Flight of the Osprey

Julie's Improbable Journey is an Esri Story Map tracing the 2,500 mile migration of a young osprey from her birthplace in southeast Michigan to Venezuela. The map uses data collected from a satellite tag placed on Julie as part of a project led by Michigan Osprey.

As you progress through the story map overhead aerial imagery shows you a bird's-eye view of Julie's journey. The aerial imagery uses a 'fog of war' overlay so that you only see the narrow strip of Julie's flight path (or a number of narrow paths around places where she stopped for a temporary rest on her migration).

You can learn more about how John M Nelson made this map in his tutorial Migration, Visualization, and Just-Enough-ification. This covers the whole process, from downloading the bird's track to creating the impressive bird's eye view strip maps of Julie's journey.

Osprey are just one of numerous species of American birds that annually migrate in North and South America. National Geographic's wonderful Where Do They Go? maps the annual flight patterns of American bird species.

Also See

Tracking Cuckoos to Africa ... and Back Again