Bird observation points for Blue-winged Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, and Canada Warbler (shown by month for the time period 2000 - 2008), compiled from a variety of data sources by the Avian Knowledge Network (http://www.avianknowledge.net). These warbler species are all designated as priority migrant songbird species by the eBird project. For more information, please see http://ebird.org/content/primig/.
The data were submitted by volunteers to eBird, a citizen-science project run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. Each record in this dataset is a part of a checklist that a birder uses to mark the number of birds of each species detected. These data are intended to characterize the general areas in which these species have been observed. It is not intended for rigorous scientific analysis due to the varying quality and precision of the underlying data. Coordinates should be regarded as approximate due to the wide range in projects and protocols from which these data were obtained. The records generally lack critical information for statistically calculating density of this species at a given point.
Processing Notes & Time Display:
Coordinate information contained in tabular data obtained from Avian Knowledge Network was used to create points within this shapefile, to which selected fields from the table were attached to provide additional information about the observation at that point.
All three warbler species' datasets were merged into a single layer and two new date fields were added to allow display as a time-series animation.
Dataset is currently time-enabled by the "Observation Month" field, which allows display of monthly movements of birds, for all years (2000-2008) combined. This animation shows a stronger spatial pattern of migration than does displaying birds based on their actual (non-pooled) individual observation years.
If the "Timestamp_DATE" field is changed to time-enabled, then data will be displayed based on a given observation date, for the actual year/month/day observed. Note, this dataset must be downloaded and displayed in GIS software to change the field time-series animation is based on.