[texbirds] Monitoring spring bird migration in the western Gulf of Mexico region using NEXRAD weather radar
- From: "John Arvin" <jarvin@xxxxxxxx>
- To: "New Texbirds" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "LABIRD-L" <LABIRD-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "TX-Ornithology" <TX-ORNITHOLOGY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:05:49 -0500
The southerly winds are cranking up prior to frontal passage Wed and/or
Thusday. They are mid 20s at Brownsville and Corpus Christic and mid teens
at Lake Charles and New Orleans. The Brownsville signal is marred by
electromagnetic interference but the Corpus Christi and the more easterly
Gulf stations are all showing fairly sting trans-Gulf arrivals from the SE.
Whether many of these birds put down on the coast isn't known, but they are
definitely arriving (bear in mind that when migrants land they disappear
from the radar display so exact point of landfall is hard to hard to
pinpoint. Given the fair weather I suepect that most are moving on inland
on favorable winds.
By the way, I have been remiss in not offering a reference to the workings
of NEXRAD that is the most understandable for) those who know little about
how weather radar works. It is found at
<http://virtual.clemson.edu/birdrad/comment.htm> and created by Sidney
Gauthreaux, Carol Belser, and Andy Farnsworth.
The weekend posts were laudatory for the variety and numbers of arriving
migrants, especially in SE Louisiana (including rarities like Fork-tailed
Flycatcher, Gray Kingbird, and Black-whiskered Vireo). I feel that between
now and frontal passage (apparently Thursday for most of the western Gulf
coast) birding will gradually fall off given that I don't see a "trigger"
to initiate a fallout before frontal passage (hopefully I am wrong about
that).
jca
John C. Arvin
Research Associate
Gulf Coast Bird Observatory
103 West Hwy 332
Lake Jackson, TX 77566
jarvin@xxxxxxxx
www.gcbo.org
Austin, Texas
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