New atlas of bird migration shows extraordinary journeys

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new online atlas of bird migration draws from an unprecedented number of scientific and community data sources to illustrate the routes of about 450 bird species in the Americas. The Bird Migration Explorer mapping tool, published Thursday (Sept. 15, 2022), is available free to the public. It’s an ongoing collaboration between 11 groups that collect and analyze data on bird movements, including the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the U.S. Geological Survey, Georgetown University and the National Audubon Society. Bird migration expert Peter Marra said the past 20 years have seen a renaissance in different technologies to track bird migrations around the world at scales that haven’t been possible before.