Request for assistance – song recordings of migrating Mourning Warblers
I am once again writing to request your help and record Mourning Warbler
songs from spring migrants. It is year 6 of my research using birdsong to
study migratory connectivity of Mourning Warbler song populations. Our lab
is interested in whether different song populations of the Mourning Warbler
(Western, Eastern, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland) migrate together or
separately to their respective breeding areas. Here is a link to the
latest map with previous years’ results based on recordings from over 100
birders.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl=en&mid=1voXjBhvHZ0nwAv93_OBC_vCPuxQ&ll=38.892516009880424%2C-85.09712735&z=5
Preliminary results from the map indicate that 1) Western song populations
are separating out from the rest of the pack and migrating throughout the
mid-western states directly to the Prairie Provinces, 2) Eastern, Nova
Scotia and Newfoundland song populations are migrating together along the
Appalachian Mountains, 3) Nova Scotia and Newfoundland song populations are
beginning to hug the Atlantic coast in New Jersey and New York.
We are in need of recordings from more mid-western states, eastern Colorado
and the New England coast. All you need is a smartphone with a voice
recording app and some luck. Videos with recordings are also helpful. The
web page link below describes the project and how to make recordings on
your Smartphone in more detail. Please send song recordings to the
Mourning Warbler Sound Lab (jpitocch AT anselm.edu).
https://mowasongmapper.weebly.com/
There is also a link to a spring 2017 National Audubon Society story on
this research.
Audubon Society reporting
http://www.audubon.org/magazine/spring-2017/this-guy-mapping-how-warblers-migrate-just
I would really appreciate your help and contributions this year to this
Citizens Science Project.
Dr. Jay Pitocchelli
Chair, Biology Department
Saint Anselm College
Manchester, NH 03102
