Trends in the spring arrival dates of Neotropical-migrant landbirds
in New York State, 1988-2013
Victor Ryan Bernal
Jasmine Calle
Brooklyn College
College of Staten Island
Abstract: Climate change has been shown to affect animal lifestyles world-wide. However, new data is arising everyday that
further elucidates to what extent life is affected. This project will be focusing on the change in spring arrival dates for neotropical migratory land bird in New York State from 1988-2013 in hopes to offer the information up for further research. It is
widely recognized that climate can affect birds by changing their arrival schedules, but to quantify this data is to better know
the rate and nature of this change. This analysis also gives a more accurate depiction of how important weather as a factor.
Introduction: Birds, like other animal
species, are heavily affected by
changing weather conditions. There
are direct and indirect reasons for
this, which will be mentioned in this
report. Migratory birds, however, are
perhaps especially affected by these
changes. They depend on weather
cues to know when to begin their
migratory journeys.
Methods: The primary data used for
this analysis were tables from The
Kingbird, a birding magazine. These
yearly tables showed the arrival dates
in New York, which was separated into
10 regions, for certain land bird
species. Because many species are
analyzed, the impact of any speciesspecific factor for changes in arrival
times is lessened. Any species that was
missing more than (insert#here)
reports was excluded from the report
for the sake of having a steady average.
All the magazine’s data reports from
1988 until the present were compiled
into a graph to make any existing
trends more obvious. A T-Test will be
used to test the null hypothesis is true.
Conclusion:
Insert graph here.
Birds are AWESOME.
Discussion:
Acknowledgements:
It really depends on whether or not it is an African
or European swallow.
Thank you to Professor S. Mitra
from the College of Staten Island
for lending his wisdom and
editorial skills.
References:
New York State Ornithological Association, Inc. The Kingbird. Volumes 38-83. Web. <http://nybirds.org/>.
Ebird.org. TheCornell Lab of Ornithology, and National Audobon Society. <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/about/>.
Neotropical Birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Web. <http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/home>.