Today, apparently, is World Migratory Bird Day.
As good a day as any to marvel this little bird. It is called the Blyth's Reed Warbler. Not much of a looker, but it is one hell of a traveller. Here's this migrant's story…
📷 UdayKiran28/ Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY-SA 4.0
As good a day as any to marvel this little bird. It is called the Blyth's Reed Warbler. Not much of a looker, but it is one hell of a traveller. Here's this migrant's story…
📷 UdayKiran28/ Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY-SA 4.0
As seasons roll, plants in every corner of our planet pulse to the changing regimes of light, temperature and moisture. When these conditions are ideal, plants put out an exuberant flush of green. To a satellite, here is how the seasonal waxing and waning of vegetation appears.
At different times of the year, different parts of our planet are becoming greener than they are on average (black), or even browner than they are on average. As this green wave breaks over a place, it comes alive with a myriad life forms, including insects that depend on plants.
It is this life-giving green wave that our little warbler tracks! As this green wave moves north, the warbler rushes to its breeding grounds in northern Europe, quickly gets its job done, and rides the same green wave back into India on its retreat!
Some comments below…
Some comments below…
The Blyth's Reed Warbler is not alone in the epic annual journeys it makes. Hundreds of other bird species around the world do essentially the same drill, but each with its own fascinating twist to the plot. For a scintillating glimpse from America, see nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/…
For examples from India, see birdcount.in/birders-docume… which showcases some of the fabulous data gathered through the work of the @birdcountindia partnership, which also recently published the first State of India's Birds report. See: stateofindiasbirds.in
Watch again… this warbler’s entire global population winters in India, spending 8 months here, and the rest in Europe. Yet, in a world where conservation seldom sees beyond narrow political boundaries, these ‘migrants’ face an uncertain future in both homes, and in transit too.
And finally, a philosophical question: where do migrant species like the Blyth's Reed Warbler belong? And what might their itinerant yet peaceable lives teach us about the ways in which we, humans, embrace and defend our own nationalities and identities?
These visualisations are thanks to open global data on birds gathered on @Team_eBird platform by thousands of birders, combined with the open earth observation data and analytical capabilities of @EarthOutreach Earth Engine. Thanks also to @gena_d for his brilliant @qgis plugin.
