Latest news with #BirdCast
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Weather radar picks up over 1 million migrating birds
Twice a year, migratory birds travel thousands of miles in pursuit of food and nesting habitats in warmer regions. In the United States alone, around 3.5 billion birds arrive in the spring, with peak migration periods in April and May. This migration is so large that sometimes meteorologists pick it up on weather radar. A whopping 1,417,900 birds flew over Albany County in New York between Monday night at 8:10 p.m. and Tuesday morning at 5:30 a.m. EDT– more than enough to be spotted on a weather radar. 'The Migration of the birds continue,' Steve Caporizzo, chief meteorologist at News10 Albany, wrote in a Facebook post. 'On Radar you can actually see them. Typically [they] take off in flight around 8-830pm…..right after sunset. They migrate at an average elevation of 1,400ft.' In the pictures shared by Caporizzo, bright green splotches appear on radar images, with particularly intense ones in the image from 9 p.m. According to bird migration tracking platform BirdCast, the birds soaring over Albany on Monday night likely included Baltimore orioles, American redstarts, scarlet tanagers, and great crested flycatcher, among others. Weather radar antennas work by shooting bursts of microwave energy into their surroundings, and then measuring the energy that reflects back to detect rain, snow, or hail in clouds. During World War II, British radar operators documented strange reflections that had nothing to do with the weather, and it wasn't until 1958 that a high school student in the US discovered that the mysterious signals were flocks of birds. [ Related: Why do birds migrate? Scientists have a few major theories. ] Bird migrations are perilous journeys. Besides requiring enormous amounts of energy, the animals face predators, bad weather, and collisions with human-made structures. Most birds migrate at night, and artificial lights can confuse and disorient them. Every year, over 1 billion birds die because of collisions with buildings in North America, with most deaths occurring in cities during migrations. As such, 'knowing when the peak [bird migration] period of an area is can help inform both birding and conservation action,' wrote Andrew Farnsworth, an expert in radar ornithology and a visiting scientist at Center for Avian Population Studies at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (one of the groups that runs BirdCast). It can 'inform people what days it is most critically important to participate in turning out lights to reduce the collision risk and other hazards created by light pollution for migratory birds.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Weather Wednesday: Migrating birds and weather
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Signs of spring have been popping up across the state for the past month or so. Flowers blooming, your car turning green from pollen, the length of daylight, and even hearing more birds chirping and flying in the sky. Native birds that flew south for the wintertime are at their peak migration traveling back to Michigan during the day however most travel at night. Bird migration happens in seasons with the spring season happening between March and June and the fall migration occurring from late August to late November. Peak spring migration for Michigan typically occurs within the first or second week of May. In fact, according to BirdCast, a website created by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, data from 2023 found that for the Lansing area peak spring migration started around May 7th with the end of peak being around May 25th. Scientists say that peak migration is defined by the seasonal window during which about 50% of nighttime bird migration traffic passes through an area. Scientists say that during peak migration there could be as many as 500 million birds flying at night across the country. According to the National Audubon Society, about 70% of bird species migrate and of those about 80% migrate at night. But why do birds fly at night? And how does the weather play into this? By flying at night, it allows birds that aren't strong fliers to avoid tricky and dangerous flight situations. During the day the sun warms the ground, which as the ground warms it warms the air directly above it. As the ground starts to heat, pockets of warm air begin to rise. As they rise, they spin around and bump into other pockets of warm air. Thermals rise cool and eventually reach the same temperature as the surrounding air and flatten out. This is what causes the turbulence we feel when flying in an airplane. This continues to happen throughout the day and typically starts to end as we head into the evening and overnight hours. At night we tend to see calm winds and cooler conditions which is perfect for birds so they can avoid exerting too much energy and stay away from daytime predators. Scientists also believe that some birds use the stars as a compass to guide their journey and to know their direction when traveling. How can you help migrating birds this spring and this fall? Since a lot of birds migrate at night, they can become disoriented by light pollution leading to collisions with larger buildings. To help limit these collisions, officials say to shut non-essential lights off between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m However if you do need lights on, consider changing the color from cool toned to warm toned and finally directing lights to the ground to prevent shining into the night sky. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
720 million birds flew across the US Tuesday night
Bird migration typically peaks for the northern United States in mid-May, and on Tuesday night around midnight, scientists estimated that 718.9 million birds were in flight, mostly in the Mississippi Valley where a southerly breeze and dry weather helped birds move north. BirdCast, a research consortium consisting of scientists from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Colorado State University and UMass Amherst, uses weather radar to estimate the number of birds and direction of flight during spring migration and produces a U.S. forecast for the night. The site has a migration dashboard for every county in the United States. For example, Pulaski County, Arkansas, was near the peak of the migration Tuesday night when nearly 10 million birds crossed the county, mostly Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and White-throated Sparrows. Peak migration season ranges from April 24 in Florida to May 15 in Maine. Scientists recommend turning off lights between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. local time to avoid bird collisions.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
Millions of birds fly over Indiana during migration
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Monday night into early Tuesday morning, an estimated 16.6 million birds crossed over Indiana to migrate north, according to bird tracking website BirdCast. Assistant Ornithologist for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Amy Kearns, said the middle of May is peak bird migration, and these birds will be making their way north to Canada and the Northern United States. These birds migrate north because there is an abundance of space and food for them to hatch their chicks. Kearns said the birds mainly travel at night using the stars and moon for direction. She added that this is a very dangerous time for these birds, and there are a couple of simple things you can do to help them out. 'Between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., turn off the lights, and that lets the birds have a darker night sky on their long journey north. If people want to do something additional, besides turning off the lights, they can make their glass safer for birds by making it visible. Putting decals or stickers on the outside of the glass where the birds can see it and then their less likely to fly into the glass,' said Kearns. Kearns said you can also keep your pet cats inside at night to keep birds safe during migration. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
It's peak spring migration season in Chicago, and residents can help birds arrive safely by turning their lights off at night
CHICAGO (WGN) — As the weather warms and summertime approaches in Chicagoland, you'll hear the chirping of more and more birds. That's because millions are coming to the area during the peak spring migration season. And to help them arrive safely, area residents can turn their lights off at night. According to BirdCast's migration dashboard, most birds pass through the contiguous U.S. from mid-April to mid-May. For our area, the peak migration time is right now. An estimated 2,270,400 birds passed into Cook County overnight Monday into Tuesday, according to BirdCast. The peak was reached around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, when an estimated 425,100 birds crossed into Cook County, flying at an altitude of 2,200 feet and a speed of 30 miles per hour. Magnitude 3.3 earthquake reported in Illinois overnight BirdCast says nearly 31 million birds have been estimated to have migrated into Cook County from March 1 through the overnight hours of Monday into Tuesday. The highest nightly traffic thus far was recorded on Friday, May 9, when an estimated 346,900 birds were in flight, on average, at one time. These high traffic totals will keep Chicago on 'high migration alert' this week. You can check HERE on BirdCast for alert details. Birds usually begin to migrate 30 to 45 minutes after sunset, according to BirdCast, with the greatest number in flight two to three hours later. So with such large numbers of birds migrating at night, area residents are asked to help protect them by turning off all non-essential lighting from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m. while the 'high migration alert' is in effect, which includes overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. According to BirdCast, bright lights attract and disorient nocturnally migrating birds, potentially causing fatal collisions with buildings or exposure to additional day-time hazards. In cities like Chicago, for example, the windows of high-rise buildings can pose great danger for migrating birds, a problem that's come into focus during the fall migration, when birds sweep south following the Lake Michigan shoreline. About 1,000 migrating songbirds were killed over a single night on Oct. 4-5, 2023, after flying into the windows of McCormick Place. In response, McCormick Place installed bird-safe window film over its two football fields' worth of glass windows, which was in place in time for the 2024 fall migration season. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines According to BirdCast, these are the species most likely to arrive to Cook County during the spring and depart during the fall: American Redstart, Magnolia Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, Wilson's Warbler, Indigo Bunting, Tennessee Warbler, Least Flycatcher, Swainson's Thrush, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Warbling Vireo, Scarlet Tanager, Blackburnian Warbler and Blackpoll Warbler. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
