Journey North - Oriole observations by volunteer community scientists across Central and North America (1997-2020)

This data package contains oriole migration data consisting of 14,476 total observational reports from 1997 - 2020 across North and Central America. These data were collected by 7,331 community scientists for Journey North, a crowdsourced participatory science program of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum. The Journey North Oriole Project is an ongoing study of oriole phenology conducted at broad spatial and temporal scales. Since 1997, community scientists have tracked first arrival dates and breeding and feeding behavior as well as the onset of fall migration and presence of oriole species throughout the winter months in the United States. Focal species are the Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula), Bullock’s Oriole (Icterus bullockii), and Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius fuertesi). Observers also provide estimates of the number of birds sighted. However, observers do not follow standardized methods for counting species observed. Observers do not observe at set times of the day, do not repeat observations regularly, and are not required to provide the length of time during which a specified number of species observed were counted. Therefore, it is recommended that this dataset be analyzed to indicate presence not abundance. Researchers are encouraged to read the rich information provided by volunteers in their comments. These comments provide qualitative information about observational reports. Researchers are also encouraged to refer to submitted photographs that also provide context for observational reports. The Journey North Oriole Project dataset is hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Shared Web Hosting Service.