Why birds choose the migration routes they do is one of the great mysteries
which we only have scattered data about. Based on banding returns, some
birds seem remarkably consistent in their routes, and find the same suburban
backyard in New Jersey that they did last year and the year before.

It is quite amazing to realize that there are thousands of birders, all over
the country, tracking the birds in their yards and favorite places. Imagine
what we could discover if we could tap into all those lists? Lets say that
Wilsons Warblers stop coming to your yard, and we find all of Seattle has
very few Wilson's. Then when we start asking why, it might turn out that the
cause was something we can pinpoint, such as a large fire last fall which
burned 10,000 acres of coastal forest habitat in southern Oregon. (This did
not happen, its just an example) If we could get the lists of the birders to
the east of such a fire we might see a large increase in Wilson Warbler
sightings, as the warblers respond to the fire caused habitat change by
moving to the forest to the east, thus changing their migratory patterns,
bypassing Seattle this year.

One of things that has come available recently is the ability for birders
anywhere to make their house and other lists available to anybody by using
one or more websites dedicated to this purpose. There are tons of
interesting questions that arise from patterns and changes in the
distribution of any particular species of bird, or many all at once. For
example, does a sudden annual decline in sightings of Wilson's Warblers mean
that their population is in decline, or that some particular change in
habitat has caused them to move north in a different pattern. Tracking
local change has been difficult. As time goes forward, and more people use
the internet resources, we can even microtrack things like odd birds, such
as the Bean Goose that showed up this winter at the coast. If everybody who
sees a Bean goose enters the date and place of the sighting in a website,
then you can track it from state to state, even country to country.

The naturalist in me abhors spending time indoors staring at blue screens
and ticking away. The scientist in me is fascinated by the potential of what
such data could reveal.

Rob Sandelin
South Snohomish County at the headwaters of Ricci Creek
Sky Valley Environments <http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm>
Field skills training for student naturalists
Floriferous at msn.com


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