" I can theorize how it might happen," I would be interested to hear the theories. Does it have anything to do with this area being the Rainwater Basin area? It would be late for sandhill cranes. Are the ducks all gone? How about shorebirds? I could be wrong, but compared to back east these areas aren't heavily birded and where they are birded 1,000+ shorebirds can be reported in areas: http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NEBD.html.
But if this is the case, then searching historical records from the same time period should reveal similar findings? On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 4:55 PM, Bill Evans <wrev...@clarityconnect.com> wrote: > Thanks David, I misunderstood and thought you were talking about bird > movment just after sunset previously. > > Nevertheless, I don't recall seeing such an isolated area of broad-scale > movement before. I can theorize how it might happen, I've just never noticed > it. > > Bill > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: David La Puma > To: Bill Evans > Cc: NFC-L@cornell.edu > Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 4:45 PM > Subject: Re: [nfc-l] odd NEXRAD pattern > Bill > > That was my point. Clear air isn't an issue. I think the combined > reflectivity and velocity suggest bird migration. You ask "what was going > on" and my response to that was that the wind conditions were such that > migration-ready birds did exactly what you'd expect in the absence of strong > opposing winds and precipitation... they migrated. The winds elsewhere > around KUEX were stronger and northerly. > > cheers > > D > > On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 4:28 PM, Bill Evans <wrev...@clarityconnect.com> > wrote: >> >> Chris, David, >> >> Thanks for your responses -- but the fact that KUEX was in clear air mode >> doesn't solve the mystery for me. Many other midwestern NEXRAD stations were >> in clear air mode at 11PM last night. If the reflectivity shown was due to >> the clear air setting then one would expect other stations in the region >> operating in clear air mode would have shown similar activity. For me this >> appears like an unusually localized broad-scale region of biotargets in the >> atmosphere -- the NEXRAD stations at North Platte and Valley, NE appear to >> be on the periphery, showing less, of whatever activity this was. >> >> Bill E >> >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> >> From: David La Puma >> To: Bill Evans >> Cc: NFC-L@cornell.edu >> Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 3:25 PM >> Subject: Re: [nfc-l] odd NEXRAD pattern >> After reviewing the archive it looks like the KUEX radar was set on >> clear-air mode >> (here's the inventory color coded by mode: >> http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/nexradinv/displaygraphs.jsp?yyyy=2011&mm=05&dd=01&id=KUEX&product=AAL2) >> but I don't think that explains the burst of activity after sunset. Based >> on the velocity (20+ kts) and the direction of travel (SE->NW), those are >> most likely birds. I can't pull an archived radiosonde map for the area at >> 8pm last night, but I suspect (based on the more current radiosonde data) >> that the winds between the surface and ~2-3k feet were light enough to allow >> migration to occur... so I think this is just a case of locally good >> migration conditions during the period when the highest densities of >> migrants are likely to fly. >> >> If the meteorologists want to chime in with some archived wind data, that >> would be cool too! >> >> Also, Jeff Buler at U Delaware (also doing some really cool radar >> ornithology work) pointed me to this very cool website: http://soar.ou.edu/ >> where you can view the unfiltered NEXRAD data back to 2008 (they are >> working backwards from 2011 to fill in the missing years). Just make sure >> you're viewing the non-QC'd mosaic to include biological targets. >> >> >> Cheers >> >> David >> >> On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 1:17 PM, Bill Evans <wrev...@clarityconnect.com> >> wrote: >>> >>> Interesting NEXRAD image from last: substantial migration to the east of >>> a front in the eastern US, nothing unusual about that, but strange is one >>> isolated radar lighting up in south-central Nebraska. -Bill E >>> >>> >>> http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/radar/displayRad.php?icao=KUSA&prod=bref1&bkgr=black&endDate=20110502&endTime=4&duration=0 >>> >>> -- >>> >>> NFC-L List Info: >>> >>> Welcome and Basics >>> >>> Rules and Information >>> >>> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave >>> >>> Archives: >>> >>> 1) The Mail Archive >>> >>> 2) Surfbirds >>> >>> 3) BirdingOnThe.Net >>> >>> ________________________________ >>> >>> Please submit your observations to eBird! >>> >>> -- > > -- > > NFC-L List Info: > > Welcome and Basics > > Rules and Information > > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > > Archives: > > 1) The Mail Archive > > 2) Surfbirds > > 3) BirdingOnThe.Net > > ________________________________ > > Please submit your observations to eBird! > > -- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC-L_SubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
