Use of NEXRAD to study shorebird migration in the Prairie Pothole region: a feasibility study

Product Type: Open-file Report

Year: 2006

Author(s): Melcher, C.P., S.K. Skagen, and L. Randall

Pages: 8

Suggested Citation: Melcher, C.P., S.K. Skagen, and L. Randall. 2006. Use of NEXRAD to study shorebird migration in the Prairie Pothole region: a feasibility study: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006-1033. 8 p.

Abstract

An essential component of shorebird conservation is identifying, protecting, and managing high-priority stopover sites and migration habitats crucial to the long-term persistence of migrating shorebirds. Because of the tremendous variability in migrant shorebird occurrence patterns in the Prairie Pothole Region of the U.S., it is labor- and cost-intensive to locate the majority of sites used heavily by shorebirds in any one migration period. Because WSR-88D (Weather Surveillance Radar - 1988 Doppler) or NEXRAD (NEXt generation weather RADar) has been useful for locating migrating birds and revealing migration patterns and important roosting sites of some species, we undertook a pilot field study to determine whether it also might be feasible to use NEXRAD for locating important stopover sites used by migrating shorebirds in the prairie potholes landscape. Coordinated efforts to advance the applicability of radar technology to bird conservation are underway.