Live Maps
During periods of seasonal bird migration, “live” migration maps show where nocturnal bird migration is occurring as detected by the U.S. weather surveillance radar network between local sunset to sunrise in near real-time. The maps show how many birds are present and in what direction they are moving.
Radars in mountainous areas (e.g. the Rockies) may be located on high mountain tops that restrict radar coverage, providing the appearance of no migration where migration may be occurring.
Please note that all graphics are relative to the Eastern time zone. Data are only presented for the contiguous U.S.
Understanding The Live Maps
When present, a red line moving east to west represents the timing of local sunset, whereas a yellow line represents the timing of local sunrise.
Areas with brighter colors experience more intense bird migration and a higher migration traffic rate (MTR) expressed in units birds/km/hour. MTR indicates the number of birds per hour that fly across a one kilometer line transect on the earth’s surface oriented perpendicular to the direction of movement of the birds.
Orange arrows show directions to which birds fly.
Radars are sometimes shut down for maintenance, at which times no data are available. Green dots represent radar locations for which data are available; red dots represent radar locations with no data available.
Who Makes These Maps?
Cornell Lab of Ornithology currently produces these maps. Support for this research comes, in part, from Leon Levy Foundation, Lyda Hill Philanthropies, NASA, Edward W. Rose Postdoctoral Fellowship, and Amazon Web Services.
How To Cite Live Migration Graphics
To cite live migration map graphics, please use the following syntax:
BirdCast, live migration map; date and time (most easily accessible from image file name/s). Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://birdcast.org/migration-tools/live-migration-maps. Date/s of access or download.
Scientific Team
BirdCast is made possible by the participating scientists at the below institutions, and many other contributors.
