Everyone, Just a follow-up to Ron Ridout's post re lots of migrants at Long Point on Wednesday (April 6).
By coincidence I happened to have looked at radar images the night before at about Midnight, when I noted a massive migration of birds moving in the direction of SW to NE. Both Cleveland and Detroit radar sites showed the same thing. This directional movement I thought was a bit odd, but it might have been the reason why Long Point got so many birds that day -- the radar showed massive numbers of birds flying off Cleveland going to the NE (towards Long Point). It also probably explains the Dickcissel record at Point Pelee. In contrast, last night at about midnight there was only a light movement of migrants, but this time flying from SE to NW -- also a peculiar direction. I suspect these images perhaps pertained to ducks and or grebes. A good link to observe NEXRAD radar is the following: http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/radar/ Then select the site that is closest to you. The first image to come up is "base reflectivity" which shows volume of migration. Click on the map and it will then switch to "velocity" which will show you the direction of migrants. It is tricky to explain how to interpret direction, but the red/yellow colour indicates objects moving *away* from the core, whereas blue colour indicates objects moving *towards* the core. Best time to check is of course at night, preferably after midnight. Be careful not to confuse birds movements with precipitation such as rain. Rain shows up as solid areas on radar, whereas birds (and insects) show up in a *speckled* pattern. Alan Wormington, Leamington
