{"id":27332,"date":"2016-10-11T17:38:01","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T21:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/?p=27332"},"modified":"2020-09-14T13:55:35","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T17:55:35","slug":"birds-tack-into-the-wind-on-fall-migration-weather-radar-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/birds-tack-into-the-wind-on-fall-migration-weather-radar-reveals\/","title":{"rendered":"Birds Tack Into the Wind on Fall Migration, Weather Radar Reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n              <figure class=\"size-large alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/RadarMigration-Fernandes-1280x496.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/RadarMigration-Fernandes-720x279.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/RadarMigration-Fernandes-768x297.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/RadarMigration-Fernandes-1280x496.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/RadarMigration-Fernandes-480x186.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"Night migration illustration by Pedro Fernandes\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>By Pat Leonard; illustration by Pedro Fernandes <br \/><!--<strong><small>From the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/living-bird-autumn-2016-table-of-contents\/\">Autumn 2016<\/a>\u00a0issue of <a href=\"https:\/\/join.birds.cornell.edu\/ea-action\/action?ea.client.id=1806&amp;ea.campaign.id=24577\">Living Bird<\/a> magazine.<\/small><\/strong>--><em>From the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/living-bird-autumn-2016-table-of-contents\/\">Autumn 2016<\/a> issue of Living Bird magazine. <a href=\"https:\/\/join.birds.cornell.edu\/ea-action\/action?ea.client.id=1806&amp;ea.campaign.id=24577&amp;ea.tracking.id=CTA\">Subscribe now<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group sidebar-alignright sidebar-space order-bottom\"><div class=\"article-list list-style alignright\"><h2 class=\"article-list-header\">More From Living Bird<\/h2><ul><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-living-bird-toc\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/LB-Autumn2016TOC-FI.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/LB-Autumn2016TOC-FI.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/LB-Autumn2016TOC-FI-240x135.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Black and white warbler by Guillermo Santos\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Autumn 2016\u2014Table Of Contents<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-living-bird-toc\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest.png 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest-240x180.png 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest-480x360.png 480w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Living Bird-latest issue\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Magazine\u2014Latest Issue<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-article\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive.png 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive-240x180.png 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive-480x360.png 480w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Living Bird archives\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Magazine Archives<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group sidebar-alignright sidebar-space order-bottom\"><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\r\n<span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\">\r\n    <span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" id=\"hs-cta-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\">\r\n        <!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]-->\r\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/95627\/096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" ><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/95627\/096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da.png\"  alt=\"subscribe to Living Bird magazine\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\r\n    <\/span>\r\n    <script charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/js.hscta.net\/cta\/current.js\"><\/script>\r\n    <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n        hbspt.cta.load(95627, '096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da', {});\r\n    <\/script>\r\n<\/span>\r\n<!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Traveling through the night, billions of songbirds take to the skies each fall. Scientists are now able to see some of the finer details of bird migration, thanks to the latest high-tech weather radar. Two studies published earlier this year used radar data to discover how birds migrating through the northeastern United States cope with strong autumn crosswinds that can push them far off course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis improved radar network, combined with advances in data analysis, means we can study patterns in where, when, and how many birds are aloft and even which way individual birds are facing,\u201d says Cornell Lab scientist Andrew Farnsworth, coauthor of both studies.<\/p>\n<p>All 140 weather radar stations in the lower 48 states now transmit radio waves vertically and horizontally, instead of only horizontally, providing much more detail about the shapes of objects in the atmosphere, be they ice, water droplets, or birds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen radio waves bounce back from a bird, the image we get is different depending on whether it\u2019s coming from the head or the tail,\u201d explains Kyle Horton, a doctoral student at the University of Oklahoma who processed the data for both studies. \u201cThat allows us to determine the bird\u2019s orientation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For one study, published in the February edition of <em>Scientific Reports<\/em>, the researchers used data from coastal radar stations in New York, New Jersey, and Delaware during 2013 and 2014 fall migrations to compare the directions birds traveled with actual wind direction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn calm nights, fall migrants in the eastern U.S. would typically head southwest. But the prevailing winds there blow from west to east,\u201d explains Benjamin Van Doren, a Cornell University undergraduate who was also a coauthor on both studies thanks to an NSF grant for research experience for undergrads. \u201cThese winds can shove migrating birds over the Atlantic Ocean where there\u2019s nowhere to land.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>The researchers concluded that the birds either partially or completely offset wind drift by actively angling into the wind, often by as much as 90 degrees\u2014 a strategy called compensation. Farnsworth says the birds are using a strategy similar to tacking in sailing. \u201cThey\u2019re flying with an unfavorable wind while trying to make progress and not waste energy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>According to the study, birds migrating along the coast compensate more than birds migrating near radar stations in upstate New York and Pennsylvania, presumably because the inland migrants weren\u2019t at risk of being blown out to sea.<\/p>\n<p>But compensation during nighttime flight may not be enough if crosswinds are especially strong. Sometimes birds keep flying even when night has ended, producing spectacular morning flights along the East Coast\u2014migration events in which thousands of birds can be seen at dawn and just after sunrise flying back to the coast to find stopover habitat.<\/p>\n<p>Morning flights were the focus of the other study, also coauthored by Farnsworth, Van Doren, and Horton, which added birder observations from Cape May, New Jersey, to radar data for the same 2013 and 2014 fall migration periods. They found that a strong autumn cold front closely predicted the size of the next morning\u2019s flight. During these morning flights, birds were seen flying west or even northwest, in contrast to their general southerly migration patterns.<\/p>\n<p>Farnsworth says the research will help programs such as BirdCast and eBird to alert birders when the conditions are right for getting out and seeing morning flights. He also says the findings underscore the importance of protecting coastal stopover habitat for birds, so migrants have safe havens to return to when they get blown out over the ocean.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese strong fall winds are a regular meteorological pattern in the Northeast,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd strong fall storms could become more frequent in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Traveling through the night, billions of songbirds take to the skies each fall. Scientists are now able to see some of the finer details of bird migration, thanks to the<a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/birds-tack-into-the-wind-on-fall-migration-weather-radar-reveals\/\" title=\"ReadBirds Tack Into the Wind on Fall Migration, Weather Radar Reveals\">&#8230; Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":27335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_birdpress_living_bird_toc":0,"_birdpress_living_bird_toc_title":"","_birdpress_featured_image":false,"_birdpress_hero_toggle":false,"_birdpress_hero_type":"image","_birdpress_hero_image_type":"image","_birdpress_hero_style":"default","_birdpress_hero_ratio":"","_birdpress_hero_h1":"","_birdpress_hero_media_id":0,"_birdpress_hero_media_array_id":[],"_birdpress_hero_media_array":[],"_birdpress_hero_media":0,"_birdpress_hero_video_id":0,"_birdpress_hero_video":0,"_birdpress_hero_youtube":"","_birdpress_hero_content":true,"_birdpress_hero_byline":"","_birdpress_hero_byline_bottom":"","_birdpress_hero_button_link":"","_birdpress_hero_button_text":"","_birdpress_hero_button_color":"","_birdpress_hero_date":false,"original_guid":"","_birdpress_hide_search":false,"_birdpress_page_width":"","_birdpress_global_cta":false,"_birdpress_widget_sidebar":"","_birdpress_next_article":0,"_birdpress_next_article_title":"","_birdpress_prev_article":0,"_birdpress_prev_article_title":"","_birdpress_sub_navigation_id":0,"_birdpress_sub_navigation":"","_birdpress_sub_navigation_title":false,"_birdpress_anchor_navigation_id":0,"_birdpress_anchor_navigation":"","_birdpress_postType":"both","_birdpress_categoryID":0,"_birdpress_tagID":0,"_birdpress_parentPostID":0,"_birdpress_parentPostTitle":"","_birdpress_menuID":0,"_birdpress_menuName":"","_birdpress_listHeader":"","_birdpress_listLayout":"card-display","_birdpress_listColumns":"","_birdpress_maxItems":12,"_birdpress_listPaginate":true,"_birdpress_displaySort":true,"_birdpress_sortOrder":"DESC","_birdpress_sortBy":"date","_birdpress_listID":"","_birdpress_listClass":"","_birdpress_displayImages":true,"_birdpress_displayCaptions":false,"_birdpress_displayExcerpts":false,"_birdpress_attTop":"","_birdpress_attBottom":"","_birdpress_showLogos":false,"_birdpress_post_logo":0,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_topic":0,"wds_primary_content-format":0,"wds_primary_cornell-lab-project":0,"wds_primary_host-project":0,"wds_primary_read-more-tag":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[998,1043],"content-format":[1055],"cornell-lab-project":[1069],"host-project":[],"read-more-tag":[],"class_list":["post-27332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","topic-news-and-features","topic-science-conservation-news-and-features","content-format-article","cornell-lab-project-living-bird-magazine"],"metadata":{"associated-posts":[""],"_edit_lock":["1680542383:4"],"_edit_last":["1"],"wdsi_message_id":[""],"wdsi_do_not_show":[""],"wpa_off":[""],"custom-byline":[""],"banner-video":[""],"banner-image":[""],"fallback-videobanner-image":[""],"original_guid":[""],"banner-text-style":["light"],"banner-style":["default"],"featured-image-display":["no"],"_birdpress_next_article":[""],"_birdpress_prev_article":[""],"_webdados_fb_open_graph_specific_image":[""],"_thumbnail_id":["27335"],"hide-from-search":["no"],"_webdados_fb_open_graph_specific_description":[""]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutb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