I came across several intriguing maps of tracking data from two seabird species based on geolocators that would be fairly astounding if the locations are accurate or even close to accurate.
The most surprising would be this map of one of the world’s rarest birds, the Bermuda Petrel, which has a point plotted on the map that would have placed the bird between Monhegan Island and the mainland on April 9, 2010 (if I am reading the date correctly). That map can be seen at this link: http://seabirdtracking.org/mapper/?dataset_id=741
The other map is of Audubon’s Shearwater locations from birds that had the geolocators affixed in the Bahamas. The map is not interactive so can’t be zoomed in to see exactly where the locations have been plotted but it shows many locations plotted in the Gulf of Maine and generally in the waters off the Northeast U.S. and the Maritimes where there are very few records of Audubon’s Shearwater. The Audubon’s Shearwater tracking map can see at this link: http://www.atlanticseabirds.org/aush-bahamas
There are issues with analyzing geolocator data that must be carefully considered when deciding the accuracy of points, etc., and I will leave it to others to comment about that but if any of these plotted locations are even in the ballpark, then it would suggest that Audubon’s Shearwaters may be regularly undetected or misidentified as Manx Shearwaters in our waters. I’m not sure what to think about the Bermuda Petrel locations. Maybe the Maine Birds Records Committee should take on the task of investigating this information to see if it is credible?
If anyone wants to talk more about these fascinating maps and implications in person, Allison and I will be at LL Bean’s on Saturday from 11-1 for a book signing and conversation.
Jeff
Jeff Wells
0 comments:
Post a Comment