Crossing
Audubon
Society
 | BirdCast, A Citizen Scientist Project in April |
| Hannah Suthers |
| Washington Crossing Audubon Society |
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On April 1, 2000, BirdSource (http://www.birdsource.org) will initiate a pilot project in the eastern portion of the mid-Atlantic states. This is BirdCast, hourly NEXRAD Doppler images of migrating birds in the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC metropolitan areas. These images on the web will be accompanied by interpretations provided by Clemson Radar Ornithology. Weather will be filtered out by GeoMarine, so that we will actually be able to observe the birds as they move over time.
What is needed is groundtruthing, and that's where citizen scientists are needed. Thousands of sets of eyes are needed in the field on a daily basis to verify what the radar images are capturing. We will able to log on and enter our daily sightings directly into a computer at Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, and running tallies will be accessible to us. The Academy of Natural Science, Philadelphia, will develop messages such as admonitions against the use of certain pesticides and other migrant-friendly changes that people can make in their backyards. Possibly the interpreted images can be useful in pinpointing critical habitat. Interested persons should contact Sally Conyne sconyne@audubon.org or Barry Lewis lewis@acnatsci.org.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact either of the following:
Note: Due to SPAM issues, the e-mail addresses do not automatically open an e-mail anymore.
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