About the Maps

By clicking on each of the images below, you will launch an animated sequence in Windows Media Player. Each map will show white and red dots, representing bird sightings reported to eBird, the Arctic Shorebird Survey, and other databases in the Avian Knowledge Network. (Red dots indicate high numbers of birds; white dots represent low numbers.) As the dates progress from January to December, you will see the locations of the dots change as the birds migrate.

Tracking these patterns of migratory movement will help scientists predict how avian influenza might spread, if the highly pathognic H5N1 strain makes an appearance in North America.

Semipalmated Sandpiper

The Semipalmated Sandpiper is a small shorebird that breeds in the tundra of Canada and Alaska and winters along the northern and central coasts of South America. Eastern populations fly nonstop over the Atlantic Ocean. Western populations traverse the interior of North America. Click on the map to see the flow northward for spring migration, and the reverse as the birds head south to their wintering grounds over a two-year period. To learn more about Semipalmated Sandpipers, visit the All About Birds Online Bird Guide.

High Arctic Shorebirds

By grouping data for multiple species, it is easier to see the broad swath of North America traversed by shorebirds that breed in Alaska and the high Arctic. Some spend their winters along North American coasts while others continue to Central or South America. This map shows data for a two-year period.

Click on the map to see migratory movements of American Golden-Plover, Baird's Sandpiper, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black Turnstone, Black-bellied Plover, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Dunlin, Hudsonian Godwit, Long-billed Dowitcher, Pacific Golden-Plover, Pectoral Sandpiper, Red Knot, Rock Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Surfbird, Wandering Tattler, Western Sandpiper, Whimbrel, White-rumped Sandpiper, and Wilson's Snipe.

Diving Water Birds

The species shown in this map all breed in Alaska, Canada or, in some cases, northern United States. They spend their winters either in the United States interior or along its coasts, with a few species ranging into Central America.

Click on the map to see how the following species move throughout the year: Barrow's Goldeneye, Black Scoter, Bufflehead, Canvasback, Common Eider, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Greater Scaup, Harlequin Duck, Horned Grebe, King Eider, Lesser Scaup, Long-tailed Duck, Pacific Loon, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-necked Grebe, Red-throated Loon, Redhead, and Ring-necked Duck.

These maps were created by a multidisciplinary group at Cornell University involving the Computer Science Department, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Center for Applied Mathematics, and Department of Microbiology and Immunology. The maps are based on data from the Avian Knowledge Network.

Return to main article.