Weather radar provides additional information about migratory connectivity, such as where and when the birds are traveling through the region and visiting different habitats. They attach an identifying band to each bird's leg and also collect biological samples and health data to better understand how the birds are affected by their journeys. It's probably the largest dataset of animal migration in the Western Hemisphere, and it's freely available.Įmily Cohen and her team use mist nets to safely capture migratory birds, such as this Prothonotary Warbler. We're using data from 12 radar stations from the Florida Keys to Texas. So we do the opposite of what meteorologists do - we filter out the weather and look at the birds. When radar stations shoot out those radar beams, they also hit insects and birds moving through the airspace. What's cool is that weather radar also picks up biological elements.
JH: How does weather radar help you understand bird migration?ĮC: Weather predictions are based on information from stationary radar stations that collect data 24 hours a day. This is just a super-exciting time to be studying migration biology, because we have all of these new technologies as well as better and better analyses. Our work started with Mad Island, but we've expanded from that banding site to also using tracking, Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird data, stable isotopes, and weather radar to detect migrants. We compare data from multiple sites, so we can look at the distributions of bird populations not just at a single site but around the Gulf. We're trying to understand the extent to which events that occur during migration might influence breeding populations of these species. We're focused on the Gulf of Mexico as a bottleneck for migratory landbirds - one they have to move through every spring and fall. Where do they spend the winter and what routes do they take for spring and fall migration? You really need to have that information to understand how specific populations are doing.
Take Ovenbirds that breed in Maryland, for example. DeBoer / Shutterstock Jennifer Howard, American Bird Conservancy (JH): What is migratory connectivity, and what questions are you trying to answer through your research?Įmily Cohen, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (EC): Migratory connectivity is the study of how populations are linked between seasons. New technology and boots-on-the-ground research help biologists better understand when and where migratory birds, such as this Ovenbird, travel around the Gulf of Mexico and between their breeding grounds and wintering habitats-an area of research known as "migratory connectivity." Photo by Gerald A.
0 kommentar(er)
