News

Ithaca, N.Y. & Oxford, U.K.—September is the peak of autumn bird migration, and billions of birds are winging their way south in dramatic pulses. A new study published in the journal Science reports that scientists can now reliably predict these…

Hurricanes and their impacts, in particular in depositing seabirds far afield from their normal haunts, represent unique opportunities to understand how animals behave in and respond to serious disturbances. Hurricane Florence is no exception.

Doppler weather radar data—like those shown in the animation above and often featured in weather broadcasts—can tell us much more than how much rain will fall on your weekend cookout.

Here at BirdCast, we turn weather radar data into information on…

How does weather radar work?
How do radar ornithologists remove ground clutter (nearby trees, buildings, and objects) from radar data?
How do radar ornithologists remove weather systems from clouds of birds?
Are there returns from aircraft on weather radar?
…

Thanks for all the memories! BirdCast automated forecast and live migration maps for Spring 2018 will be deactivated until 1 August 2018 – the last forecast map was published for the night of 31 May 2018, and the last live migration map will post on 15 June 2018. Please check back often for additional comments and posts on the spring 2018 season and the arrival of the farm migration maps on 1 August!

BirdCast predicts medium to high migration traffic aloft over an extensive areas of the central US from Mexico to Canada this weekend. Let’s take a look briefly at why we think this will happen, and what species will be on the move.

A strong cold front will move through the central US and bring precipitation and northerly winds to the Gulf of Mexico region. These factors are typically associated with coastal fallouts in many different habitats. Saturday and Sunday will be the primary fallout potential in the western Gulf region, whereas Sunday and Monday will be that potential in the east Gulf region.

In this short post we highlight tonight’s migration forecast in the West. Conditions are favorable for movements from the Desert Southwest north and west along the Pacific Coast into Washington state.

Would you like more information on ways to use and to understand new BirdCast migration monitoring tools for spring 2018? Read on!

BirdCast tracks migration from many angles, including with interactive maps that can give us a bird’s-eye view of migration in progress. Check out arrivals of waves of Purple Martins.

With regular arrivals of spring migrants occurring daily, or nearly so, throughout the US, Team BirdCast returns with species on the move spotlights. This week, we highlight some on-time, early and late arrivals in the BirdCast West region.

Light, inbound trans-Gulf migration over Texas and Louisiana was visible in the Live Migration Map.