Red Phalarope. This pelagic shorebird is rare and always exciting species to find on an ISS survey.
The annual newsletter from ISS/PRISM has now been published and is available for download here.
Each year the newsletter, which is sent out to all participants,
provides perspectives on the populations and seasonal patterns of
shorebirds based on ISS/PRISM data. This year's newsletter highlights
some of the visualizations available in ISS eBird. The newsletter
describes ways that you can explore seasonal changes in frequency,
abundance, and other counts by using the eBird data exploration tools.
In addition, the June 2009 newsletter presents an historical review of
the changes in Red Knot populations and how those have varied
geographically. Read on for insight on how these changes may indicate
that long-distant migrant knots are now much rarer in Massachusetts,
while the short-distant migrants that winter in Florida may in fact be
using Massachusetts staging areas more.