THE BIRD WORLD / ACROSS THE UNITED STATES

AVIAN Flight Intelligence.

Find your place. Meet the birds. Follow the season.

Open BirdCast ↗

AVIAN EXPLORER / LOCAL SOUND ID

Identify a bird.

Record a song or upload a clip to explore possible bird matches. Audio stays on your device.

Upload a clip

Record or choose an audio clip, up to 120 seconds and 20 MB.

Recording details, location & save options

Clip nameRecorded time · localLatitudeLongitudeAircraft altitude · optional ftAircraft altitude datumMinimum model score

How identification works & model credits

Powered by BirdNET+ V3.0 preview3.1. Free browser-based acoustic analysis; model and runtime download about 90 MB on first use. Your clip is analyzed locally. This experimental recognizer can make false matches, especially with wind, rain, engines and other sounds.

Location, date/time and elevation are editable context, not a geographic filter or evidence of flight height. File timestamps are not assumed to be recording times. Scores are model outputs, not calibrated identification probabilities. Audio results do not populate flight-risk analysis or verified sightings automatically.

Model credit: Lasseck, Eibl, Klinck & Kahl (2026), BirdNET+ preview3.1 ↗ · unchanged model, CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗ · model terms ↗. Research/evaluation preview; not validated for operational aviation use.

Saved recordings in this browser

Up to 12 clips in IndexedDB. Clips clear when you reload or leave. Download audio and context if you want your own copy.

BIRD WATCHING / AROUND YOUR LOCATION

Your local bird briefing.

Explore recent nearby reports alongside satellite-derived land cover and seasonal migration. No location is requested until you choose it; coordinates or a map point work too.

Nearby radiusObservation window

Use My location, enter coordinates in Local, or choose a map point to begin.

Pick your spot and we’ll build the local picture.

Percentages on report cards = share of retrieved reports within your radius and date window, not your chance of seeing the bird today. Resident / mixed means the species has resident populations; local status may vary. Satellite imagery is habitat context, not a live bird detector. Your location comes from your device with permission, or a point you enter—not your Google account.

What does “likely to see” require?

An encounter probability needs a trained and calibrated model with complete checklists, nondetections, time spent observing, date, habitat and independent testing. Presence-only reports and migration percentages cannot supply that probability. This view shows recent reports and qualitative habitat matches; no numerical sighting probability is inferred.

Cornell encounter-rate modeling methods ↗

AVIAN EXPLORER / BirdCast migration

Published migration • Cornell Lab / BirdCastConnecting to the public source…

Automatic source check every 5 minutes while visible.

Original national source graphic. Colors show migration traffic rate; orange arrows show migration direction. Red/green dots show radar availability. Source maps focus on nocturnal migration; daylight portions are not a validated daytime prediction. This national graphic is not georeferenced to the observation map. No species identity is inferred from its pixels.

Open full BirdCast interactive view ↗

AVIAN SPECIES CONTEXT

Top 10 · migration candidates

MODEL + REPORT CONTEXT

A seasonal analytical model ranks likely migrant candidates for the selected reference point and date. Recent reports are shown separately as supporting local context. These species are not identified in the radar returns.

Top 10 · recent report sample

Waiting for observation reports…

What do the percentages and levels mean?

Share = reports of a species ÷ all retrieved reports matching the current filters. High: ≥20%; medium: 5–<20%; low: <5%. These are descriptive report-share bins—not migration intensity, species likelihood, detection confidence or today’s encounter probability. The sample is capped and affected by observer effort and reporting delay. No calibrated species probabilities are available.

United States • Select local, state or national contextOriginal source imagery • source legend retained

BIRD ACTIVITY / AREA EVIDENCE

What’s moving, and at what height?

Published migration summary

Counts, direction, speed and mean altitude refer to the source’s recorded time, not necessarily now. Groundspeed includes wind. Summary values are not the full night’s time series.

Nearby weather observations

Altitude bands · evidence and model coverage

Species context · counts and percentages

How a species-in-flight model must work

Target: a species’ share of all birds aloft in a defined area, time and height band. A research model must estimate species-specific local availability and probability of being airborne, using seasonal timing, movement behavior, habitat, weather at flight height and independent validation data. It must retain an unknown-species component and uncertainty, then reconcile its estimate with compatible regional radar measurements.

National population totals, breeding abundance indices, ground sightings and radar counts have different sampling frames. Multiplying them does not establish species counts aloft. A published BMTR seasonal species-composition prior is now available when you click a county or migration arrow. It describes a nearby study reference and weekly seasonal passage, with percentages and the remaining modeled species shown. Daily weather adjustment, species-height distributions and calibrated encounter probabilities remain unconnected.

Cornell abundance definitions & data-use terms ↗ · BirdCast measurement definitions ↗

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE / HISTORICAL REPORTS

Observation map.

Explore the reports behind the species context. Report heat and published county direction remain separate evidence layers.

reports in this sample

reported species

Past 30 daysobservation window

Auto-refresh · 5 minsource dates stay visible

Save this map view

Spots and notes last only for this visit. Download an export if you want your own copy.

United States • explore the map

Basemap

Bird pictures on mapHide pictures to see the county migration shading. Report concentration below shows sightings, not birds aloft.

Photo markers · dated species reports Amber arrows · incoming direction Cyan circle → direction only, not destination Color · report count per grid cell

Search species & reports Sightings concentration Migration direction Pick briefing pointReport datesApproximate size

● Blue: 1–2 reports ● Yellow: 3–9 reports ● Orange: 10+ reports · Counts are retrieved reports per grid cell, not measured birds in flight. Cell size changes with zoom; reporting effort and sample caps affect the pattern.

Loading US reports for the visible map…

Source coverage & limitations

Observation heat is reporting density, not bird abundance or a prediction for today. Radar does not identify the pictured species.

Published county direction context will appear here.

MEET THE NEIGHBORS

Species in this view

REFERENCE PHOTOS · DATED REPORTS

Pan or zoom to load more areas. Photo markers cluster by scale; open a marker for dates, species details and source records. Relative report heat, historical county direction and current bird presence are different things. Empty coverage does not mean no birds.

YOUR FIELD NOTES

Share what you saw.

Prepare a bird or insect observation for iNaturalist. New sightings are not saved to a private AVIAN notebook.

0 sightings0 species names0 birds logged

Prepare an iNaturalist observation

Destination: iNaturalist. Automatic posting is not connected yet. Prepare an import file, then review and submit it on iNaturalist. Public totals come from accepted source reports, never an unsubmitted draft.

REGIONAL OUTLOOK

United States

Read aloud uses your browser’s voice. Conversational AI is not connected yet.

ALTITUDE AWARENESS

Look up. Keep the uncertainty.

Near ground & habitatLocal birds / feeding / takeoff and landing

Above the landscapeMigrants, soaring birds and flocks can overlap

Higher migration layersHeight varies with species, weather and time

These are qualitative activity categories, not measured altitude bands. Today's species-specific heights, speed and direction are unknown. Regional radar estimates cannot identify which species occupies a particular altitude.

SEASONAL FIELD NOTES / NOT LIVE SIGHTINGS

Birds to learn about this season

CURATED REFERENCE • NO SIGHTING PROBABILITIES

A small, broad reference list for your selected region and season. Habitat, local range and current observations determine what you will actually see. This is not an exhaustive checklist or a weather-driven species forecast.

Waterfowl are ducks, geese and swans—a subset of waterbirds. Other waterbirds includes birds such as herons and egrets. Local / resident and Night activity overlap these groups. Resident status varies by region; night activity includes local owls as well as migrants.

EXPLORE THE AIR ABOVE YOU

Who might be flying?

Click a place. Explore the wider movement, then meet the seasonal candidates. Pick several groups or a bird size to make the picture your own.

Map colorsBird sizeExplore time · device localCompare height · ft AGL

The map opens when you scroll here. Click anywhere in the contiguous U.S. to begin.

Compare your height with published regional bird heights

This view combines county-wide radar estimates and a published weekly species model. It does not identify individual birds aloft or species at a chosen altitude. The model has 312 species across its study references, rather than every bird species; unclassified sizes remain available.

HELICOPTER OPERATIONS / ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

Know what’s along the route.

Plan a route, check the atmosphere, and explore the wildlife along the way.

Plan your flight

WGS84

Mission name

SAY IT OR TYPE IT

Hospital-to-hospital route

Browser speech support varies and may use an online voice service. Dictation is editable text; select exact facility matches before plotting.

Search facilities by group

Search by facility name, city or airport/helipad identifier. Select an exact result to resolve its coordinates.

Paste waypoints or a coordinate list

One stop per line, or use → between names. Accepts DD, DDM, DMS, compact N/S/E/W, supported map links, GeoJSON and GPX. All coordinates use WGS84. UTM/MGRS or another datum require explicit conversion; unsupported input is flagged.

Apply as

Search name or identifier, or paste DD, DDM or DMS coordinates. Drag map markers to edit. Enable map editing to insert a waypoint before arrival.

Planned departure (your device’s local time)

AircraftTrue airspeed · kt

Choose aircraft · browse or add your own

Helicopters, fixed wing, light sport, ultralights and gyroplanes. Models may operate above 15,000 ft; inclusion does not specify a ceiling, certification or operating approval. Plan a flight up to 15,000 ft MSL with any listed model or your own aircraft. This is an expanding catalog; not every model or configuration has been verified. Speeds are editable planning defaults, not AFM/POH performance.

Aircraft categorySearch model

Custom settings last only for this visit. Enter model, assumed groundspeed, selected altitude and preferred maximum height below; verify performance independently.

Compare referenceSelected altitude · ft

Aircraft presets supply editable planning assumptions, not AFM/POH performance. Groundspeed still depends on wind.

Preferred maximum planning height · ft AGL

Enter at least two resolved waypoints to begin.

ROUTE WORKSPACE / reference map

AVIAN · MIGRATION + MOS + RADAR + HEMS

Aviation weather layers · HEMS / NOAA GFA

NOAA weather overlayWeather shading 50%

NOAA layer off. Choose a product to overlay it here.

Add waypoints by clicking mapDrag numbered stops to adjust the route.

Planned routeReference only • Not an aeronautical chart

ROUTE DISTANCE— NM

ESTIMATED CRUISE TIME— MIN

PLANNED ALTITUDE2,500 FT AGL

EVIDENCE STATENot retrieved

Still-air estimate · enter true airspeed

AUTOMATIC / ROUTE BIRD CONTEXT

Bird notice for this flight

Map controls ↑

Checking published regional migration context…

Automatically checks along-route reference points when the route changes and when you retrieve evidence. Source night times are shown; regional night activity does not forecast your departure. Origins, destinations, local daytime activity and bird encounter probabilities remain unknown.

AVIAN LANDING-SITE DATABASE

U.S. heliports, hospital pads & PELAs

FAA source cycles ↗

AVIAN stores its own normalized directory, with FAA records, permitted public-domain community records and separately labeled submissions. No list captures every unregistered pad or pre-established landing area. Daily source checks do not mean daily site inspections. Verify permission, NOTAMs, contacts, frequencies and approaches before use.

State / territoryCityName / identifierSourceKindDocumented shape Hospital / medical flag or name

Add an unlisted PELA / landing site

Use an operator or other authorized source reference. This creates an unverified AVIAN submission, not an approved landing zone. Source refreshes preserve these records.

01 / WEATHER

Terminal evidence

Observations and forecasts have not been retrieved.

AWAITING RETRIEVAL

02 / AVIAN ACTIVITY

Migration context

Published regional migration context is available in the map layer. Route-specific bird-height distributions and encounter probabilities remain unavailable; manual regional bands can be compared below.

BIRD NOTICE / AUTOMATIC REGIONAL CONTEXT

03 / TERRAIN & OBSTACLES

Understand the coverage

Terrain not retrieved. No obstacle feed is connected.

COVERAGE UNKNOWN

Course & cruising-altitude reference

NO AUTOMATIC ALTITUDE CLEARANCE

Planning rulesIFR airspace assumptionVerified variation assumption · east + / west −

“East is least, west is best” converts true to magnetic using variation. The separate altitude pattern is odd/even thousands by magnetic course. Bearings below are initial great-circle courses, not wind-corrected headings; variation is a pilot-entered route-wide assumption, not a current geomagnetic model. VFR §91.159 uses level cruising more than 3,000 ft above the surface, including helicopters; §91.119 helicopter minimum-altitude provisions are separate. IFR in controlled airspace uses ATC-assigned altitudes, including special VFR-on-top provisions where applicable.

§91.159 ↗ · §91.179 ↗ · §91.119 ↗ • Reviewed October 20, 2026. Published procedures, obstacles, airspace, ATC instructions and company requirements remain unassessed by this numeric reference.

SAME ROUTE / DIFFERENT PROFILES

Altitude comparison

EXPERIMENTAL • NO SAFETY SCORE

AGL scenarios follow sampled terrain mathematically; this does not establish a flyable profile. MSL scenarios hold altitude constant. Sparse ground samples do not establish terrain or obstacle clearance.

Scenario	Sampled MSL range	Sampled AGL range	Migration band	Terrain / obstacle coverage	Winds / icing / visibility aloft

Terrain & selected profile

Feet MSL / distance NM

A profile appears only when elevations are available.

Weather along the route

Official AWC ↗

METARs within 20 NM of sampled route points, retrieved within a route bounding box. These are station observations, not route forecasts. TAFs remain terminal forecasts. At most 400 provider records; completeness is not guaranteed.

Retrieve route evidence to see timestamped METARs and TAFs.

Aviation hazard products

Not retrieved.

Evidence briefing

DETERMINISTIC

A source-grounded explanation will appear after retrieval.

This release uses deterministic text templates, not a connected language model. No flight authorization, altitude recommendation or validated safety rating is generated.

Manual migration context

Record a regional band from an authorized source. It is not an individual bird detection or a route-wide observation.

Source / regional scopeSource observation time

Band lower · ftBand upper · ftDatum

Intensity / direction / speed / limitations

BirdCast dashboard ↗ · Live migration maps ↗

Data-source status

TRANSPARENT BY DESIGN

Scenarios & reports

Kept only for this visit; reloading clears these entries. Reports preserve source records and retrieval times. Printing offers your browser’s Save as PDF option.

AVIAN Mini exchange

JSON schema avian.flight/1.0 includes route, aircraft, altitude scenarios, provenance and an empty radar-observation array. Physical radar integration is not implemented.

AVIAN OBSERVATORY / LONG-TERM RECORD

Birds & insects, through the years.

Explore published monitoring data. Follow the series, check the source, draw your own conclusions.

SOURCE-BACKED HISTORY

Loading published series…

Coverage reflects the connected datasets, not every US species. These historical models do not estimate today’s sightings or flight risk.

THE COLLECTIVE PICTURE / EXPLORATORY INDEX

How are the selected populations trending?

Select any mix of available bird and butterfly taxa, or all of them. Each included taxon gets equal weight after rebasing to 100 in the first selected year. Insect trend coverage currently consists of butterflies; other insects have references and local reports, not a connected annual decline series.

Compare populations

Find taxa to includeFrom yearThrough year

Loading selection…

Choose individual species · scrollable checklist

Show groupUse Clear all to start clean. Filtering the list does not remove selected species.

Included / excluded taxa and annual values

Calculation and limitations

For each taxon: annual index divided by its index in the first selected year. Collective value = 100 × exp(mean(log(relative indices))). The same complete, positive-data cohort is used every year. Missing years and zero values cause exclusion for this interval; no interpolation or replacement values are added.

This equal-taxon index measures an average proportional trajectory, not the total population of all animals. Different species’ raw survey indices must not be added. A mixed bird/butterfly selection combines different survey populations and methods and is exploratory. It is not an official biodiversity indicator. Separate group changes appear above.

Source marginal intervals do not provide joint uncertainty across years and taxa. No collective confidence interval or significance claim is calculated. Selection, baseline, outliers and coverage affect the result. The full period and exclusions remain visible.

Research on geometric means of relative abundance indices ↗

Population trends

Survey regionFrom yearThrough year

Select a point to inspect its year and value.

Annual values & uncertainty

Year	Value	Lower 95%	Upper 95%

Source, methods & coverage

Read the record in context.

An abundance index measures relative change within a survey and region. It is not a census of every individual. Survey coverage, model assumptions and uncertainty matter; the chart alone cannot establish why a population changed.

Bird and butterfly series use different methods and scales. The collective index above is an exploratory average of rebased series, not a biodiversity census or a causal assessment. Not all birds, insects, habitats or years have suitable monitoring data.

Published releases are dated snapshots, not a live population counter. New releases require source and schema review before import.

Your device data

Every visit starts fresh. AVIAN does not keep personal profiles, saved flight plans, locations, notes or recordings between visits. Use Download when you want a copy on your own device.

THE PERSON BEHIND AVIAN

Just a normal dude.

A husband. A father of two. An aviator.
Just a normal dude trying to make a difference.

ROOTED IN THE NATURAL WORLD

A little about me.

I live on a hobby farm. I like birds. I like insects. And I care about the world my kids are growing up in.

My interest in birds started as a kid. I was always trying to help injured birds I found at parks, or birds our cats had caught.

When I was about eleven, I found a fledgling crow and named him Walter. I raised him without a cage. I remember running with him on my shoulder and launching him into the air as he learned to fly. Eventually, he was flying on his own, joined other crows, and returned to the wild. Looking back, Walter was more than a bird I helped raise. He was my friend.

That interest stayed with me. On the farm and in the air, I’m reminded that we share this environment with birds, insects, and everything else that lives here.

Why I built AVIAN.

I wanted to bring a little more attention to our flighted friends—and give people an easier, more interesting way to learn about them.

As an aviator, I also wanted to help make some of the risks around us easier to see and understand. Flying comes with inherent risk. Bird strikes have cost both human and bird lives. If a clearer view of the environment can help reduce even some of that risk, that’s worth working toward.

A better way to look at what’s already out there.

None of this information is new. It’s publicly available from researchers, monitoring programs, and other sources doing the hard work. I wanted to bring it together in a way that’s easier to view, easier to understand, and more interesting to explore.

This is a project built from curiosity and care—for people, for aviation, and for the birds and insects we share this place with.

Take AVIAN with you.

Share this website link with a colleague. On iPhone, open it in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. Keep Open as Web App enabled if shown, and tap Add. AVIAN opens from its own icon and uses the latest website. An internet connection is required.

Personally funded. Personally maintained.

Data costs money, and nobody is paying me to do this. I fund and update AVIAN myself. This is a hobby, and I wanted to make something useful.

I don’t want your money. Shocker, I know. I work in corporate America, but I don’t want everything I care about to become another business. I’m here to help, and to give a little information back.

Your visit, your information.

Your location, flight entries, notes and recordings last only for the current visit. Reloading or leaving clears them. I don’t keep them as personal records. If you choose to download a file, that copy belongs to you and stays on your device.

I do keep basic anonymous usage totals: visits, which sections and tools get used, active time on the site, and error counts. They help me see what people find useful and what needs fixing. Those analytics don’t include names, account details, coordinates, flight routes, text you enter, or recordings. A visit is not a verified unique person.

Weather and nature services still receive the requests needed to answer your searches, and hosting providers may keep standard technical logs. I don’t use that to build personal profiles or sell information.

Keeping personal data would add cost and responsibility to a hobby. I’m trying to help you, not make you the product. It feels strange to have to explain that, but I’d rather be honest about how this works.

Some things just don’t need to be corporate. I’m just a normal dude trying to give some useful information back.

The person behind AVIAN
Creator of AVIAN Flight Intelligence