MYSTERY OF THE MISSING MIGRANTS | © Charley Harper Art Studio | Used with Permission

Showcasing the spectacle of bird migration

When, where, and how far will birds migrate? How many birds passed last night? Our tools help you explore the answers to these and many other questions about bird migration.

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Migration tools

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Explore nightly migration data in your region.  Learn more

Bird migration forecast maps show predicted nocturnal migration 3 hours after local sunset and are updated every 6 hours. Colorado State University and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology currently produce these forecasts.  Learn more

Forecast map: Day 1
Forecast map: Day 2
Forecast map: Day 3
Forecast map: Day 1
Forecast map: Day 2
Forecast map: Day 3

Search with our local migration alert tool to determine whether birds are passing overhead near your city tonight!  Learn more

See real-time analysis maps of intensities of actual nocturnal bird migration, as detected by the US weather surveillance radar network between local sunset to sunrise. Cornell Lab of Ornithology currently produces these maps.

Play live bird migration maps

Recent news

Migration
By Carley Eschliman (Cornell) and Kyle Horton (CSU AeroEco Lab) Guest Authors Mar 01, 2023

As a reminder to what the team is working on here at BirdCast, we return to a previous post we wrote. With spring soon arriving and preparations for migration underway, here is a primer on what we do. We turn weather radar data into information on the numbers and flight directions of birds aloft in order to expand the understanding of migratory bird movement. After several years (and hundreds of posts) describing migration, species on the move, and unique migration events, we want you to have a better understanding of what happens at BirdCast. Here is a brief overview and a behind-the-scenes look at the ways we apply radar data to study bird migration.  Read more

By Andrew Farnsworth The Cornell Lab Mar 01, 2023

The BirdCast team is pleased to welcome you back to our suite of migration tools for the Spring 2023 season as of today! Stay tuned and visit our migration tools page to explore the season's unfolding movements!  Read more

Resources
By Victoria Simons Colorado State University Sep 16, 2022

Aeroecological research is more than simply studies of bird migration. Victoria Simons is studying how Tree Swallow foraging behavior relates to their usage of airspace as habitat.   Read more

All news

NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Suomi NPP VIIRS data from Miguel Román, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Lights Out

Every spring and fall, billions of birds migrate through the US, mostly under the cover of darkness. This mass movement of birds must contend with a dramatically increasing but still largely unrecognized threat: light pollution.

BirdCast Partners and Support

BirdCast is a consortium of interdisciplinary researchers, primarily from three organizations at present, with a growing list of collaborators, supporters, and partners.  Learn more

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Lights Out partners