A blip on weather radar might not be a cloud — it could be thousands of birds! Biologists use radar to keep track of migratory birds, insects, and bats. An online resource called BirdCast combines decades of biological research, citizen science observations, and radar data to forecast the movements of migratory birds. You can use these predictions to help plan a birding trip.
Today’s show brought to you by the Bobolink Foundation.
BirdNote®
BirdCast - Bird Migration Forecasts in Real Time
Written by Ariana Remmel
This is BirdNote.
[Music: “The Planets: Neptune, the Mystic,” Gustav Holst]
If you happen to look at a radar weather forecast on a cloudless night during this fall migration season, you might see a bloom of movement on the screen. But it doesn’t look like a rain cloud…
[Night calls of Swainson’s Thrush]
Oh! It’s a flock of birds! The radar systems meteorologists use to forecast weather are also remarkably good at detecting birds, insects, and bats. And biologists can use that to keep track of migrating birds.
Radar works by sending out radio pulses that bounce off objects in the atmosphere and calculating how long it takes for the signal to return to the source. Computer programs can interpret the signal to distinguish whether it came from a raindrop or a robin.
[Marsh dawn, https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/516838]
Birdwatchers can use this technology, too, with BirdCast. It’s an online resource that combines decades of biological research, community science observations, and radar data to forecast the movements of migratory birds. BirdCast shows live maps that track flocks as they travel through your region. And you can use this information to plan a birding trip or choose the best morning to rise in time to hear the migrants' dawn chorus.
For more information on using BirdCast to check up on migrating birds in your area, visit our website, BirdNote dot org.
I’m Ariana Remmel.
Today’s show brought to you by the Bobolink Foundation.
###
Senior Producer: John Kessler
Production Manager: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Digital Producer: Conor Gearin
Music: “Neptune the Mystic” from The Planets London Symphony Orchestra
“Swainson's Thrushes Calling Slightly Before Sunrise,” courtesy of 'BIRD CALLS and SONGS’
https://pjdeye.blogspot.com/2012/09/nocturnal-migrants-september15-16th…
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Marsh Dawn ML 516838 recorded by W. Hershberger.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© September 2021 BirdNote Narrator: Ariana Remmel
migration-30-2021-09-20 migration-30
Related Field Notes
