Birds and Weather

As any beginning birder will soon discover, birding and weather tend to go hand in hand. This is especially true during migration when the presence or absence of a front can push birds into your area or keep them away. It's not to say that on a rainy day you can't see tons of birds or if you don't have northwest winds you won't see any hawks during fall migration. It's just that you can use the weather to increase your odds of seeing more birds by knowing when and where to go. I don't claim to be an expert on birds and weather and a lot of this is still gobbledygook to me. To help us out, reknowned birder, Paul Lehman, has created A Weather Primer for Birders. Some of this was published in Birding a few years ago so it may be familiar to some readers. It's a great start to learning about the weather that affects birds' lives. Enjoy and take some time to browse the Cape May Bird Observatory's new web site while you're there.