The Effect of Average Yearly Temperature on Local Migratory Bird Patterns (2021)

Drawing occurrence records of four bird species from the online bird-watching database eBird (ebird.org), we predicted a correlation between average daily temperature and occurrence of birds. We found increasingly early initial arrival dates for our selected bird species over the course of several decades. However, in our own observational study we failed to find a similarly strong correlation, possibly due to our team’s relative unfamiliarity with the practice of bird watching. This study highlights the potential problems associated with collecting data from amateur bird watchers. 

• Student(s): Charles Martin, Sean Kouznetsov, Ryan Spaman
• Project Mentor(s): Katherine Cleary
• L&RF 2021 Presentation-Martin