Tracking Birds with Google Maps

Birdfeeders.com are using Google Maps to crowdsource the tracking of migrating Hummingbirds. The Hummingbird Migration Map allows anyone to add a sighting of a hummingbird to the map to help build a picture of the birds' migratory patterns

Users of the map can refine the map by species of hummingbird and also select a date range to view on the map.


The British Trust for Ornithology have tagged a number of cuckoos and have created an animated Google Map for each bird showing its migratory journey.

The maps show each of the cuckoo's journeys from the UK to Africa and help to reveal the birds' stop over points on their migrations to and from the UK.

In the UK the RSPB are also using Google Maps to track osprey chicks as they migrate to and from Africa to the Scottish Highlands. A number of birds have been tracked since 2008 and you can view the individual tracks of each bird directly on the RSPB Google Map.