Images from the International Space Station track bird migrations

Those who see Earth from the International Space Station often say it brings a new appreciation of our planet. The Avian Migration Aerial Surface Space project, or AMASS, uses thousands of images taken by astronauts to give humans a picture of the migrations that many birds are undertaking across the planet.

Also called Space for Birds, the project maps the routes traveled by seven endangered or endangered bird species, highlighting the habitat changes along those routes caused mainly by human activities. After more than four years, astronauts have now taken photos of key locations along the migration routes of all seven species. The Roberta Bondar Foundation sponsors AMASS in partnership with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The foundation is a research and education effort started by Bondar, the first Canadian woman to fly into space.

“We see environmental education as a way to get people to love something,” Bondar says. “If they love something, they will want to protect it.” She traveled to remote areas, took photographs of the birds and their surroundings on the ground and in the sky, but knew that images from space could help people understand the bigger picture.

The images are part of the space station’s Crew Earth Observation (CEO) project, which supports a wide variety of research and education projects. AMASS began partnering with the CEO in 2016 and photographed sites along the North American whooping cough trail. The partnership expanded in 2018 and 2019 when CSA astronaut David Saint-Jacques flew aboard the space station.

“It has always been one of my passions to look at Earth from space,” says Saint-Jacques. “Because birds are influenced by what we do to the planet, this was a wonderful way for me to theme my earth observations. It was awe-inspiring to see the magnitude of the migrations from space, to imagine that birds traveled these incredible distances. “

Later crews continued the work. Taking photos is a popular activity at the station, says Saint-Jacques, so recruiting new crew members was little effort.

The seven species for the project, which Bondar chose in consultation with the United Nations Environment Program and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are Curlew Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit, Lesser Flamingo, Pipit-plover, Sprague’s Pipit, Red Knot rufa species, and Screeching Crane.

The project plans to host exhibitions and educational events, but decided to create story cards online during the pandemic. These maps provide information about the biology and survival risks for each of the species, as well as images, video and maps of land use change. The first completed story map relates to the Lesser Flamingo.

Additionally, CSA’s Exploring Earth, an educational project that uses photos from space on an interactive map, includes information on bird migration. The map includes photos from outer space, information about each species, and resources for teachers. Users can learn more about a species, its breeding grounds, migration routes and wintering areas.

Worldwide, some 1,500 bird species are threatened with extinction, and the disruption of migratory corridors is a serious threat. Space images help draw attention to those threats.

“Space images show the position of a habitat in the wider range of the planet,” says Bondar. “The overlap of emotion and vision focuses people on conservation.”

Taking photos from the space station poses unique challenges, including the speed at which the station moves – five miles per second – and the crew’s busy schedule. “You have these little bits of time to go about a location and not much time to prepare,” says Saint-Jacques. “You look ahead when the scene comes towards you pretty fast and only have a few seconds left over that location and a few more when you look back as you fly away. Chasing the right frame is a bit of an art.”

In addition, all logistics must be in place, including identifying the target and having the correct camera lens, while also taking into account the amount of cloud cover and the season.

But the effort is worth it. “The distances these birds instinctively fly is still mysterious to zoologists,” says Saint-Jacques. “It takes enormous technology to fly around the world, and birds just do it. I got more respect for those animals, to see that the whole world is their environment.”

Bondar notes that almost everyone these days, even if only on a phone, has a camera that provides an accessible lens for viewing nature. “Photography can reconnect people to the natural world. From space, we can see entire migratory passages and patterns that we didn’t even know existed. It’s a look at the extraordinary feats of these birds.”

For Saint-Jacques, one of the less tangible of the many benefits of space exploration is that new perspective. “The space station is a great testament to the unifying power of space exploration. You quickly feel that you are not a citizen of any country, but an Earthling. We share this planet with many other species, and we have a responsibility to be decent roommates. . ”

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