How to Explore Data
You can look at bird data in two main ways. First, you can focus on
a particular species to see where it is found (distribution), how many
are found there (abundance) and breeding data such as when they breed
and how many eggs they lay.
Second, you can focus on a particular location or region to see which
species are there (species list) and when you are most likey to see
particular species of interest.
Comparing data from multiple projects (when available) adds to the
complexity of your results and can help give a fuller picture of what
bird populations are doing. Many of our projects provide online access
to their data (see Online Data Summaries). For those projects that do
not provide online data retrieval, you can contact the project
directly. Go to the Citizen Science home page.
Each time you think of a question, be sure the data you use fit the
question. And some questions you have about birds may not be answered
using the bird data that are currently available.
The Additional Questions section at the bottom of this page gives examples of more complex questions using citizen-science data.
If you are studying a species, you may want to know:
Where is this species found throughout the year?
Distribution
How many birds of this species am I likely to see across its range of distribution?
Bird Abundance
When does this species lay its first eggs? (When do they breed?)
First Egg Dates
How many eggs does it lay?
Clutch Size
How many young does this bird produce?
Number of Fledglings
What are population trends for this species?
If you are studying a location, you may want to know
When am I most likely to see a certain species?
What are some population trends for species at this location?
Addtional Questions
Track the spread of disease in wild bird populations
Cerulean Warbler use of habitat types
Patterns of area sensitivity which may be used for management.
Go to the "Land Manager's Guide to Improving Habitat for Scarlet Tanagers and Other Forest-interior Birds"