ornithology – The Map Room https://www.maproomblog.com Blogging about maps since 2003 Fri, 16 Sep 2022 17:57:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.maproomblog.com/xq/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cropped-logo-2017-04-32x32.jpg ornithology – The Map Room https://www.maproomblog.com 32 32 116787204 Audubon’s Bird Migration Explorer https://www.maproomblog.com/2022/09/audubons-bird-migration-explorer/ Fri, 16 Sep 2022 17:52:32 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1809068 Screenshot of the front page of Audubon's Bird Migration Explorer website
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Audubon’s Bird Migration Explorer is the mother of all bird migration maps, with information on the seasonal ranges and migration routes of some 458 bird species in North America.

Previously: Animated Map of Bird Migration.

]]> 1809068 Birds Discover Longitude https://www.maproomblog.com/2017/11/birds-discover-longitude/ Tue, 21 Nov 2017 17:00:58 +0000 http://www.maproomblog.com/?p=6097 More]]> Eurasian reed warblers don’t need no stinkin’ marine chronometers. A new study suggests that the migratory birds make use of magnetic declination to determine longitude, “at least under some circumstances under clear skies. Experienced migrants tested during autumn migration in Rybachy, Russia, were exposed to an 8.5° change in declination while all other cues remained unchanged. This corresponds to a virtual magnetic displacement to Scotland if and only if magnetic declination is a part of their map. The adult migrants responded by changing their heading by 151° from WSW to ESE, consistent with compensation for the virtual magnetic displacement.”

Not, it would seem, accurate enough for the species to earn a chunk of the Longitude Prize, and it’s not like John Harrison should have been messing about with birds instead of clocks, but interesting all the same. [GeoLounge]

]]> 6097 Animated Map of Bird Migration https://www.maproomblog.com/2016/01/animated-map-of-bird-migration/ Fri, 22 Jan 2016 14:40:50 +0000 http://www.maproomblog.com/?p=476 Check out the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s animated map of the migration paths of 118 bird species in the Western Hemisphere. [via]

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