Areas and different key scientific work. We’re excited to place this device to make use of and make a distinction for biodiversity and communities.” 

    Patricia Zurita, CEO, BirdLife Worldwide. 

    “Within the final 50 years we’ve misplaced practically one-third of all breeding birds within the U.S. and Canada. However instruments just like the Chicken Migration Explorer present us with hope. They present not solely the dedication of organizations and scientists to reversing these declines, however the dedication of a whole lot of 1000’s of individuals from throughout the Americas who present us with a brand new method to see our world by contributing information to eBird.”

    Chris Wooden, managing director, Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Middle for Avian Inhabitants Research. 

    “The Nationwide Audubon Society’s Chicken Migration Explorer combines the integrative energy of maps and dynamic apps to drive new insights into the unbelievable journey of birds throughout the Americas. It illuminates the significance and urgency of challenges inherent within the journey of those birds via our backyards, neighborhoods, states, and throughout huge landscapes. It’s my hope that those that work together with the Explorer app acquire a brand new understanding of the dynamic pure techniques round us and are impressed to search out significant methods to guard and maintain our pure world.” 

    Jack Dangermond, co-founder and president, Esri‎. 

     

    “One of many biggest challenges in fowl conservation is understanding the place they’re coming from and the place they’re going. On the heels of realizing that we’re shedding nearly all of our fowl species, instruments just like the Chicken Migration Explorer that merely talk detailed information assist conservationists turn out to be surgically exact to implement options that save birds.” 

    — Dr. Peter P. Marra, director, The Earth Commons—Georgetown College’s Institute for Atmosphere & Sustainability. 

     

    “Scientists have found a lot about fowl migration via animal monitoring, however the outcomes are scattered throughout a whole lot of initiatives and analysis papers. We now have been thrilled to assist the Chicken Migration Explorer carry these actions along with different information and see what they will inform us—with these putting visualizations, we are able to uncover birds and their migrations, join them to our house cities, and learn to assist preserve them for future generations.” 

     Sarah Davidson, information curator, Movebank, a analysis platform hosted by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Conduct. 

     

    “In occasions of uncertainty, birds are an emblem of hope, connectivity and perseverance. This new platform brings important analysis collectively and reveals how birds join communities, nations and continents. From monitoring and finding out birds in native, city, and agricultural habitats and efficiently breeding species in human take care of the primary time to creating an immersive exhibit devoted to those feathered vacationers, the Smithsonian is working with companions and the general public to know and shield the grand phenomenon of fowl migration.” 

     Scott Sillett, head of the Smithsonian Migratory Chicken Middle. 

     

    A flock of cranes flies over a landscape of orange trees in autumn with their legs outstretched, preparing to land.
    Sandhill Cranes. Picture: Tara Tanaka/Audubon Images Awards

     

    To study extra about migratory birds, the journeys they make, and the challenges they expertise alongside the best way, please go to the Chicken Migration Explorer right here: www.birdmigrationexplorer.org. 

    The Nationwide Audubon Society protects birds and the locations they want, at the moment and tomorrow, all through the Americas utilizing science, advocacy, training and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon’s state applications, nature facilities, chapters and companions have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches tens of millions of individuals annually to tell, encourage and unite various communities in conservation motion. Since 1905, Audubon’s imaginative and prescient has been a world by which individuals and wildlife thrive. Audubon is a nonprofit conservation group. Be taught extra easy methods to assist at www.audubon.org and observe us on Twitter and Instagram at @audubonsociety. 

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