Wind drift and the use of radar, acoustics, and Canadian migration monitoring: Network methods for monitoring nocturnal passerine migration

Tools to monitor migrating birds such as radar and acoustics can add valuable information towards understanding migration ecology and population trend estimates. I used a modified marine radar and acoustic sensor to monitor nocturnal migration of passerines at the Atlantic Bird Observatory in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada.; Nightly variation of migration numbers was high. High volume nights were mainly during relatively light northerly winds and consisted of a predominantly SW migratory direction, consistent with the 'expected' regional migratory pattern. Radar data confirmed that migrants typically employ a 'constant-heading' migration strategy. Also, consistent with other studies, numbers of nocturnal migrants detected by radar were significantly positively correlated with numbers of migrants detected by ground counts the following day.; These findings illustrated both the importance of a multifaceted approach to migration monitoring, and the importance of incorporating environmental data of wind conditions in interpreting ground counts at migration monitoring stations.