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During both spring and fall migrations, weather plays a significant role during bird migration. If you know when birds will be migrating, you can better plan during spring and fall migrations what days you want to bird. This is in turn can produce spectacular days of birding by just knowing when birds will be around.
I hope that after reading this you have a better understanding of weather and how it affects bird migration.
Winds: The Key to Migration
The most important thing about weather and how it relates to bird migration is the wind. Because birds are flying creatures, it makes sense that wind has such a powerful effect on migration.
In the spring, when looking at the weather, be sure to look for days with south winds. This is because in spring birds are migrating north, thus the south winds create a tail wind for birds. Because of this when you see south winds forecasted, go out the next morning and expect your local patch to be teeming with migrants.
During the fall it’s the opposite effect. This time you want to watch for days with north winds because, since birds are moving south, the north winds create a tail wind for the birds. So during fall migration be sure to watch for north winds that are forecasted, and then go out the next morning and expect to have a decent morning at your local patch.
Overall, south winds in the spring and north winds in the fall generate the best weather for migrating birds.
Radar: A Unique Way to See Migration Happening
Now that we have talked about what weather produces good bird migration here’s a cool way to see it happening at night. The answer is radar.
During nights of promising winds for migration pull up a radar map that doesn’t have any filters. NEXRAD and the National Weather Service both have radar maps that don’t have filters on them. Once you find a map click on your area. If there is any bird migration occurring you should see large amounts of blue circles on the radar map. On radar rain is green, and there will be some darker blue by the green that is clouds. Seeing bird migration on radar is interesting to see, and it can be a great way to decide if you are going birding the next morning.
Overall, I hope you have learned something from this and that you can now better plan your birding days by understanding what weather produces good bird migration. If you are interested in weather more and how it’s related to bird migration I suggest you go to the Bird Cast website that weekly breaks down how the weather will affect bird sightings around the country.
-Landon
