BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 25, 2025
Bird migration is both orderly and chaotic. Nocturnal flight is no longer invisible thanks to BirdCast, a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Colorado State University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Migrating birds show up on weather radar, so since the turn of the century, BirdCast has watched migration in real time via radar. It now shares the results and makes migration predictions online. The information may help address a long-time predicament. Ever since humans started building things skyward, birds have been crashing into them. It’s one of the major reasons bird populations have plummeted by 3 billion since 1970. Another project called BirdFlow launched a YouTube video that graphically shows the movements of a billion birds from Argentina to Canada. Look up Spring Bird Migration Data Visualization, and prepare to have your mind blown. ~ Bob Duchesne