Bird Migration Explorer
Data, Graphs, and Maps
Grades9, 10, 11, 12, APBiology, Geography
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Provided by Audubon
What it is
- This interactive resource contains a wealth of information about the migration patterns, species, and conservation challenges of birds in North, Central, and South America.
- Students can explore animated maps, text, and images of the information, listen to the songs of individual bird species, and filter the species by taxonomic group, tracking method, location, and type of challenge.
Teaching tips
Positives
- This resource is interactive and contains so much valuable information.
- Once students choose a species, additional maps, data, bird songs, and conservation data are viewable to them.
Additional Prerequisites
- Students should be aware that many bird species migrate during the year.
- Students will need access to the Internet to use this resource.
Differentiation
- Cross-curricular connections can be made in language arts classes that are working on researching skills.
- Once students become familiar with the tools in this resource, consider creating a "web quest" where students need to find a species that fits particular criteria that you determine.
- As an extension, students can choose a bird species from the resource to research and learn about. Once each student is an expert on their species, they can teach their classmates or create a poster about what they have learned.
- Ecology, environmental science, or biology classes can use this resource to connect to lessons about speciation, genetic diversity, evolution, natural selection, adaptations, population dynamics, or ecosystem niches.
From the scientist review
This is an interactive map depicting the migration patterns of birds. It captures the state of birds' migration patterns, the challenges during migration, and explores the conservation outlook. The map also appraises the annual cycle of over 458 migratory bird species that breed in the Western Hemisphere (USA, Canada, and Latin America). Data sources have been fact-checked and this resource is recommended for teaching.
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Hosted on explorer.audubon.org
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