Bird research in the news

I came across two articles highlighting bird research this week. The first is related to the public talk we are co-hosting Sept 4th on eBird, and the second is on shearwater movements being tracked during their non-breeding season.

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CROWDSOURCING, FOR THE BIRDS
published in The New York Times August 19, 2013

Photo from Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Helena, Mont. — On a warm morning not long ago on the shore of a small prairie lake outside this state capital, Bob Martinka trained his spotting scope on a towering cottonwood tree heavy with blue heron nests. He counted a dozen of the tall, graceful birds and got out his smartphone, not to make a call but to type the number of birds and the species into an app that sent the information to researchers in New York.

Mr. Martinka, a retired state wildlife biologist and an avid bird-watcher, is part of the global ornithological network eBird. Several times a week he heads into the mountains to scan lakes, grasslands, even the local dump, and then reports his sightings to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a nonprofit organization based at Cornell University. 

Read the rest of this article here.

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SEABIRDS FITTED WITH SATELLITE TAGES TO TRACK MOVEMENTS IN THE GULF OF MAINE

published on Constantine Alexander's blog and LinkedIn August 18, 2013

Photo copyright NOAA

Researchers at NOAA's Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary are using satellite technology to learn more about the movement, life cycle, feeding and foraging habits of Great Shearwater seabirds in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem. Scientists have attached satellite transmitters to 10 birds and are tracking their movements this summer.

Shearwaters are one of more than 30 species of seabirds that can be found in the sanctuary. The birds winter and nest in the southern hemisphere, usually appearing in the Gulf of Maine in April to feed. However, little is known about how they spend their time in the Gulf of Maine.

Read the rest of the blog entry here. You can read about the research directly and track individual birds at the NOAA's Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary page.