Wednesday, February 6, 2008

MigrantWatch

http://www.ncbs.res.in/citsci/migrantwatch/

What is MigrantWatch?
MigrantWatch is a participatory activity in which volunteers across the country note the arrival and presence of nine bird species that spend the winter in India. No special travel or effort is required other than noting the days on which you observe these species. You can choose between two levels of participation.

What will it accomplish?
Pooling information from volunteers all over the country, we will be able to construct countrywide maps of first arrival dates, regular presence dates, and dates of return migration for each species. The information gathered will be used to investigate the timing and speed of migration; and whether migration times are changing from year to year. A small effort, multiplied by many participants, can lead to huge advances in our knowledge of bird migration!

What does it involve?
Choose one or a few locations (eg, your home, college, or place of work) where you watch birds regularly (eg, daily, weekly, or fortnightly) and make your observations at these locations. For Level 1 (see below), please also send records from places you visit less frequently, or even only once.

You can participate at two levels.
Level 1. Watch for these nine migrant birds and note the date when you first observe each of them in the second half of 2007 at your location(s).
Note: if you join after November 2007, please consider participating at Level 2.

Level 2. Keep a regular (eg, daily or weekly) record from when you join until 30 April 2008 of whether or not you see each of the nine species. If you miss days or weeks during this period, don't worry - you can still contribute information from those days/weeks on which you made observations.

To submit records (at either level), please login.

Click on the photos to the left for identification tips.


What will happen to the data?
All information contributed is sent with the understanding that the compiled data will be freely accessible to all through these web pages (more details). A summary of the results will be published in Indian Birds journal. Our target dates are to make the first arrival results available by January 2008 and the detailed wintering results by May 2008.

JOIN US IN THIS NATIONWIDE STUDY OF
BIRD MIGRATION!


Locations of participants

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