High Tech Migration Tracking

April 16th, 2006

Greetings, Feeders!

According to the faction of the JB family in Charlotte, NC, the hummers have landed … first noticed on tax day, April 15. Here in Louisville, KY, we’re usually on the same schedule, but no sight of them yet. Soon.

Speaking of migration and the JB family, Dad recently passed along news of a group that was using radar technology to track and study bird migrations. It’s Clemson University’s Radar Ornithology Laboratory — way out there on the edge of migration study. Check out their website:

http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/birdrad/index.htm

From the home page (above address), click on “introduction,” and you can see samples of radar images for various groups of migrating birds. From the introduction page, you also get a nice tutorial to walk you through the NEXRAD  Weather Surveillance Radar technology and how it’s being used to enhance the precision of studying bird activity.

Not having the use of NEXRAD at the homestead here in Louisville, I’ll have to be patient and rely on the eyeballs (and ears) to tell me when the hummers have returned.

Happy feeding everybody,

Chris

Entry Filed under: Hummingbird News