Snowy Owls, 3.5 days of sightings March 2014
Snowy Owls heading up and out? I can’t be positive but here’s an interesting eBird map for 3.5 days of March 2014 sightings and they certainly look to be further north and clustered even more tightly around some of the major bodies of water. Please keep logging them so we can follow their movement back!
Read MoreRusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz
I am posting the following as a member of the International Rusty Blackbird Working Group, an affiliation I have had for several years as they are one of my favorite bird species. They’re also in tremendous trouble and very few people know about it. Have you heard a squeaky-hinge song lately, or seen a flash of rust-tipped feathers under a bright yellow eye? Although occasionally overlooked as “just another blackbird,” Rusty Blackbirds face an unfortunate and remarkable notoriety: this species has endured a decline more severe than that of any other once-common landbird. In March of...
Read MoreThe Great Backyard Bird Count
The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) started in 1998 and has now turned into an annual four-day citizen science event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are. Created originally by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society the GBBC requires at least one 15-minute count on any day in the period for participation. The 2014 GBBC will be taking place Friday, February 14 through Monday, February 17. RTPI staff will be participating in the GBBC and we recommend that all citizen scientists and feeder watchers...
Read MoreHelp with winter raptor surveys!
The Roger Tory Peterson Institute and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation are teaming up to conduct wintering raptor surveys in Chautauqua County in 2014 and we need your help! The primary focus of these surveys is to determine where Short-eared Owls and Northern Harriers are spending the winter season to roost and feed. Western New York’s NYSDEC Region 9 is a large geographical area and we at RTPI volunteered our time to assist NYSDEC in covering this vast region. We are hoping some of Chautauqua County’s citizen scientists will also volunteer to help out...
Read MoreHelp fill in eBird data gaps
As we enter 2014 there is no better time than to declare yourself a citizen scientist for the New Year. Make the resolution now please and start your journey by eBirding all of your sightings on New Year’s Day and every day you can thereafter. For those who do not know eBird it is essentially a protected database of avian observations from around the world that is fully searchable by the public, completely free, and intended to last forever to be used by scientists anywhere on Earth. Our collective efforts help to fuel this conservation machine and their maps, graphs, and tables allow...
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