News

Team BirdCast has been analyzing radar data with our group of talented collaborators, and today we published a new study on shifting patterns of nocturnal bird migration and how dynamic these patterns can be spatially.

A study published today in the journal Science reveals that the volume of spring migration, as measured by the NEXRAD radar network in the night skies, has dropped by 14 percent in the past decade. The paper further compiles bird survey data collected on the ground, indicating that bird populations in the United States and Canada have declined by 29 percent since 1970, representing a loss of almost 3 billion birds. 

Refresh your memory with last week’s BirdCast, then read on to see how we did. There was light migration in the mid-continent over the weekend, but building high pressure caused some very large nights of migration by mid-week on 13-14…

We will step through last week’s BirdCast forecast to see how it did with predicting the bird movements and species arrivals. The overall pattern has been of continued decent conditions for movement through the mid-continent, but northerly winds and cooler temperatures have…

As one might expect near the peak of spring migration diversity and abundance, this week saw nights with moderate to heavy migration across many areas of the continental US. In fact, higher than expected migration amounts occurred on several nights…

Last week’s BirdCast forecast made a couple predictions about fallouts that we focus on this week. These include a widespread waterfowl fallout in the Northeast, which we discuss in some depth to help eBirders prepare for similar events in the future. Along…

Late April and early May is peak migration for many of the more southerly sections of the United States, with the northern states and southern Canadian provinces seeing peak movements during the second and third weeks of May. By late…

This forecast period (view last week’s forecast) saw what were likely the last major movements of this spring’s migration, though some birds will continue migrating through the 1st and 2nd weeks of June. The West experienced several nights of light…

Check out last week’s forecast, then read on to see how we did! Although it is still February, when bird migration can be expected to be minimal overall, the predictions for 25-26 Feb 2012 were borne out by observations on…

Last week’s BirdCast forecast predicted a slower week of migration, as weather in the East and Midwest turned cooler with northerly and westerly flow that would be less conducive to migration. Despite a record-early spring for many species to date, we predicted…

This was an exciting week in spring migration as things really began to ramp up on a continental scale. The West saw significant movement throughout the region with a consistent flow of birds from the south, and some of the…

Migration across much of the West was largely light in marginal winds aloft and scattered precipitation, although some coastal and desert areas experienced locally heavier movements. Despite a significant frontal passage that shut down movements in its wake, many areas…