================= Begin forwarded message =================

From: rhalpin at 4dmg.net (Roy Halpin)
To: BIRDCHAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Nexrad and Bird Migrations
Date: Tue, 11 Mar


Last October I went to the Fall Alabama Ornithological Societys
meeting. Dr. Sid Gauthreux was the guest speaker. He is receiving a
grant from the Department of Defense and spoke about the work he was
doing studying bird migrations using the Doppler Radar. Apparently
Combat Jet Pilots have a major problem with migrating birds I hate to
think about it.

I had a ball last fall watching birds migrating south on the Doppler
Radar.

Doppler sites are available on the NET through Nexrad. A single image
is seen through these sights posted updates about every hour GMT.
Listed at the bottom are the most common sites I use in the Southeast.
Other sites are available. Just Email a request to Nexrad from one of
the sites listed.

Some pointers about using the sites:

1. As you know birds migrate at night.
2. To convert the time from GMT to Eastern time follow the direction on
the sites
3. These screens are updated every hour, most of the time.
4. On the right side of each Doppler radar screen is a scale. At the
top if the weather is clear it will read basic reflectivity. If the
weather is not clear it will specify that information.
5. The next lines down will tell you if an alternate Doppler site is
being used. i.e. MCO=Orlando which is a primary site. The alternate
may be MLB which is Melbourne.
6. The numbers just right of the date is Zulu Time or GMT which is a 24
hr clock no AM or PM or Daylight Savings time.
7. The rest of the information until you reach the color key is not
important now.
8. It will dawn on you that if the sky is clear why are there all these
blue and green dots. Believe it or not these are birds.
9. Imagine that I am writing this about 7:30 PM Eastern Standard time.
I has been dark for about an hour. I am looking at the MCO or Orlando
Site which is using Melbourne as an alternate at this time. Merritt
Island and the St. Johns river is covered up with blue and green dots
which is the flight of birds going to roost.

I forgot to mention a couple of things concerning these Nexrad sites.

1. If you have any question about the possibility of rain or storm
cells or anything you see that you want to question, click the regional
radar summary. This is a great comparison.

2. http://www.intellicast.com/weather/mco/nexrad/ mco is the code for
Orlando International Airport
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/eyw/nexrad/ eyw is the code for the
Key West Airport Nexrad site. ETC

3. If you get a lot of weird color combination while looking at these
site in the day and sometimes at night it's heat reflections. The best
time for viewing birds in flight is when the sun isnt showing.

4. Note the concentration of the bird patterns in around river bottoms
and when the birds start to migrate again note the patterns off shore.

5. Birds do not migrate in a straight line. They follow wind patterns
or what the weathermen call Isotherms.

With a little experience you will be able to predict fallouts.

My most used sites:

http://www.intellicast.com/weather/lit/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/mia/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/bhm/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/car/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/chs/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/ilg/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/mei/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/jan/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/jax/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/tri/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/dca/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/mgm/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/mem/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/bna/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/shv/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/mco/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/eyw/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/ilg/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/msy/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/tpa/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/tlh/nexrad
http://www.intellicast.com/weather/mob/nexrad


I hope everyone has just half the fun I've had with these sites.


Roy Halpin
Orlando, Florida
rhalpin at 4dmg.net



--
*********************************** I got the blues so bad one time
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * it put my face in a permanent frown
* mpatters at orednet.org * but I am feelin' so much better
*http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters* I could cake-walk into town