What is the bird migration explorer Atlas?

The bird migration explorer Atlas is a technology platform and mobile app created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to track bird migration patterns across the Americas. The goal of Atlas is to compile a massive amount of data on where and when different species migrate by crowdsourcing observations from citizen scientists.

How does the Atlas bird migration explorer work?

The Atlas platform consists of a mobile app that allows users to log their bird sightings and a website interface to view the compiled data. When a user submits an observation of a bird, the app records the species, location, date, and time. This crowdsourced data is then aggregated and mapped on the Atlas website to visualize migration patterns across the Western Hemisphere.

Some key features of the Atlas bird migration explorer include:

• Mobile app for iOS and Android to log bird sightings
• Database of over 700 North American bird species to aid with identification
• Automated data filters to flag rare or unusual sightings for review
• Interactive maps and animations to explore migration routes and timing
• Bar charts showing migration peaks throughout the year for each species

By compiling thousands of observations from birdwatchers across an entire continent, Atlas provides an unprecedented view into the movements of migratory birds over seasons, years, and decades.

Who launched the Atlas bird migration tracker?

The Atlas bird migration explorer was launched in 2018 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York. The Cornell Lab is a world-renowned institute dedicated to interpreting and conserving the natural world by studying birds and other wildlife.

Atlas represents a major expansion of the Cornell Lab’s previous bird tracking program called eBird. While eBird focuses on collecting sightings from amateur birdwatchers to study avian distribution and abundance, Atlas adds the ability to visualize bird movements through migration. The Cornell Lab collaborated with scientific and technical advisors from around the world to design and launch Atlas.

Why was Atlas created?

Atlas was primarily created to fill major gaps in our knowledge about bird migration patterns and timing in the Americas. Some key reasons the Cornell Lab launched this bird migration explorer include:

• Acquire large-scale data on migration routes, timing, and durations that was previously unavailable
• Track changes in migration patterns over time to study effects of climate change
• Guide conservation efforts by identifying migration hotspots and bottlenecks
• Provide migration forecasts to help birds and birdwatchers coincide in time and space
• Inspire and educate the public about the phenomenon of migration

By leveraging the power of crowdsourcing and big data, Atlas enables scientists to study migration on a continental scale to better understand threats to migratory birds and inform conservation strategies.

What can you learn from the Atlas bird migration maps?

The animated maps on the Atlas website provide a vivid visualization of bird migration patterns across the Western Hemisphere throughout the year. Some examples of insights that can be gained from exploring the Atlas maps include:

• Migration routes – See the major “flyways” different species follow between breeding and wintering grounds.
• Migration timing – Compare the timing of spring and fall migrations for each species.
• Migration speed – See how fast birds move by tracking the progression of sightings over time.
• Stopover sites – Identify important resting spots along migration routes.
• Wintering ranges – Understand the winter distribution for species that migrate.
• Irruptions – Detect unusual northern movements in some years.

As more data is collected, the maps will reveal even greater insights into the incredible journeys migratory birds undertake each year.

What are some sample maps and visualizations on Atlas?

Here are a few examples of the interactive visualizations and maps available on the Atlas website:

• Migration dashboard – See all species moving on a given date and speedometers showing migration progress.
• Flyways – Dynamic maps trace major migration routes for select species.
• Seasonal maps – View abundance hotspots and range shifts by season.
• Yearlong range – Animated map shows changes in distribution throughout the year.
• Bar charts – Graphs depict weekly migration peaks for each species.
• Stopovers – Maps highlight important mid-journey rest stop sites.

These visuals provide striking representations of the epic journeys birds undertake and patterns that emerge from the crowdsourced sightings data.

How does Atlas show migration timing and peaks?

In addition to maps, Atlas provides bar charts and phenology curves to visualize the timing and peaks of migration for each species throughout the year.

The bar charts use weekly bird sightings data to show migration “waves” – when the number of observations spike as birds migrate through an area. This allows you to easily see when migration starts, peaks, and ends for spring and fall.

The phenology curves map daily changes in abundance, acting like a line graph of migration flow. These curves help pinpoint migration peak dates and compare timing year-to-year or between regions.

Studying the timing and peaks provides insight into factors like:

• Duration of migration periods
• Changes in migration timing over the decades
• Effect of weather conditions on migration waves
• Years with unusually early or late migration
• Regions with the highest migratory populations

This data allows researchers to study the phenology of migration and how it relates to climate change, habitat loss, and other threats to birds.

What are some key features of the Atlas mobile app?

The Atlas mobile app allows birdwatchers to easily submit observations that provide the migration data visualized on the website maps and charts. Features of the Atlas app include:

• Bird identification – Helps identify over 7000 bird species with photos, audio recordings, and identification tips.
• Location tracking – Uses phone GPS to automatically log location when entering observations.
• Quick log – Rapidly enter sightings of common species with auto-fill features.
• Complete log – Allows entering additional details like age, sex, behavior notes.
• Photo upload – Submit photos to document rare species for expert review.
• Lists and alerts – Get reminders when “target” species are migrating through your area.

By leveraging the power of mobile technology, the Atlas app makes recording and submitting bird sightings quick, easy, and accessible to anyone interested in birdwatching and migration research. The data contributed provides the raw material for Atlas’ visualizations.

How does Atlas collect, process, and verify data?

The Atlas platform uses scientific procedures and computational methods to collect, process, verify, and visualize the enormous quantity of crowdsourced bird sightings data. The key steps include:

• Data collection – Millions of observations submitted via Atlas app and eBird by birdwatchers across the Americas.
• Data processing – Algorithms check for errors, filter duplicate records, and process locations.
• Quality control – Suspicious observations flagged for review by expert regional reviewers who verify records.
• Data modeling – Statistical techniques convert raw observations into smoothed visual map representations of migration patterns.
• Presentation – Data finally visualized through interactive maps, animations, charts, and graphics on the Atlas site.

This workflow allows Atlas to handle massive crowdsourced datasets while ensuring high quality control. Only vetted records verified by experts are used to generate the migration models and visualizations.

How does Atlas protect bird species from threats?

While crowdsourcing data is crucial for mapping migration, it also poses conservation risks if sensitive breeding or roosting locations are revealed. Atlas employs multiple strategies to protect birds:

• Geofencing – Masks exact location data for endangered species and critical habitats.
• Observation review – Suspicious data is examined to identify and remove any precise locations that could harm birds.
• Location obscuring – Public visualizations display blurred or low-resolution location data.
• Aggregated visuals – Public maps combine many observations into aggregated density representations.
• Scientific access – Precise location data is only available to qualified researchers for conservation purposes.

Through these protections, Atlas gathers the migration data needed for research while prioritizing birds’ safety and preventing misuse of sensitive information. The platform puts principles of ethical conservation data use into action.

How does Atlas help conservation efforts?

By contributing enormous amounts of data on bird distribution and movement, Atlas supports multiple aspects of bird conservation:

• Identify threatened habitats – Maps show migration hotspots and bottlenecks where habitat protection is urgently needed.
• Guide policy and plans – Data informs management of public lands, wind power development, etc. to aid conservation.
• Focus research – Data helps scientists study habitat needs during migration and threats birds face.
• Engage public – Interactive tools raise awareness and inspire people to help conservation efforts.
• Detect change – Changes in migration timing, routes, population sizes etc. provide early warnings of problems.

Scientists, land managers, policymakers, and conservation groups can all use Atlas data to make more informed decisions and take actions that give birds the habitat and resources they need to complete their epic migrations.

What are some key discoveries from Atlas migration data?

Although Atlas has only been operating since 2018, some intriguing discoveries are already emerging from the crowdsourced migration data:

• New migration routes – Unexpected pathways and timing found for several species like Sanderlings, Horned Larks, and Northern Saw-whet Owls.
• Threatened stopovers – Data shows some critical migration rest stops have very little habitat protection currently.
• Migratory divides – Atlas maps reveal distinct East/West migration splits within some species like Fox Sparrows.
• Non-stop flights – Records indicate species like Blackpoll Warblers may fly for 3 days non-stop over the Atlantic.
• Molt migration – Some hummingbirds time migration to exploit blooming aloe plants by molting in Mexico.

These and future findings will contribute to better scientific understanding of the evolution, ecology, and conservation needs of migratory birds throughout the Americas and beyond.

What is the future outlook for the Atlas project?

Looking forward, the Cornell Lab has ambitious plans to grow Atlas into an increasingly powerful resource for understanding and protecting migratory birds:

• More data – Expand to tens of millions of sightings annually to strengthen migration models.
• Population estimates – Develop tools to estimate sizes of migratory populations.
• More visualizations – Add 3D and augmented reality to bring migrations to life.
• Real-time tracking – Incorporate satellite tracking data for individual birds into the platform.
• Habitat data – Integrate land cover, vegetation, and weather data to study drivers.
• Conservation planning – Expand conservation-specific decision support tools.

Meeting these goals will require continuing to build the birder community participating in Atlas while advancing the technology and analytics powering the platform. The result will be an increasingly detailed and multifaceted perspective on the underpinnings and status of new world bird migrations.

Conclusion

In summary, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Atlas bird migration explorer leverages big data, crowdsourcing, and visual storytelling to map migratory movements across the Americas. The platform transforms millions of bird sightings submitted by citizen scientists into stunning animated maps, charts, and graphics that reveal the routes, timing, and patterns of bird migrations at continental scales. Beyond research, these tools help identify threats birds face during their epic annual journeys, while engaging and educating the public about the wonder of migration. As Atlas continues to grow, it promises exciting new discoveries and strengthened abilities to protect the habitats and resources migratory birds depend upon throughout their migrations.