Weather Wednesday: Migrating birds and weather
Bird migration happens in seasons with the spring season happening between March and June and the fall migration occurring from late August to late November. Peak spring migration for Michigan typically occurs within the first or second week of May. In fact, according to BirdCast, a website created by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, data from 2023 found that for the Lansing area peak spring migration started around May 7th with the end of peak being around May 25th.
Scientists say that peak migration is defined by the seasonal window during which about 50% of nighttime bird migration traffic passes through an area. Scientists say that during peak migration there could be as many as 500 million birds flying at night across the country. According to the National Audubon Society, about 70% of bird species migrate and of those about 80% migrate at night.
But why do birds fly at night? And how does the weather play into this?
By flying at night, it allows birds that aren't strong fliers to avoid tricky and dangerous flight situations. During the day the sun warms the ground, which as the ground warms it warms the air directly above it. As the ground starts to heat, pockets of warm air begin to rise. As they rise, they spin around and bump into other pockets of warm air. Thermals rise cool and eventually reach the same temperature as the surrounding air and flatten out. This is what causes the turbulence we feel when flying in an airplane. This continues to happen throughout the day and typically starts to end as we head into the evening and overnight hours.
At night we tend to see calm winds and cooler conditions which is perfect for birds so they can avoid exerting too much energy and stay away from daytime predators. Scientists also believe that some birds use the stars as a compass to guide their journey and to know their direction when traveling.
How can you help migrating birds this spring and this fall?
Since a lot of birds migrate at night, they can become disoriented by light pollution leading to collisions with larger buildings. To help limit these collisions, officials say to shut non-essential lights off between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m However if you do need lights on, consider changing the color from cool toned to warm toned and finally directing lights to the ground to prevent shining into the night sky.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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