<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/28/high-flying-life-of-australias-birds-revealed-in-new-detail-thanks-to-weather-radars>
"The yearly travel plans of birds up and down Australia’s east coast have been
revealed for the first time, using the same tool that tracks the weather – a
development experts say could have “profound” implications for conservation as
more windfarms are built.
Scientists have used weather radars to show that bird migration across eastern
Australia occurs in structured patterns. While many Australian bird species are
known to be seasonally migratory, scientists previously did not know to what
extent a distinct system existed.
New research, published in the journal
Current Biology, used years of radar
data to determine two pulses of bird migration across the east coast –
northwards from January to June and southwards from July to December.
In autumn, there were on average 60,000 migrating birds per kilometre each
year, the researchers found using data from 2018 to 2022.
Shi Xu, the study’s lead author and a PhD candidate at the University of
Queensland, said weather radar can “observe how birds, insects or bats take
flight to the air and move in the airspace”.
“It quantifies the amount of movement that happens in the area, just like it
measures the amount of rainfall.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
