March is a month for birds with names that start with a 'k' sound: Cranes, kestrels, and Killdeer all reappear in Minnesota throughout the month.
In this month's interview with wildlife biologist Pam Perry, we get updates on her observations of the species over the years.
BirdCast
Pam also encourages us to check out BirdCast, a tool that shows and predicts bird migration in real-time using weather radar surveillance data.
The live bird migration map looks a good deal like the weather radar you’ve see on the news, but with birds instead of clouds. (In addition to detecting clouds’ direction and speed of travel, radar can detect the seasonal mass migration of birds. So handy!)
The forecast map shows the expected levels of migratory activity across the continental United States over the next three days, and you can also get city-specific forecasts using the local migration bird alerts.
Finally, there’s the Migration Dashboard, which features “estimates of the total number of birds migrating, their directions, speeds, and altitudes. This tool depicts migration patterns in near real time or as a summary of a whole night.”
Birdcast is produced by Colorado State University, the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
For more phenology, subscribe to our Season Watch Newsletter or visit the Season Watch Facebook page.
Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).
