Since 2012, the BirdCast team has been working toward automatically predicting and analyzing bird migration across the continental US. Our original, lofty goal was to provide these sorts of predictions and analyses for radar, eBird, and acoustic data, fully integrated, for the most complete representation of the largely unseen spectacle of billions of nocturnally migrating birds moving through the United States. Well, today, the team made a great leap forward – we unveil automated forecast maps and live migration maps, taking advantage of more than two decades worth of radar data to produce these exciting new products. Welcome to the future of migration monitoring, please explore the new visuals and tune in frequently for discussion about movements!
New for Spring 2018: Migration Forecast and Live Migration Maps
Migration forecasts come from models trained on the last 23 years of bird movements in the atmosphere as detected by the US NEXRAD weather surveillance radar network. In these models we use the North American Mesoscale Forecast System (NAM) to predict suitable conditions for migration occurring three hours after local sunset. Please visit the home page to see our 24-, 48-, and 72- hours forecasts for when birds will be on the move in your area!
Real-time analysis maps show intensities of actual nocturnal bird migration as detected by the US weather surveillance radar network between local sunset to sunrise. Please see our live migration maps page to see what is happening now in your area!
