Leveraging the Trektellen Application Allows Regional Counters to Collaborate More Effectively
Good morning! One really cool thing about the Turkey Point Bird Count is that we’re leveraging the Trektellen application to share near-real-time updates about migration activity. This allows regional counters to collaborate more effectively, tipping each other to noteworthy numbers and species and allowing the extended community to evaluate current migration activity.
For example, if one counter starts entering a large number of a certain species, great numbers overall (e.g., a “fallout” event), or a certain rare species, interested parties can see it immediately and the counter doesn’t have to stop counting to send texts or post to social media. It’s just available via their normal counting tool! If you hop on and see a ton of migrants, get outside ASAP! If something is happening here and not at Cape May – or vice versa — why? Is it the wind, precipitation, heat, cold, fog? What was the weather like in the preceding days? Is it something subtle about the routes of certain species at this precise time? Talking about it as we’re still experiencing those conditions will drive the conversation and all of our awareness.
MBP has embedded the Trektellen data right on the Turkey Point Bird Count page, along with other new additions like a “Meet the Counter” page with a photo of Daniel Irons. You can view the data there or via the linked Trektellen tool. Of course we’ll also post the data daily via eBird.
Check it out! https://www.marylandbiodiversity.com/project/turkeypoint/
Note the two Northern Waterthrushes on today’s list, some cool early migrants!
-Bill
Bookmark the page and check it regularly to lean into fall migration in Maryland like never before! It’s also linked under “Special Projects” on the MBP home page.