European Bee-eater. D Dumas/Macaulay Library. eBird S55044472
Migration is well under way across the globe, and the team thought it would be fun to take a quick look at a few species on the move!
We made the interactive maps below made with eBird data, originally unveiling these in 2017. They give us a bird’s-eye view of migration in progress. Look to the legend in the bottom right of the map below showing the date to see which progression line associates with which date. Also note that you can use the sliding circles in the “Days Ago” legend to see how the progression of migration for this species has changed over the last 30 days.
Species on the Move, Global Edition!
Sorely and sadly lacking from the avifauna of the Americas (the usual geographic focus of BirdCast research for various reasons) European Bee-eater is on the move on the move across Europe! Some nice pulses of arrivals have occurred on the Iberian Peninsula, as well as a number of points to the east of the region. Birders, get out there are fill in the gaps in space to tell us highlight more arrivals of this colorful migrant.
Another amazing aerialist is the insectivorous Common Swift. This species is on the move as well, welcome back to the continent…Check out the locations of sightings in the last week, with increasing numbers apparent in many areas from a diverse array of locations across Europe.
Common Swift. M Mandel/Macaulay Library. eBird S55089285.
And let’s take a look across the globe at the movements of a widespread species, or several closely related widespread species, depending on your perspective… Whimbrel. This map certainly has many gaps where additional observations would clarify the timing and position of the migration wave, so let this be further inspiration for more birding and eBirding!
Whimbrel (European). J Kennerly/Macaulay Library. eBird S55123968.
Stay tuned, there is much more migration to come. Happy birding!
