I don’t have an explanation for it. The activity over water near the shoreline most likely indicates shorebird migration and would not explain high density of songbirds birds over our parks. If you look at the landing density on both mornings of your maps, it concentrates fairly symmetrically at sites of radar stations in NY and NJ. This is expected as when birds, start to land, their altitudes drop so that the birds in areas further from the radar no longer reflect as they are “under the radar”. If the concentration is very asymmetric it could suggest birds concentrating in one or more geographic areas, but here (except for the shoreline migration) it looks pretty even.
The best I could say is that the migration was pretty diffuse and covered a wide swath. But if you look at paul hurtado’s map for night before last it looks even denser. http://www.pauljhurtado.com/US_Composite_Radar/2018-5-9/ <http://www.pauljhurtado.com/US_Composite_Radar/2018-5-9/> So it would be hard for me to explain Chris Cooper’s tweet of a dozen Cape Mays in one tree at Central just based on that landing pattern. Perhaps the shorebird migration is a clue that densities of birds were greater than they appeared to be based on reflectivities. But I’m not an expert, just a dedicated amateur. Any other comments are welcomed. Good birding to all, Peter > On May 11, 2018, at 3:44 PM, Gus Keri <gusk...@zoho.com> wrote: > > Hi every one, > > I would like to share this observation with all of you and I like to know > what you think of it, especially those who know radar well. > > Look at this radar map: (go to the minute 4:41 am CT and zoom to NYC area.) > http://www.pauljhurtado.com/US_Composite_Radar/2018-5-10/ > <http://www.pauljhurtado.com/US_Composite_Radar/2018-5-10/> > > You will see some radar activities (blue color) in the water between NYC and > Long Island and New Jersey. All the activities on water with no activities on > the surrounding land. > This morning was the best birding day in the whole city this season. > > I remembered that I saw the same activities last year and saved a photo of it > in my record. > Watch this map: (and again go to minute 4:41 am CT and zoom to NYC) > http://www.pauljhurtado.com/US_Composite_Radar/2017-5-15/ > <http://www.pauljhurtado.com/US_Composite_Radar/2017-5-15/> > > You will see the same pattern. A lot of activities (blue color) in the water > between NYC and LI and NJ with no activities on land. > That day also was the best birding day in NYC that season. > > I am trying to explain this phenomenon. > It only happened once last year but it correlated with a huge number of birds. > Any one has any explanation? > > Gus > > > > > > > Sent using Zoho Mail <https://www.zoho.com/mail/> > > > -- > NYSbirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm> > Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > Archives: > The Mail Archive > <http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> > ABA <http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01> > Please submit your observations to eBird <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! > -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
