[texbirds] Monitoring spring bird migration using NEXRAD weather radar
- From: "John Arvin" <jarvin@xxxxxxxx>
- To: "New Texbirds" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "LABIRD-L" <LABIRD-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:07:26 -0500
The strong front that arrived early Sunday continues to push beyond the
Yucatan Peninsula and the western half of Cuba well into the northern
Caribbean (as seen on satellite photo). The entire region behind the front
northward to the southern tip of Texas is covered with clouds. The wind is
forecast to swing back into the south tonight bringing a return flow of
moisture off the Gulf. Reports from the field reveal a good showing of both
trans-Gulf migrants in traditional coastal woodlots and shorebirds
(especially American Golden-Plovers). Swallow-tailed Kites are starting to
show up along the coast in some numbers. Apparently (since there have been
quite a few sightings in Texas) most or all of these are from the
circus-Gulf route. I have no information on the Yucatan-Cuba-Florida route
discovered by satellite telemetry a few years ago. There is a bi-national
raptor watch in western Cuba but I think it only operates in the fall.
Today's NEXRAD images look much like yesterday's. Scattered flocks of
diurnal migrants are visible at all stations (except NO). A lot of these
appear not to be raptors and given their coastline-hugging tendencies I
suspect that these echoes are made by shorebirds. A couple of raptor flocks
are crossing into Louisiana near Orange (TX).
This evening beginning about one half hour after sunset might be good for
catching a lift-off of grounded migrants with the wind becoming favorable
for continued migration.
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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