Abstract:
The Original Grids of the Gridded Bird Species Distribution of the Americas are converted 1- kilometer grid cell data in the Geographic Coordinate System (GCS) that cover North America, South America and the Caribbean Islands. The input vector data were created by a consortium led by Natureserve. The grids are produced by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information
... Network (CIESIN). The purpose is provide a gridded version of existing vector maps of bird species distribution at 1- kilometer spatial resolution, which in turn can be used in modeling efforts, wildlife conservation planning, natural resource management, policy-making, biodiversity studies and human-environment interactions.
The data in Band Interleaved by Line (BIL) format are available from the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). 
