Thank You Citizen Scientists!
First arrival date of ruby-throated hummingbirds. See Courter et al. (2013) for more information.
A new study published in The Auk finds that ruby-throated hummingbirds are arriving in North America 12-18 days earlier than in the past. Citizen scientists through the Journey North project contributed over 6 million records to the study! And more data continue to be gathered each year.
Researcher Jason Courter writes, “We really appreciate all of your help and are hoping that this project showcases how critical Citizen Science is becoming in research.” The potential for citizen science to address questions of broad spatial and temporal scale are truly unparalleled.
Read more about the hummingbirds in Jason Courter’s paper and from CBS news…
Want to get involved and collect some data yourself? Or have your own ideas for how to use data collected by citizen scientists? Here are a few projects to check out.
North American Bird Phenology Program
