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Posted by Toe on 09:41:17 09/13/13
In Reply to: Information Websites for Bird Migration and Reading Radar posted by Jeanette
Here is a comment today from Bob Duncan of Gulf Breeze in the extreme Panhandle. He's been studying weather patterns and how they affect bird migration for years:
"A flat stable high pressure system has lingered over the SE U.S. for over a week with a generally light easterly influence, both surface and aloft prevailing. Incoming migrants at this part of the Gulf Coast (Pensacola area) have been few and far between. Birds leaving the Appalachian corridor are probably headed SW for the LA - TX coasts leaving us almost birdless. A weak front is expected to approach the Gulf Coast this weekend but the winds behind the front will be not be strong and the front will go stationary to our north, with high pressure building over the SE again next week giving us more of the same.
Hopefully, this pattern will break as the month nears its end; the jet stream will move farther south and stronger fronts will penetrate the area. That's what we hope for. Either that or a tropical system will affect the area and give us some better birding, but do we really want that? Here's hoping things will change soon."
All my best migration days have come with some related weather event, including my best day this year. Radar will show you when birds fly, but it's the weather that will determing where they go and more importantly, where they may land! I've spent the last couple of year being frustrated by watching huge blobs of birds on radar taking flight, only to go out the next day and find nothing. I've done much better by analyzing the weather picture and choosing the days and locations that look more favorable.
For example, the winds in our area shifted to the North late last night, and the rains cleared up, so most of the few birds that were around probably headed south. I didn't bother stopping today, and judging from Bill's report from Barnes, I didn't miss anything.
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