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eBird animated occurrence maps

February 3, 2011
eBird animated occurrence maps

eBird occurrence map from 5 July. Can you guess the species?

This story is continually updated. As of 9 March, there are now 50 species available, with more on the way. Understanding patterns of bird occurrence at continental scales has long been one of eBird's fundamental challenges. Only now, with 42 million records and ever more thorough coverage nationwide, is this becoming possible. Ongoing research at the Cornell Lab is producing models predicting species occurrence on each day of the year, displayed graphically here.

We thank you all for your day-to-day checklist contributions that have made this possible. At eBird, every observation has value and it is only through the commitment of our thousands of users across the globe that these animation have become possible. Please remember that eBird is much more than a place to keep your records and track your lists--it is a tool for science and conservation.

Our first batch of occurrence maps (most of them animations) are now available at the 'Occurrence Map' page, along with some analysis of what is going on biologically. We welcome comments at the eBird 'Chip Notes' blog

If you enjoy quizzes, try to guess this species and then click for the answer.

Support for the development of these maps comes from the Leon Levy Foundation, the Institute of Computational Sustainability at Cornell University, DataONE, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC), and TeraGrid.

Map01_small

Larger map