Weather patterns don’t influence tropical bird migrations

In temperate regions where weather fronts are the norm, migratory birds tend to fly in short bursts when the weather is just right. In the tropics, where such weather patterns don’t exist, birds travel in steadier, more consistent numbers. However, these birds change the altitude of their flight path to account for wind patterns. “It turns out that wind isn’t as important to birds in deciding which nights to fly in Colombia, but it plays a major role in deciding the altitude at which they fly,” said Jacob Drucker, a doctoral student at the University of Chicago, in a press release. Drucker is the lead author on a first-of-its-kind study using weather radar networks across Colombia to determine how tropical bird migrations respond to weather conditions. The finding has implications for protecting bird migration in tropical areas, which isn’t as predictable as bird flight in temperate areas. “Since bird migration in Colombia isn’t tied to predictable wind events, it becomes much harder to anticipate large migration nights and tell people when to turn their lights off,” Drucker said.