Atlas launched at COP15 shows migration routes of vulnerable birds
An online tool that maps the most important migration routes, stopover sites, and resting areas for 89 species of migratory birds in the Americas was launched, with versions in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, during the 15th United Nations Conference on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (COP15), in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul state.
The Atlas for the Americas Flyways is expected to help identify locations where government efforts and international cooperation are most needed.
“In terms of public policies, we can more accurately identify geographic areas that require greater attention for conservation and for the creation of protected areas, whether public or private,” said Braulio Dias, director of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity at Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.
Environmental licensing for projects such as power generation with transmission lines or wind towers will also benefit from the data, he went on to point out.
“If the location of these transmission lines and wind towers is not chosen carefully, it can result in high mortality rates among birds and bats,” he noted.
Bird concentration areas can be viewed on an interactive map that shows the migration routes taken during each season of the year for each species. “It’s also useful for the general public. Bird lovers or those planning a trip to a region can now check the map to find out which species are most common in a given area and where to look for them,” he added.
The database draws on millions of records generated by scientists on the eBird platform and should be expanded to include 622 species that traverse 56 countries along the migratory routes of the Americas, stretching from the Canadian Arctic to Chilean Patagonia.
One example of a bird cataloged by the atlas is the bird known as the saffron-cowled blackbird, which passes through southern Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay on its journey. The species is suffering from a sharp decline in its population and, as a result, is included on the list of endangered species under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).
“This atlas shows what is possible when millions of bird observations are compiled, thanks to contributions from people across the Americas,” said Christopher Wood, director of the Center for Avian Population Studies at Cornell University’s Ornithology Laboratory, who was part of the team that built the tool.
The atlas is the result of an initiative by the CMS Secretariat, in partnership with the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology, Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
During the launch, CMS Executive Secretary Amy Fraenkel stressed that the atlas reinforces the shared commitment to strengthening ecological connectivity across borders at a time when migratory species need coordinated action.
*The reporter traveled at the invitation of the Ministry of the Environment.
