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Bizarre radar ring points to
birds
Image captured Aug. 10 over bay of Green Bay
By Paul
Brinkmann
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Meteorologist Tom Helman was a
little freaked out by the radar image he saw Aug. 10.
It looked like a doughnut,
growing larger and larger over the bay of Green Bay.
"It kinda threw me for a loop.
That was the morning President Bush was flying in, so I was thinking, what
is that?" said Helman, of the National Weather Service in Ashwaubenon.
The expanding ring is thought
to be a flock of birds leaving Chambers Island around 5:30 a.m. The
weather service posted the image on the Internet. Since then, birding
experts around Wisconsin have discussed it and argued about it.
Experts agree the image shows a
"roost ring" a formation of birds dispersing to look for food. But how
many birds and what kind is up for discussion. The most common theory is
that hundreds or perhaps thousands of double-crested cormorants or
seagulls roosted on the island overnight.
"It's a very interesting
pattern. It is almost certainly caused by birds, but I'm not sure what
kind," said Robert Howe, professor of biology and environmental sciences
at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Howe said birds typically
search for food after waking.
"It suggests they are
migrating. They haven't been there day in and day out. They don't have a
clue about where the best food source is, so they all go off in different
directions," he said.
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060904/GPG0101/609040460
The National
Weather Service radar picked up what's believed to be a flock of birds on
Aug. 10 leaving an island in the bay of Green Bay. Contributed photo
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