MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 25, 2022
We are at the peak of fall songbird migration. Songbirds generally migrate in a series of legs, covering up to 300 miles in a night’s flight. The most critical feature of a good night for migration is wind direction. We can use radar images to confirm major flights of birds. Most birders use BirdCast, a fantastic tool developed by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. You can find the count of birds that have passed over any county in the country in real time, flight speeds, altitude, and precise direction of flight. Sometimes, BirdCast shows lots of birds migrating but the great flight of birds overflew you. Areas 100 miles to the north or south may have lots of migrants but your luck was poor. On the other hand, migrating birds may encounter inclement weather and be forced to land. Then the birds seem to be dripping from the trees. ~ Herb Wilson