Billion bird night: 1.25 billion birds flew across the US Wednesday night
Scientists using weather radar tracked 1.25 billion birds in flight in the U.S. as they migrated southward across the country.
Weather radar can tell us how to dress for the day or if rain will ruin your weekend cookout, but for bird experts, it also reveals a treasure trove of data about bird migration.
Autumn bird migration typically peaks in the northern United States in late September and early October. On Wednesday night, around 9:40 p.m. EDT, scientists estimated that 1.25 billion birds were in flight, mostly in the Southeast, where a northerly breeze behind a cold front helped birds move south for the winter.
BirdCast, a research consortium consisting of scientists from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Colorado State University and UMass Amherst, said on Facebook this was a new record, after the previous record of 1.23 billion was set on Sept. 25. It was only the third night on record when the number of migrating birds surpassed one billion.
The BirdCast website uses weather radar and computer algorithms to estimate the number of birds and direction of flight during spring migration and produces a U.S. forecast for the night.
On July 25th, 2017, Van Den Broeke’s Martins — migrants known for their distinct radar returns — were detected in Oklahoma City as they left their nightly roost, taking to the sky to forage for the day. (BirdCast.Info)
A migration dashboard for every county in the United States is also available. For example, Floyd County, Georgia, was near the peak of the migration on Wednesday night when over 20 million birds crossed the county. The largest expected nocturnal migrants there are the White-eyed Vireo and the Summer Tanager.
Peak fall migration season ranges from Aug. 1 in the northern U.S. to Nov. 30 in the South. Scientists recommend turning off lights between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. local time to avoid bird collisions.
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