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

Open-File Report 2006-1033
By: , and 

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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. (Skagen 1997), 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 (e.g., Diehl and others 2003, Gauthreaux and Belser 2003), 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 (Ruth and others 2005).

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Use of NEXRAD to study shorebird migration in the Prairie Pothole region: A feasibility study
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2006-1033
DOI 10.3133/ofr20061033
Year Published 2006
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Fort Collins Science Center
Description Report: iii, 8 p.; Appendix
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
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