BirdCast: real time migration information

by Lewis Young

E-bird, a service of Cornell Lab of Ornithology, has a product that gives migration forecasts for the next 3 days and shows real time bird migration pathways and numbers each night. Click on http://birdcast.info/

 The migration forecasts give you a quick glance at what to expect for the next three days, with predictions based on weather forecasts combined with radar data from 23 years of spring migration. These forecasts are updated daily.

The live migration maps take data from weather radars, which can detect migrating birds, and package them up into quantified maps: one for each night of migration. Each animation packs a wealth of information, with shading showing migration traffic rates: the estimated number of birds migrating per hour across any given kilometer in the continental US.

Check it out.  It’s amazing!