# Ecological Cycles

#### Central to the EarthCycles calendar are... Earthen cycles!  

Each year we highlight five magnificient creatures and their great migratory cycles.   Around the world, the cycles of animals, plants, fish and birds has guided the tracking of time for countless great cultures.  In fact, many of these cultures prioritized ecological cycles over those of the solar months!  

The EarthCycles calendar is directly inspired by the way the Igorot people of the Northern Philippines kept time.  Rather than follow the months of the Calendar when decided to sew and harvest, the Igorots would pay careful attention to the arrival of particular birds.  From the Inuit and their observation of the Cariboo to the Aztecs's and their observation of the Monarch butterflies (they incorporated them into their calendar too!), around the world cultures have synced with the ecological cycles to track and experience time.

![Migration patterns tracked in 2023](/files/MQtVyb7pZ0d6lMLYW88R)

On the Calendar, each animal is represented by a colored line in the outer perimeter space of the calendar.  As the year progress, each animal's journey from one geographic extreme to the other is illustrated.  The progression of their migration is shown by their lines movement from the inside to the outside of the Calendar.  In the legend you can see the geographic names of each extreme as well as a representation of their movement from the inside to the outside of the Calendar.  

For example, let's take the red line of the Canada Goose.  By tracing the line with your finger you can observe how its migration moves from the Southern US in January to Northern Canada in July-- then back again in August.  

When available, migration cycles are based on the previous years tracking data.  For example, here is [the data](https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/canada-goose) we used for the Canada Goose from 2022.

For an account of the Igorots remarkable ecological synchrony see William Henry [Scott’s Some Calendars of Nothern Luzon](https://www.jstor.org/stable/666342) (1959)


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