EuroBirdPortal Visualizes European Bird Migration Using 750 Million Records

EuroBirdPortal synthesizes more than 750 million bird records collected since 2010 to create a live, animated visualization of bird movements across Europe. By aggregating data from various partner recording portals, the platform allows researchers and enthusiasts to track the seasonal distribution of hundreds of species, including those regularly occurring in the EU, introduced populations, and regular vagrant species.

Data Aggregation and Real-Time Updates

The platform functions by collecting data from a network of partner bird recording portals. This information is submitted to a central repository on a daily basis using a specific data standard, which in turn allows the viewer to update its maps every day.

This image illustrates the data aggregation process from multiple sources into a central repository.

The 'LIVE' maps are specifically designed to show the most recent movements, providing data up to the previous day. This allows for a direct comparison between the current week's movements and the same period in the previous year.

“The EBP viewer shows animated maps depicting the week-by-week distributional patterns of most of the bird species occurring in Europe.”

— EuroBirdPortal

Visualization Modes and Map Types

EuroBirdPortal offers four types of distributional maps to help users interpret different aspects of bird behavior. Occurrence maps show where a species was recorded or not each week, while Traces maps enhance the visualization of rapid temporal changes by showing records from the current and two previous weeks.

For those interested in population density, Counts maps show the maximum count recorded in a 30x30 km square. Phenological maps provide a different perspective by depicting the percentage of squares where a species was recorded across seven different geographical sectors.

Interpretation Limits and Data Accuracy

A critical caveat for users is that the absence of records in a specific square does not necessarily mean a species is absent from that area. This is due to varying observation efforts across different regions and the fact that not all detected birds are reported by observers.

Additionally, the 'Counts' maps are based on casual counts or rough estimates rather than formal censuses. Consequently, these maps provide a rough approximation of real variability rather than an exhaustive census of bird numbers.