News

Back by semi-popular demand from Spring 2012, a basic primer on birding by radar . . . Since the first units were placed along the Gulf Coast in the 1950s, ornithologists and birders have become increasingly aware of the power…

Since the first units were placed along the Gulf Coast in the 1950s, ornithologists and birders have become increasingly aware of the power of using radar as a tool for understanding bird migration. In addition to detecting and depicting meteorological…

Winds shifted to the Northwest earlier today (Wednesday 19 September), bringing clearing skies, cooler temperatures, and anticipation of an excellent opportunity for seeing migrants in the greater New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas! Broad-winged Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrels, and…

Update 930am EDT, 2 October 2015 The newest models from the National Hurricane Center suggest Hurricane Joaquin will stay far to the east of the Atlantic Coast. We will continue to monitor the storm, although the most likely outcome from…

Team BirdCast spent some effort last year to discuss vagrancy in Purple Gallinules in late fall and winter (see this post). As a very short addendum to that story, we have been looking at the track record for vagrant gallinules so…

This week, Team BirdCast highlights a friend in the field. Today, it is Dr. Emily Cohen, a research associate at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

Heavy migration is currently blanketing much of the eastern half of the United States, especially in the midwest, southern Plains, and eastern seaboard. Many birds are currently visible in the Tribute in Light memorial in New York City.

In the early morning hours of 9 April 2021, La Soufrière in St Vincent erupted and has continued to do so in dramatic and disastrous fashion in the days since the first explosion. The ash plume from these eruptions now spans a wide swath of the globe from the Caribbean to the western Mediterranean. Birds migrating through this plume may experience hazardous conditions, so observers in areas where concentrations of sulfur dioxide and other volcanic emissions are high should monitor birds’ behaviors and physical conditions for potential signs of impacts.

This weekend’s change in temperature will harken the first big flocks of Brant, and numerous other species, arriving in the northeastern US.

The GloBAM research consortium published a letter in Science with a call for European national meteorological agencies to provide biological and meteorological data from its radars.

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…

Spend your spooky Halloween evenings safely enjoying late season bird migration. For the intrepid with no aversion to long nights outside in cold temperatures, direct your optics to the face of the Micro Blue Moon to watch birds pass!